Epistemological violence in America

There are few things in this world comparable to being packed into a bus or train during rush hour when a fellow passenger begins to engage in unusual, bizarre or unfortunate behavior. The regular public transportation user can expect at least one such episode of varying severity per ten days or so, with said behavior ranging from psychotic episodes to absurd monologues. In the past three weeks, I have witnessed the following acts of such behavior: a well-dressed, elderly man lecturing on religious history with the included suggestion that those of Jewish origin are from outer space (!) and that the yarmulke is a device used to communicate with their home planet (!!); a most-likely homeless woman delivering a harangue on the evils of gentrification and materialism to a train car full of mostly upper middle-class professionals; and a woman suffering a rather severe episode from what had to be Tourette’s syndrome in which she produced a guttural sound followed by a throat-clearing noise that was either part of the tic or an attempt to cover the initial noise. This occurred approximately every 30 seconds for the entirety of my 25-minute ride. Needless to say, in each of these instances the other 50 or so passengers try to act as though they are ignoring the given spectacle while in reality they are obviously gawking or attempting to hold onto some shred of obliviousness.

# posted by workplex @ 15:25