A great rant on the rising tide of anti-social behavior in England. The whole thing is worth a read, for a few gems beyond the nut graf below.
George Monbiot » The Anti-Social Bastards in Our Midst:
But this is not, or not really, an article about speed, or cameras, or even cars. It is about the rise of the anti-social bastards who believe they should be allowed to do what they want, whenever they want, regardless of the consequences. I believe that while there are many reasons for the growth of individualism in the UK, the extreme libertarianism now beginning to take hold here begins on the road. When you drive, society becomes an obstacle. Pedestrians, bicycles, traffic calming, speed limits, the law: all become a nuisance to be wished away. The more you drive, the more bloody-minded and individualistic you become. The car is slowly turning us, like the Americans and the Australians, into a nation which recognises only the freedom to act, and not the freedom from the consequences of other people’s actions. We drive on the left in Britain, but we are being driven to the right.
I found the ideas, quoted from some crackpot columnist in the Times, that cyclists have no rights and should expect to deliberately run into, that walkers on private but legally accessible property should be deterred with land mines, or that anyone riding public transport at the age of 26 or older is a failure, to be mind-blowing. So much Olde Englande’s reputation of civility and tolerance, of forbearance and gentility.
Isn’t it interesting how that cocoon of metal brings out so much in people, how it empowers their inner bully while nurturing their inner coward? I’m reminded of Bill Cosby’s routine on the appeal of cocaine. He asked someone why they used it, and was told, “it intensifies your personality.” His rejoinder? “What if you’re an asshole?” So it is with the SUV.
I don’t have a lot of patience with so-called libertarianism: it always comes wrapped up nicely as a logical well-thought philosophy. But when it comes to things I care about — and that I think anyone who leaves their house regularly should care about — like schools, roads, public services, it always sounds like the old “socialize the risk, privatize the gain” strategy. Sell the schools off to private concerns, either outright or through some charter school fiddle, and see any accountability we ever had go up in smoke (who will these school bosses listen to? citizens or the investors?). Do we really want to set up private police forces?
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