I don’t use Amtrak terribly often, but I’ve always wondered about those so-called “quiet cars” – ie, no cell phones. Lakeysha Beard sat down in one such “quiet car” in Oakland, Cal, got out her cell and started talking, and talking, and talking. Sixteen hours later, in Salem, Oregon, police removed her from the train. KATU News reports:
A woman who got pulled of an Amtrak train by police after passengers complained she was speaking too loudly on a cell phone said she felt “disrespected” by the entire incident.
On the other hand:
An Amtrak official said a number of passengers complained Beard was being disrespectful during her prolonged phone conversations on the train.
A reader at Tim Blair’s website down under comments:
Once a society reaches the point where common courtesy must be legislated, they’ve really just about admitted that they’ve failed.
Ed Driscoll makes this his Quote of the Day. It’s certainly where our societal choo-choo is headed — a world where basic social interactions have to be micro-regulated, and where, for all the hyper-legalisms attending every activity, the enforcers take 16 hours to show up, if at all.
Maybe she was just trying to contact DKS...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePerhaps it's because we live in a world where basic social interactions ARE micro-regulated that nobody got off their behinds within those 16 hours and shut the obnoxious woman up.
The price of a free society is personal responsibility-- not just to obey the rules, but to also *enforce* the rules.
In my grandparents' day, a woman who behaved like that would get away with it for about three minutes-- five minutes if my grandfather had to put down his book in order to go over and shame that woman into silence.
Now, we wait 16 hours for the COPS.
Progress!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSorry, someone has to be the racist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseShe's not merely black, she's BLACK: 500 pounds, badly dressed with the usual Ghett-O accessories.
She's been mad all her life - you only got the short version.
Why did she talk on the phone?
Because she's not allowed to - it's called "gettin' ovah on the man".
"In my grandparents' day, a woman who behaved like that would get away with it for about three minutes-- five minutes if my grandfather had to put down his book in order to go over and shame that woman into silence."
In your grandparents day, your grandfather would get support from the people around him and any police that were called.
Now, he'd be considered a bully and the police would haul him off in cuffs while the woman got back on her cell phone to call a lawyer about suing him for harassment.
That's why it doesn't happen anymore. It's just easier to do nothing, let the cops handle it, and complain about it to your friends, family, or on your blog later on.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFrom what I've read, the other passengers actually sat there for 16 hours and didn't say anything. That's not the enforcers' fault.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat were they supposed to do? Ask her to be quiet and when she refuses because she's be being disrespected, then what? You can't shame these barbarians into following rules...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI have a friend, a petite 60-something woman, who never hesitates to get involved in just this sort of situation. I admire her gumption, but I also fear that one day she will confront the wrong person and end up sued for everything she is worth, hospitalized, or worse.
No question in my mind that the reason we have to call in government is that the basic rules of decency are no longer being modeled or taught.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think it's pretty obvious why no one said anything for so long.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse16 hours? According to Google, one can do the trip by auto in 10 hours. Listen to what you want, stop where you want. Go with who you want. External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBut in this case, the other passengers, according to the news story, DID complain. It's just that their complaints fell on ears deaf to all but the cell phone conversations.
It just got to a point where the only thing to get her attention was a cop - and throwing her off the train because she ignored repeated requests to be civil.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe article says that the passengers on the train got into a verbal altercation with her. So it appears that they tried to get her to shut up, but she just wouldn't do it.
This is the same kind of person who talks on her phone in the theater while the movie is playing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs with most things, rules and laws are primarily for and observed by honest people.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse16 hours from Oakland to Salem, Or? Seriously? you could hitchhike that stretch faster. Amtrack!!!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat's amazing to me is it takes 16 hours to get to Salem from Oakland. It's a 9 hour drive if you're obeying the speed limit. No wonder AMTRAK is a failure. It takes freaking forever!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes Mark, I see what you mean. Lyndon Johnson certainly did a lot to destroy the moral fabric of this country; paving the way for intrusive government. Gotcha.
The deal Barry Goldwater struck, still in effect 45 years later...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRemember the cell phone/movie theater scene in 'Scary Movie?' Just sayin'
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe thrust of this whole post is nonsense, since the quiet cars are not legislated. It's a rule--rules are always necessary. And anyone who is suggesting that no one in previous times talked loudly anywhere at all, and no ' no loud talking' rules have been necessary prior to now in human history, is a complete idiot with no historical perspective.
And wow...Dave,y our grandparents had cell phones!! That's so cool! Are you just really young in a family of people who reproduce in their preschool years, or are you contacting us from the future?!
Anyone who thinks we are less civil now than we used to be should cogitate on how black people used to be treated in our society. Not exactly civil. Or let's go farther back, when it was considered acceptable to fight duels to resolve dispute. Or a little farther, when anyone going to a play brought rotten vegetables with them that they could heave at the stage if it got boring.
There was no golden age of civility in some grand time before you all were born, you foolish folks. But maybe, reading from panic's post, that's the subtext to all this: folks around here thing society was more civil when we ostracized undesirables like the poor or minorities so that the elite, Corner-reader types wouldn't have to rub shoulders with them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf you saw the news clip of the women, it would not surprise you. I'll leave it at that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUsually RiotLibrarian's posts are so stupid I skip past them. This time he makes a fair point. Steyn is making way too much of this incident. Jerks have always been with us. The modern manifestation is the person talking loudly on their cell.
The fact is, jerks are a healthy sign. Think about the alternative. Everyone behaves and there's never a need to tell someone to pipe down on the train or in the theater. That's not a world one equates with a self-governing republic ruled by ever changing, rowdy factions of free citizens.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe greater crime here is using "disrespect" as a verb.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse