<
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/09/is-australia-getting-ruder>
"Think of a typical day in our angry world. You open social media and read
abuse either directed at yourself or someone else, then you get in your car and
find yourself aggressively overtaken while driving at the speed limit. You pull
into a shopping mall car park, where another driver executes a fast three-point
turn to take your park, and then shouts a stream of abuse when you honk.
You find another park but your car gets damaged by a rogue trolley rolling into
it; its previous user couldn’t be bothered putting it away.
In the cinema you grit your teeth while those around you light up their phones
to send texts, put their feet on seats and talk throughout the movie.
Lining up at the airport to take a flight, the person in front of you shouts
abuse at the airline staff because they are going to charge for extra carry-on.
When you board the flight and head down the aisle to your window seat, your
neighbours do not want to get up to let you in, so you have to squeeze past
them. When the attendants come around to tell people to turn off their phones,
no one listens, including the people and their children watching videos without
headphones.
The passenger in front of you reclines their seat for the duration of the
55-minute flight and then when disembarking, those in the rows behind you do
not wait to let you out.
If you are a person of extreme calm and equanimity, you may be able to let all
this happen around you and remain unaffected. But for most of us, the selfish
behaviour of others degrades our experience of being in the world. It can even
provoke some of us to respond with anger – worsening the situation and the
general degraded atmosphere of our public spaces.
Why go outside, more of us are thinking, when we could just stay at home and
avoid the stress?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
