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<blockquote data-quote="Pillars of Hercules" data-source="post: 157366" data-attributes="member: 577">Preach it Doug!Doug, you must be meeting the same Austin drivers I encounter.&nbsp; You're 100% right - the attitude that says &quot;anarchy and chaos rock&quot; and &quot;I'll do whatever I feel like 'cause I'm bad&quot; have run amok.&nbsp; It's a very unpopular opinion to say &quot;I have standards and so should you&quot; or even &quot;I don't run red lights and you shouldn't either,&quot; but only some drawing back from the abyss of &quot;rules suck&quot; towards some sort of balance (balance, not fascism, mind you) will allow a return to civility.Our problem is what I call the a$$hole advantage.&nbsp; If someone blows through a red light five seconds after it turned and I honk at him, I'm the bad guy.&nbsp; I'm an &quot;oppressor&quot; who should just &quot;mellow out.&quot;&nbsp; If the original poster gave the &quot;wrong directions&quot; bozos grief he would probably be seen as some sort of cranky &quot;aggressor.&quot;Result - the jerkwads profit from wrongdoing, while the good folks who stop for the lights all feel like morons when they see the jerkwads get away with running them.&nbsp; Until we actually start really enforcing some fair rules (not zero tolerance crap, which is just PC madness rather than old fashioned discipline), we will never eliminate the a$$hole advantage; and until we do, we will see the high percentage of a$$holes that exist today.The sad thing is, the advantages the a$$holes get are usually transitory and worthless (what did it gain the guys in line to give bad directions to a total stranger), while the consequences eventually catch up (red light runner hits a kid in the crosswalk).&nbsp; Thus, by letting them get away with it, we're even doing a disservice to the a$$holes.Ok, I guess this is my hot button issue too, Doug!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pillars of Hercules, post: 157366, member: 577"] [b]Preach it Doug![/b] Doug, you must be meeting the same Austin drivers I encounter. You're 100% right - the attitude that says "anarchy and chaos rock" and "I'll do whatever I feel like 'cause I'm bad" have run amok. It's a very unpopular opinion to say "I have standards and so should you" or even "I don't run red lights and you shouldn't either," but only some drawing back from the abyss of "rules suck" towards some sort of balance (balance, not fascism, mind you) will allow a return to civility. Our problem is what I call the a$$hole advantage. If someone blows through a red light five seconds after it turned and I honk at him, I'm the bad guy. I'm an "oppressor" who should just "mellow out." If the original poster gave the "wrong directions" bozos grief he would probably be seen as some sort of cranky "aggressor." Result - the jerkwads profit from wrongdoing, while the good folks who stop for the lights all feel like morons when they see the jerkwads get away with running them. Until we actually start really enforcing some fair rules (not zero tolerance crap, which is just PC madness rather than old fashioned discipline), we will never eliminate the a$$hole advantage; and until we do, we will see the high percentage of a$$holes that exist today. The sad thing is, the advantages the a$$holes get are usually transitory and worthless (what did it gain the guys in line to give bad directions to a total stranger), while the consequences eventually catch up (red light runner hits a kid in the crosswalk). Thus, by letting them get away with it, we're even doing a disservice to the a$$holes. Ok, I guess this is my hot button issue too, Doug! [/QUOTE]

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