I was at a red light today, a handful of cars from the front, and about 50-100 yards from my planned left turn. Once the light changed and traffic began to flow, Lucy (my almost 9 month old daughter) and me began zipping forward at a rather ordinary pace. (Though this is by choice, safe driving, I am not free to choose otherwise, not in my old 4-cylander stick shift anyway.) I didn’t accelerate any slower than the surrounding traffic, though, most of which did have the choice to go faster. This is pretty much standard daily driving.

What was slightly less standard was the black Lexus running right up my metaphorical rear end trying to coax me into going faster. (As I already pointed out, 0-60 in 5 seconds is not possible, but were it, I had a left turn to make in only a few feet.) We turned into the turn-lane as we arrived only to have the aggressive black car slam their accelerator to pass us. The last thing we (Lucy and I) saw was an otherwise nice looking woman in her ~mid 50s scowl at us with a courtesy middle finger. (Actually, only I saw this. Lucy was trying to chew into her new favorite toy—an empty water bottle.)




This got me thinking. I spend roughly 10-12 hours a week driving, and I see no small shortage of very angry, very hostile drivings with no care or concern for anyone but themselves. This strikes me as solid evidence that the Christian claim of humanity being broken, or depraved, is a valid claim. Let me explain. Driving in traffic is, more or less, waiting in a line with a large group of people. We do this daily at the grocery store, Target, gas stations, wherever. When was the last time someone cut off your shopping cart and gave you the bird? For me, never. Even in the most crowded of grocery isles it’s rare that I, while likely disoriented and looking for something not in my isle, have someone shove past me or even give a frustrated sigh. Usually, someone will say, “Oh, excuse me,” or “Could I scoot past you?”

I have a theory why grocery store traffic tends to me more cordial than highway. Two reasons: One, in grocery stores the person you’re rude to can sock you in the face, and Two, similarly, groups of people tend to vocalize dissent with an unruly person. But in a car, these social obstacles are removed and people can, and do, whatever they wish. To the point, people when freed of societal pressures, are not, as one of my early college professors claimed, generally good. In fact, it seems clear to me that people, left to their own ends, are generally wicked and mean.

To make the case stronger, let’s look at the way people treat each other when nearly all potential social repercussions are removed and a person can act freely with total anonymity. I present you with man’s greatest accomplishment: online discussion forums! Or, any online location where anonymous users can post.

Really, look around. I did some very brief digging and quickly came up with a plethora of comments, from even the most benign of articles, that I’d rather not even link here. If you’ve actually managed to find this obscure blog, then I’m certain that you’re savvy enough to have been at least to one news site or the like, and this case is one that makes itself.