Thursday, February 05, 2009

Can evolution make you less intelligent?

One of my pet irritations is the stupidity of other people. Getting things wrong is one thing, but doing something and then complaining about the inevitable consequences of doing it is quite another.

Yesterday evening, I was on my way to collect Ros, and I boarded a Circle Line train at Embankment. So far, so good. The driver pushed whatever button is required to close the doors, causing a warning sound to be emitted. The doors began to close and, as they did, a man stepped through them. Unfortunately, he had a computer case over his shoulder, and this was trapped between the doors. He tugged at the case, but he couldn't budge it, and a bystander forced the door open so as to free it.

Now I don't tend to help out in these situations because, by forcing the door against the motors that close it, you risk damaging the door, thus obliging the driver to take the train out of service. Add to that the cost of repair work, which I as a passenger have to fund, and I have reasonable cause to object. Besides, there'll be another train in a few minutes.

So, bag released, what is the response from this person? "Bloody trains!", he exclaimed. "Bloody idiot!", I should have replied...

1 comment:

Jennie Rigg said...

As the daughter of a heartless biologist, I have to tell you that evolution has probably been going backwards for some time. We no longer have survival of the fittest. We keep people alive whom nature would kill, generally in great pain.

We have all sorts of health and safety laws to stop stupid people from killing themselves in stupid ways, and, as we all know, stupid people are stupid enough to breed faster, because they don't consider the consequences of breeding like intelligent people do.

All in all, we're up diahorrhea alley without a nappy.

Still, Liberal drinks in an hour :D