When I was growing up, there was a (clearly) unstable guy who would spend the day standing on a street corner yelling at passing cars. He never did anything other than yell at them, so people left him alone. Although he got a heck of a wide berth.
My SO claims to have had a similar guy in her home town. And where I live now, there is also a guy who has this “job”.
So why do these folks get so ticked off at passing cars? Why do they feel compelled to yell at them, yet commit no actual violence?
<1> Before they were crazy they yelled at other drivers while they were driving themselves, and now they do it from rote.
<2> Having lived on the streets for a few years, they have probably almost been hit or been hit several, so they kind-of remember that any car is a threat to them.
<3> The car contains Charon, coming for their two obols.
There’s a good chance that most of them are unmedicated Schizophreniacs, why they would choose to yell at cars I don’t know. I saw a video on a schizophrenic man who would sit in a room with his parents and ask them why they were trying to kill him.
Well, Grok, what would you do if hundreds of people were zooming past you and wouldn’t even slow down so you could tell them that government satellites were controlling your brain? And, in defense of crazy people everywhere, I would like to remind you that a lot of them just stand there with a big smile on their face, waving at passing cars. (And here in Galveston, since September 11, they walk blindly into traffic carrying huge American flags, but that’s a topic for another thread.)
Seriously though, cars are fast and menacing and can even kill you. Many pedestrians feel threatened by this, and a few of them who are less restrained or suffer from some psychological problem, act out on this threat.
And maybe, on occasion, some people have good reason to yell at certain cars – when drivers are reckless, inconsiderate or think that their metal shells give them the right to do whatever they want to those without metal shells.
BECAUSE CARS ARE MADE OF ALUMINUM AND THAT’S WHAT THE MOON BASES ARE MADE OUT OF! AND NIXON KNEW ABOUT IT AND THAT’S WHY THEY GOT RID OF HIM! WADDAYA YOU LOOKIN AT?! I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU! I KNOW ALL ABOUT GUYS LIKE YOU!
Just a WAG, but if I were a raving lunatic that wanted to yell at something, I would choose cars or possibly airplanes.
If you yell at people on the sidewalk, they might yell things back at you, which could awaken “the voices.”
Most people in cars aren’t going to stop to yell back at you, so it’s relatively non-confrontational. As I said, airplanes are even safer, but maybe the nutcases enjoy the thrill of the possibility of someone stopping.
THAT’S IT! THAT’S THE ONE! THEY WERE HIDING IT BUT I FOUND YOU! IT COULDN’T BE YELLOW! NO IT’S NEVER THE YELLOW ONE! I KNOW YOU! I DIDN’T FORGET THAT! YOU DON’T REMEMBER! OH YEAH? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AT ANYTHING AND YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LOOK AT ME!
Erm, what was the question again?
Imagine a situation where you have 100 people who select things to yell at (people, buildings, cars, playground equipment, trees). Who is going to get hauled away first or at least medicated to the point of being calm? The ones who yell at people, playground equipment, and buildings, because these things are stationary and there are people around who live there and have to put up with it. After a while they get tired of the old man who is always yelling at thier place of buisiness (and he will probably enter it for a confrontation soon) so they call the cops. Or they call the cops to have the guy at the playground hauled away, so they can protect the kids. This selects for those people who yell at cars, because people are insulated enough in their cars to not bother with calling the cops. So he gets to stay around awhile. Basically, you yourself haven’t been bothered enough by this guy to do anything about it…neither has anyone else.
I would imagine the guy who does the yelling doesn’t stay in one place very long (to annoy only one buisiness or family) or he is doing it in such a place where there aren’t enough people invested in their own peace to care enough to call the cops. If he did it on one corner in a ritzy neighborhood for any length of time…you can bet he would soon “disappear” to the local hospital.
Someone has psychological problems, but can cope with
them can hold down a job and lead a fairly normal life. Someone who can not cope with their psychological problems can not hold down a job and may not be able to pay their own bills etc. The people yelling at cars can no longer even contain their problems. Their minds are overflowing with chaos. They can numb it with alcohol, try to strengthen their defenses with stimulants, or they can vent the chaos by yelling. In the same way that uncontrollable sadness causes crying, insanity has built up in these people beyond their ability to keep it inside.
I was gonna make a geographically-relevant wise-crack, but I’m gonna pass. Payback being what it is and all
Personally, I’d much rather have angry and unstable people NOT behind the wheel. Sidewalk rage is better than road rage any day. If someone is unstable enough to stand on the corner and scream at cars, that’s just fine. As long as they don’t :
A) Leap in FRONT of the cars.
B) Throw things AT the cars.
C) Attack the cars themselves.
D) Attempt to get the owners of the cars to become Moonies.
What’s the harm? Are you wondering if this is an urban legend thing, or if it’s really more common than you originally thought it was?
No harm. I’m just wondering why this behavior seems (to me) to be somewhat common.
I think Doc Cathode may be on to something in terms of venting rage. But I still come back to “why cars”? Sigene may also have something there, but I would be interested to know what psychological needs are being met by yelling at cars.
