Concessions to Modern-Day Aggression

I was in the elevator going down to dinner, and just as the doors were closing, I heard this woman say the Door Close button was just for decoration, that it didn't really work. Like a placebo, in other words, you push because you are impatient and in the seconds it takes to push the button, the door closes of its own accord.

You feel powerful and in control, and hence there is no "elevator rage."

And, I remember awhile ago, my old boss was talking about a study of vending machines, and people getting hurt by their own agression when their "food" did not come down its little slot, but instead got stuck. The problem seemed to be that when the "food" got stuck, us humans had a habit of shaking the machine until -- at least a few times -- the machines fell on top of our poor hungry souls.

... and we sued the suckers who placed the machine there. And so, in my own little residence, our vending machines sense our "food" being stuck and reward us by giving us not one Potato Lays or Snickers or whatever, but 2!

That's always very exciting ...

So, what do an impotent elevator button and an overly-apologetic vending machine have in common ...

Why, they're both concessions to modern-day aggression, of course! Instead of letting us get all bent out of shape over the elevator not closing quick enough or our "food" getting stuck in the line of descent, somebody has instead given us something extra to either press or chew on ...

Hmmm ... which reminds me ... I once saw this expose on polar bears in the Central Park Zoo who were depressed because everything came too easy for them: they never had to hunt, never had to face any adversity, because food was always given to them ...

Maybe that's one reason humans now get so depressed ... everything, from elevators to food, comes relatively easy. There's nothng (physical anyway) that we really have to fight over ... even the poorest among us are rich souls compared to the caveman ...

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... I guess there are advantages and disadvantages to everything ...