Hey guys. After we left class on monday I was thinking deeper into the social construction of illnesses and the first connection I made was to something I remembered seeing on the news a couple weeks ago. Well with alittle online-searching I found an article (actually a few!) reporting it.
I chose this article out of all the others mainly because it appeared on The Wall Street Journal, a pretty reputable, popular and wide spread publication that reaches millions of people. To summarize, the important parts of the article pretty much say that we now have developed the concept of “sidewalk rage” and defined it as something that, in extreme cases, can signal a psychiatric condition known as “intermittent explosive disorder”. Sidewalk rage is “real” and one scientist has even gone to the extent to develop a “Pedestrian Aggressiveness Syndrome Scale” to help classify the levels of rage people experience. The article mentions how scientists are trying to figure out what it is that really makes people angry so that when it becomes a personal problem it can be helped. “When your emotionally upset, your impared,” says Dr. Leon James from the article (which is perhaps why scientists and doctors are exploring this concept more). The article then goes on to give symptoms, scenarios, and suggestive tips for you to keep your cool on the sidewalk and help prevent sidewalk rage.
OK, to me, this is ridiculous. This is New York City, the streets are crowded, its summertime and hot out, if your in a rush and getting slowed down by a mob of tourists I’m sure EVERYONE has felt frustrated! I believe these are normal, natural feelings given our location and lifestyle! For society to minimize something all the way down to “sidewalk rage” and even associate it at all with a medical condition really seems stupid. Millions of men and women are getting brainwashed with this and can then perhaps use it as an excuse to justify their behavior they do something rash; especially if their reasoning has medical associations! Dont get me wrong if someone is getting mad at people on the sidewalk non stop/everyday I definitely think it could be abnormal (because honestly, its not THAT big of a deal!) but to me, “sidewalk rage” is fake and if its that much of an issue its just plain old rage and will most likely be exhibited in other scenarios throughout life and should be treated for those reasons of its own.
I totally agree. I feel like so many news articles try to analyze some phenomena through some pseudo scientific method, where they take some normal practice and activity and try to explain why its bad/why we should not be doing it.
I think the way New Yorkers commute is not just a random coincidence or occurrence. It definitely has historical, social and even infrastructural roots. I think NY has historically been a cut-throat place where everyone who lives here is ambitious, hungry and very efficient. This definitely leads them to walk quickly, drive “aggressively”, and have so called “side walk” raged. NY has had a high level of immigration and has been a trade-based city for centuries now. So this high level of traffic is not surprise.
Also, the city is built in a grid lock fashion, which is really efficient and keeps traffic and pedestrian moving quickly. And honestly, if you can get from A to B quicker than in any other city then why wouldn’t you do it? I walk faster in NY than I do in Washington DC because I can! I do it because I, like most new yorkers, dont like to waste time, am eager to get on with any task I have, and continuously want to do more and new things.
So you’re right. Side walk rage isn’t a real scientifically measured deficiency. Its just people who want to walk faster and get from A to B in the least amount of time possible. Their reasons for this are historically and infra structurally based, they aren’t crazy!
I completely agree with what you are saying. How something like this is trying to become scientifically calculated and proven is beyond me. How can you take a normal everyday thing in the lives of New Yorkers and try to explain how and why this is occurring.
Living in this city my entire life it’s basically just the way we are used to. I’ve given directions to tourist on trains and they always say the same thing everyone is always in a hurry. Also how that there is no way they would be able to handle this life style. New Yorkers don’t like their time to be wasted and we are always looking for a way to get around the traffic or how we can get there faster, it just the mentality we have living in this city.
You are right, sidewalk rage shouldn’t be measured scientifically it’s simply a product of the lifestyle by the city in which we live. In New York we just want to get from one place to another in the quickest amount of time possible. When you are some place the life style changes it doesn’t mean that they are less likely to have rage, I feel like what they prioritize maybe slightly different. So how can they explain why this article trying to explain how this lifestyle is bad and how we are being harmed by it. We do it because that is who we are, and it is part of being a New Yorker.
Sidewalk rage is definitely something every New Yorker suffers from. It actually becomes more or less funny to me because New York is really the only place that is like that. Everybody always has their headphones on, rushing somewhere, and just nobody likes to talk to nobody because everybody is in their own little world.
I can say the same thing for myself, I suffer from the same symptom that every New Yorker does and that is cause I grew up her since I was five. You become like everybody else because you too have to get some where on time. You dont want to be bothered by any body on the street, and if some bodies does ask you a question. You might give them a nasty attitude because your having a bad day or something.
If you look anywhere else, or you travel to other place in US and/or Europe…it is a different world out there. For example, when I went to Vermont for a ski trip, my friend and I got into a small accident on a slippery, snowy mountainous road. While we were stuck in a ditch, several cars passed by and each person asked us if we needed help. If they can do anything just pull our car out of the ditch. I was seriously surprised because I know in New York, people would curse us out and tell us you know what. That is why I think New Yorkers are sometimes so surprised that people are actually nice out there.
I totally agree with the point, i can see my self , in some degree, have the sidewalk rage: However, i think the sidewalk rage is not disorder, but a product of well-developed, fast-pace and crowded city, like new york city.
Most people might know that New yorker don like to for the traffic light, and they do not like their time to be waste. Pedestrian cross street regardless to the traffic, not to mention about the taxi drive: They do not want their way to be block, because they are heading to somewhere on hurry. In the city like New York, people`s schedule are pretty tie, of course no one likes the schedule to go wrong: therefore, New Yorker would obvious have the disorder so-called “side-walk rage” if they bumped into people or else. Comparing to small city, where the tone is relax and slow, thing will change.lifestyle is different cities are very different, using scientific way to measure sidewalk rage is ridiculous.
I am not surprised by this “diagnosis” of New Yorkers. This reminds me of the last blog I did of the talk to the nation where Gary Greenberg spoke about the emergence of depression and how the drug company Merck essentially created and pushed depression through advertising in order to sell their anti-depressant. The article about “intermittent explosive disorder” seems like the beginning of introducing the idea of “sidewalk rage” into people’s minds in order to sell a drug for it in the future. However, I don’t think New Yorkers will buy this one, literally and metaphorically.
We’re simply New Yorkers-that’s a diagnosis in itself. There was a woman on the train this morning with a baby in a stroller. She got on the train with me at Fulton Street and she walked directly into the middle of the train and was getting off at the next stop. It is rush hour so she is surrounded by people at all angles. She is trying to get off at Brooklyn Bridge and is saying to people in her way “excuse me,” “excuse me,” trying to push through them, then totally bum rushes through people at this point screaming “move!” causing her stroller with the baby in it to fall in between the train and the platform. During this another woman’s daughter got pushed outside onto the platform because of this woman. A man helped the woman pick up her stroller while another held the doors open for the other young girl to enter the train to rejoin with her mother. Now would this be a sign of “intermittent explosive disorder” or does this woman just lack common sense? If you know you’re only going one stop, why not get on the train last and stand at the door!
Now this woman clearly caused a problem for herself and others around her. There are certain codes in NYC that people need to abide by. These would be considered the folkways of NYC. People who lack common sense and tourists don’t necessarily know or abide by these folkways or codes and simply frustrate the rest of NYC. In NYC it’s normal for people to get mad if you’re blocking them or walking too slow because New Yorkers are constantly in a rush, trying to get somewhere. If anything I would say this is normal behavior under city life circumstances.
Also, it is just human nature to become frustrated, angry or outraged if someone is in your way or in a sense holding you against your will. I think this just shows how ridiculous and far the pharmaceutical companies and physiologists will go to try and advertise a “disease,” targeting a certain behavior, putting a label or diagnosis on it and treating it with a pill for ultimately a profit. Oh gotta love capitalism!