Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Curse Against the Machine

What do you think of when you think of road rage? I imagine people so angry and frustrated at traffic that they ram into other cars, driving on sidewalks and other pedestrian zones or even taking out a gun and shooting people. That's rage.

But AutoVantage thinks rage is something else: rudeness. It's not just "bad" driving but tailgating and swearing all count as "rage." Really? Tailgating's annoying and no one likes being sworn at but since when has stalking and name calling been anything even remotely close to "rage?"

There's a strange "conventional wisdom" that our world is flying apart at the seams. Already I can hear the calls for government regulation to "control the anger." But it's not on the verge of collapse, it's just a bunch a people think rude people are simply irrational. Has anyone ever stopped to think that some drivers deserved being sworn at?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you saying rage is anger taken to an extreme? Anger is a secondary emotion promted by some other emotion, e.g. fear. Does our Constitution have a freedom from fear clause?

UB

David said...

Rage is anger paired with destructive action. The line is subtle, but swearing isn't rage. Not even close.