Dear Boris, stop treating us like selfish, brainless sheep
Monday, September 6th, 2010 | This post was written by Fiona Melville(With thanks to Betapolitics for finding the article that made me think more about this!)
I was on the tube this morning, listening to the usual never-ending cascade of scratchy announcements from the tannoy. There were 8 during the time I waited to change; only one of them had anything to do with any tubes that were coming soon (the Circle line was, just for a change, having problems) but didn’t actually give any information about when the next one was due.
The other seven were all about the gap, the change from a circle to a loop, and MOST maddeningly, moving right down inside the carriage.
There have already been plenty of complaints about the endless announcements, from David Willetts, or from the residents of Sydenham. But other than the annoyance, there is a wider point.
Moving down inside the carriage is what should happen naturally. People should look around and notice that the carriage is filling up. They should consider others without being told to. It is damaging to our sense of independence, adventure, and basic decency to be told to do something that is so obviously a necessity of mass travel.
The Economist article makes a similar point. It is not healthy for someone else to always make decisions for us. It is healthy for us to have as much control over our own lives as possible. And that includes deciding where to stand in a busy Tube carriage.
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