Comments on: NYC Rage

NYC Rage

Tlogmer — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:17:06 -0800

New York City rage.

By: zekinskia

zekinskia — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:20:08 -0800

People scream in the NY subway? Wierd...

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:27:37 -0800

Hey, what the fuck are you lookin' at?!

By: The Jesse Helms

The Jesse Helms — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:27:48 -0800

New York, in this city that is the finest achievement of modern American urban life It's like 1919 all over again.

By: Gator

Gator — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:30:07 -0800

In other words, New York: Pretty crazy place, huh?

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:31:03 -0800

I think a subway ride with*out* someone screaming (or at least stinking) would be wierd...

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:31:49 -0800

Hey, I'm just a simple midwestern kid unaccustomed to these jaded urbanites.

By: Godbert

Godbert — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:47:41 -0800

I'm more surprised at the claim that you could hear the screams over the sounds of the subway cars. Those things are loud.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:50:09 -0800

Anger is the orangutan's effulgent orange ass.

By: bering

bering — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 08:11:44 -0800

Metafilter: the orangutan's effulgent orange ass.

By: cusack

cusack — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 08:25:01 -0800

This New York City, it rages?

By: QuietDesperation

QuietDesperation — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 08:29:09 -0800

I think someone spelling "weird" correctly would be weird.

By: raysmj

raysmj — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 08:38:25 -0800

If it's the end product of 7,000 years of urban technology, where are the public restrooms cleaned hourly by robots?

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 09:30:07 -0800

they clean public restrooms on your planet?

By: raysmj

raysmj — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 09:44:17 -0800

Self-cleaning public restrooms.

By: UKnowForKids

UKnowForKids — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 10:49:11 -0800

Maybe they're pissed about the disruption to service on the L train?

By: Dizzy Bint

Dizzy Bint — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 11:12:07 -0800

Jed, Your prose is a pleasure to read. You piece is incredibly funny (in its dark way) as well, and true, too. Yeah. ROTF here, too.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 12:26:52 -0800

1988, the 2 train up Broadway. Express between 72th and 96th. Late rush, the cars are crowded. A raggedy clown resembling Grandmaster Flash, with oversized Elton John sunglasses and a technicolor dreamcoat, comes through from the next car as we depart. He is carrying a battered clarinet. We don't pay attention to this, or his blather about living on the streets, yelled over train noise. So far, this is normal. Then he bleats the clarinet. It is a tone not dulcet or demure, but a wail of transferred pain, from him to us. The entire car looks his way, shocked. All he asks is a little money, a few dollars for dinner, and he'll go to the next car. He bleats again. Secretaries cover their ears; college students look up from their books. Some woman at his end argues with him in a thick Bronx jive. He ignores her and makes another plea for cash, preferably bills. One or two people hand him coins and urge him on. That ain't nearly enough to get a cup of coffee no more, he announces. And lifts the clarinet again. As it shrieks in broadcast agony, there is movement. A very large man in a tee and crew cut moves toward Flash and grabs the clarinet out of his hands. There is a pause; none of us knows where this is going. Flash demands his property back. The large man holds it up, out of his reach. The pushback from the passengers grows to a crescendo of ethnic slurs and catcalls and threats. The bum reaches again for the clarinet, and the large man swings it violently against a stanchion, which makes a sound surprisingly compatible with the train's own squealed protestations of steel-wheeled travel. He drops it to the floor, and stomps on the horn of the clarinet, crushing it into a thin grotesque Mick Jagger sneer. He returns to his position by the side doorway. He has not spoken a single word. Flash grabs at the abused instrument, and moves down past me to the door leading to the next car. There is applause, but no curtain. We're all nearly home.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 12:53:59 -0800

Was that the "Martian music" guy? Man, I hated him. I'd have paid money to see his instrument stomped. /NYC subway rage

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 13:07:14 -0800

I thought it was OK, if a bit self-important. I disagree here though: We were physically exhausted from the angry contest of our day, and we had no energy left to avail ourselves of the cool relief of riot I just think that New Yorkers are too self-obsessed. If it doesn't happen there, it doesn't happen. After all, New York is nothing if not a whore--why not capitalize on its wealth? That graph was great. Again, I don't think that rage is unique to NYC, however.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 13:27:39 -0800

Again, I don't think that rage is unique to NYC, however. Well, we do it best. Our new city motto is: Get outta my fuckin' way!

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 16:25:32 -0800

languagehat: googling "martian music subway" turned up four almost identical stories -- though mine was the only one with near violence. Looks like he's been honing his schtick for a very long time. I don't remember if he called it "martian music", nor martian headgear, when I saw him.

By: Decani

Decani — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 17:08:53 -0800

Well, I hated that guy's writing. Hated it. Pompous, overblown, prissy... yuk. His premise is bullshit, too. New York isn't a particularly angry city; certainly not for one of its size and density. It's a hell of a lot friendlier than London, for example. New York is one of the friendliest big cities I know, and I don't like this guy playing up the myth just to make himself feel a bit special. Which is what this article reads like to me.

By: rawfishy

rawfishy — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:34:31 -0800

Just spent 2 weeks in NYC right next to Times square, down in Chelsea and then up in Harlem. Saw a lot of self righteous panhandling on the subway, lots of great art, and a whole slab load of the packaged american dream. But anger?? Frustration, and some impatience yes, anger..no different to any other major city ive been to or lived in. I was actually surprised when people appologized to each other when they knocked each other on the street considering NY's rep. In Tokyo, its quite common to see people knock into someone - simply look at them with blank faces or ignore the other person completely and keep going. The linked prose seems sensationalist to the nth degree.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:34:45 -0800

Preach it, Decani. Ugh. It reads like an eighth grader found an old thesaurus.

By: tiger yang

tiger yang — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:52:49 -0800

Ugh. It reads like an eighth grader found an old thesaurus. I think that's a little harsh. The essay is well-written, and, as a city resident who works the 9-to-5 in midtown, I think it's a pretty accurate description too, although the "anger" portion is a bit exaggerated. But hey, I think the exaggeration adds to overall sentiment of the essay and serves it well.

By: Decani

Decani — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:03:37 -0800

I think that's a little harsh. The essay is well-written Sure it's well-written. If your definition of "well-written" is "didn't make any grammatical mistakes and used a few nice words". Mine isn't.