- Rage, whether on the road or in the office, will become
the defining emotion of the 21st century unless action is taken to reduce
people's increasing lack of tolerance, a professor said yesterday.
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- Ellis Cashmore believes the rise in angry and sometimes
violent public outbursts has happened because some areas of life have failed
to keep pace with the rapid development of technology and communications.
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- The academic, who lectures in culture, media, and sport
at Staffordshire University, will present his views at a sociology conference
in the US later this month.
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- Traffic, supermarket queues and cashpoint machines have
become "hotspots" for anger because they have not kept up with
the speed of modern life, he said.
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- Speaking as a motorist was fined for assaulting a 67-year-old
driver in Edinburgh, Professor Cashmore said: "All involve waiting.
But we've grown impatient because we've become accustomed to getting what
we want instantly in so many other areas of life.
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- "We are becoming less tolerant of delays in gratification.
We just can't speed up some parts of life as we can others, so we need
to think creatively how to distract people, to take their minds off the
waiting, or in some cases just pacify them."
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- Professor Cashmore has now called for more "diversions"
designed to take peoples' minds off waiting so they do not grow impatient.
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- He pointed out that Disney World tackled the problem
of frustrated customers in huge queues for popular rides by sending out
workers dressed as Mickey and Goofy to joke and jape and have pictures
taken with them.
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- The academic rejected the argument that alcohol served
on planes fuels the rise in so-called air-rage incidents and said: "It's
a convenient excuse.
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- "Much more likely is that the long waiting times,
checking in or making connections, frustrates passengers."
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- Professor Cashmore will present his views and possible
solutions to the American Sociological Association conference in Los Angeles
on Monday, August 20.
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- Yesterday, Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that an impatient
motorist assaulted an elderly man who had been driving cautiously through
coned roadworks because he was holding him back.
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- James Reid, a retired consultant, told the court he was
driving his new car carefully through tight roadworks along the city's
bypass because he did not want to cause any damage.
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- However, John Marsh, 54, a goat farmer, became frustrated
at being slowed down and shunted Mr Reid's car several times with his heavily
laden transit van carrying half a tonne of animal feed.
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- Sheriff Roger Craik, QC, heard that one of the eastbound
lanes on the A720 by-pass had been moved onto the west-bound side and was
divided from on-coming traffic by a series of cones.
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- Mr Reid said he had been driving at between 20 and 30
mph in the 40 mph restriction area to avoid knocking over any of the cones.
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- He noticed a transit van tailgating him, but tried to
concentrate on driving carefully.
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- When traffic slowed down, Marsh shunted him three times,
smashing his own headlight.
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- Mr Reid, 67, stepped out of his Renault Laguna to see
if it had been damaged.
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- As he bent down to examine it, Marsh punched him on the
side of the head and then drove off.
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- Marsh, of Damhead, Lothianburn, Edinburgh, who is married
to a serving police officer, pleaded guilty to punching Mr Reid on October
20, last year, and was found guilty of careless driving. Sheriff Craik
fined him £550.
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- "It was quite inexcusable for you to lose your temper
and punch this elderly gentleman. This was a bad case of inconsiderate
and careless driving," Sheriff Craik said.
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- Meanwhile, an irate doctor who broke a London Underground
worker's nose in a attack after a row over train delays was spared jail
but told to pay fines, compensation and cost totalling £9000 at Middlesex
Guildhall Crown Court yesterday.
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- http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/10-8-19101-23-36-34.html
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