Friday, January 16, 2009

Timid Sheep


All of us are used to the shenanigans of our local law enforcement gang - the heat, the fuzz, the police - call them what you will. As we drive down the road we see them hiding out in bushes or donut shops in a operation called a speed trap. Something about the speed trap has never sat right with me. I think it has something to do with my natural Orwellian aversion response (a veiled reference to George Orwell's seminal work 1984). I feel like Big Brother is trying to spy on me from the shadows. (I won't even get into the whole notion of who polices the police? Have you ever seen the way these yahoos drive and seemingly (at times) ignore all of the rules of the road and common sense?) Somehow the idea of "the man" trying to pick off the common dude or dudette to meet the quotas they are given seems too fall into a Hazzardian paradigm (a not-so veiled reference to T.V.s Dukes of Hazzard with Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane running a crooked town).

Actually what I really wanted to note today (before I got so side tracked) was a behavioral tendency I have noticed amongst folks who drive past the more obvious speed traps. This tendency has led to the title of today's post, namely "Timid Sheep". Even if folks are already driving 35 m.p.h. in a 55 m.p.h. zone, they will still brake as they approach the P.V.U. (i.e. the police vehicular unit). These are the same folks who will not pass the same P.V.U. driving along at 35 m.p.h. in the 55 m.p.h. zone (dang Mabel, this must be a trick). Come on people, don't let the man scare you. Step up and act in confidence! If you are not careful, their hidden cameras will betray your nervousness and this will then alert the stormtroopers to pay even closer attention to your every move.