Like animals ruled as they are

Last night I had an experience – a simple one most might think - that left me in some degree of bewilderment. I left it alone and allowed my ‘unconscious’ to process it overnight (while I slept). This morning I got up bursting with thoughts. However, I’m afraid most of you are not going to like it. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’re probably already a glutton for punishment. So get ready for more. Yes it will be taken by some as yet another assault on human nature.

I went to my local train station to collect tickets from their ticket machines – this is around 17:00. It was dark, cold and sprinkling with rain, but not so heavy that I needed an umbrella. So I parked, quickly exited my car and walked about 50 metres to the station, which was in sight. I got to 5 rows of these ticket machines. You can either purchase new tickets or collect tickets which were previously purchased online. The latter was my situation, as I had purchased tickets online the night before.

I quickly noticed that there were four queues of people against four out of five machines. The machine to the extreme left had the smallest queue, so I decided to join that one. There were about four people ahead of me. I looked immediately to my right at the machine against which there was no queue. What was most obvious was an A5 sized notice stuck on that machine, as well as all the other machines. However only the machine to my right had no queue. As the seconds passed I wondered why people weren't lining up against that machine. I read the notice on that machine and it referred to some changes to the local timetable. There was no notice on the machine saying that it was out of order. All the other queues had between 10 and 15 people in each.

The scene was one of people rushing about, and bumping into each other. Some of those who had come off the train and made their way through the turnstiles, were colliding with those in the queues.

I felt slightly hesitant to leave my short queue to go to the machine to my right which had none. The main anxiety that came over me was that perhaps if I went to that machine and it was actually out of order then I might lose my place in the short queue which I was in. However, my tendency to be ruled by observation and reason was not to be overcome by some fleeting anxiety. So I decided to move to the machine to my right where there was no one. I touch the screen and noticed that it was in perfect working order. Almost immediately a woman from another queue came up from behind me and to my left and enquired, "is it working". I replied that it appeared to be working and it seemed that no one was using it probably because they assumed that the notice meant it was out of order. I reached into my pocket to get out my credit card from my wallet and suddenly realised my wallet was in the car in a briefcase.

I went back to the car, fetched a wallet, and returned within 60 seconds. The woman who had approached me was actually using the machine. In that short amount of time, a queue of about 10 people had gathered behind her. Unusually I went back into the same queue at the same machine I was at before, which had now reduced to just two people ahead of me. The woman was able to complete her transaction at the previously suspect machine, without problems. I was seemingly at some relative advantage for my lapse of memory, because I should have expected the queue at the boxy looking machine to have increased in length. However, it had shortened ‘relatively’, by people now gravitating to the machine that was previously thought of by the ‘herd’ to be defective – but was quite clearly in good working order. 

There were two unusual things above that I need to point out.

1. The short queue that I had entered on both occasions, was an older looking machine, covered in some sort of shiny aluminium finish. The other machines had a more modern looking finish in blue plastic like material, with more curved edges. All machines had some display on them to clearly indicate that one could purchase new tickets or collect pre-booked ones.
2. It was unusual for there to be such long queues against three of the blue machines, and none against one blue machine.

My overnight processing brought up the following possible explanations, which I do not assert are bound to be right – and I am sure there are alternative and additional explanations.

1. Possibly something about the design of the blue machines made them more attractive over the squarer boxy looking aluminium finished one.
2. Possibly the shorter queues at the boxy looking machine could have been due to a collective feeling in the minds of others that it was likely to be unreliable.
3. I thought it was quite probable that there was no queue at one of the blue machines because the absence of a queue may have indicated to other people that the machine was out of order. And I wish to return to that point later on, because there was no evidence other than the absence of a queue that might indicate that the machine was defective.
4. It was also possible that people who were in quite a rush did not read the A5 sized notice on the machine.
5. A combination of all of the above conspired against one machine – to the overall disadvantage of the ‘herd’.

This morning therefore, I am in awe about the frailty of human nature both at individual and collective levels. It appeared to me that degrees of anxiety, a tendency to follow the behaviour of the 'herd', and the ease with which conscious cognitive processes are overwhelmed by the latter two primitive protective processes, are what resulted in the strange response to a machine that was in perfect working order. I continue to marvel at how we as human beings tend to pride ourselves with so much intelligence, yet we are ruled so easily and rather stupidly by primitive deeply ingrained instincts.

p.s. The above is produced using Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred for about 95% of the text. I take full responsibility for all spelling and grammatical errors. Some apparent errors are intentionally of ‘writer’s privilege’.

A legal conundrum presented

I have been self-employed as a maxi-taxi owner/operator for 12 years. I previously held a Priority Bus Route (PBR) pass, which expired on October 31, and I recently tried to obtain a new PBR pass.

I have written to the Ministry of Transport and, since I received no reply, I personally visited its office at Tower D on the Waterfront.

Ministry officials confirmed they had received my letter, which had been forwarded to the Works Ministry. I was taken aback on being informed there was nothing the Transport Ministry could do to help me, and I needed to raise the matter with the Works Ministry.

I pointed out that under the Highways Act Chapter 48 Part 1B Section 2f, the use of the PBR is to be by (among other provisions) "such other vehicles as are authorised with the approval of Cabinet, by the Minister to whom responsibility for the administration of national transport is assigned".

I attempted to explain to the staff at the Ministry of Transport that the law indicates the Minister of Transport is the one designated to preside over the issuance of such permits.

I was informed that jurisdiction over the PBR remained with the Ministry of Works when the two areas were split into different ministries. It appears to me that there exists a problem since the law states one thing, but the ministries are telling you something different.

If I get a PBR pass from the Ministry of Works, when the law indicates that such a document should be issued by the Ministry of Transport, I may be in an ambiguous legal situation.

If the law is followed strictly, then any PBR pass issued by the Ministry of Works would not be valid. If I attempt to use such a pass, and I am stopped by the police, can I be arrested?

Is this also the case for all the passes issued by the Ministry of Works since being split from the Ministry of Transport? If so, then we are facing a major headache, with several people using the PBR illegally, though unaware of the illegality.

I am asking that the relevant ministries to please clarify the situation and advise the public accordingly, since I am certain I am not the only one who wants to avoid being placed in an uncertain legal situation.

H Lee

I would be very interested in a response to your letter, Mr Lee. Although I have a funny feeling it will never be answered until someone is given such a ticket and a defence is filed in court.

Here is another situation which will remain unresolved. I had previously written about it.

16 ‘plotters’ released; Gov’t SoE fails big time

Sixteen persons who were held under detention orders of the State of Emergency were released last night as police did not have sufficient evidence to charge them. Two other men arrested in connection with the plot were also released.

Once more, Jumbie was right.

And as an attorney who deals in evidence and purports to understand the importance of same, Anand Ramlogan sure is a disappointing man.

Red herring exposure

The security evaluation of the intelligence report which detailed the alleged assassination plot against the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet found the information to be highly speculative and poured cold water over the conclusion arrived at that there was a credible security threat.

The security evaluation, received by the Sunday Express, documented on November 23, stated the "chronological sequence of events was inconsistent".

"The general assessment of this information is that it seems to be an amalgamation of several pieces of information, using historical information on individuals of known ill repute to validate the claim of a future act and embellished by the author's liberal use of opinions rather than facts."

Read more here.

A heated row over the state of emergency (SoE) resulted in a near physical confrontation between Cabinet colleagues—Minister of National Security Brigadier John Sandy and Sports Minister Anil Roberts. The heated confrontation is alleged to have occurred during last Thursday’s Cabinet meeting. Sunday Guardian understands that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was forced to intervene in an attempt to quell the rowdy dispute.

The Minister of Sports felt that the extension of the state of emergency failed and served no purpose given that all detainees were released,” top level sources revealed.

Some ministers had to beg them to cool it but nobody was listening and then Minister Roberts stormed out the meeting,” sources added.

Sunday Guardian understands that Persad-Bissessar instructed Roberts to return to the meeting and reprimanded him for his outburst. While the PM acknowledged that Roberts had a point to make, she felt it could have been done in a better manner.

Read more here. That red herring is beginning to stink something really awful now. Ah well, the truth may well be less surprising than the picture painted.

And in other news…

Justice Minister Herbert Volney, who was at the time a High Court judge, and Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Fazal Karim, who was a United National Congress senator, according to the Commission, failed to file a declaration of income, assets and liabilities and a statement of registerable interests. The ministers were among 145 people named in a two-page advertisement placed by the Integrity Commission in yesterday's Express.

Also named as people who failed to declare their assets for 2009 are Opposition Senators Fitzgerald Hinds and Pennelope Beckles-Robinson and Government Members of Parliament Jairam Seemungal, Neela Khan and Ramona Ramdial.

Read more here. Just as I had posted previously, the law (in the form of the Integrity Commission) seems to be sleeping with a pole up the nether hole. Only Panday remains the sole person charged for failing to comply with the laws. For everyone else, it’s a life of Riley it seems. Well, what can we expect from a Commission that has Gafoor sitting on it, as Deputy Chairwoman no less?

I need some time out. Ah gone.. but here is a red herring of my own.

Are Muslims mistakenly ‘loyal’ or radicalised?

I encountered an interesting situation a couple of days ago. I took Punks out for a meal in a Chinese restaurant, and in coming home, we opted to take a taxi due to inclement weather. The driver turned out to be what in England is called ‘Asian’. No, not Chinese/Japanese ‘Asian’ but ‘Indian’ Asian.

During some small talk on the ride home, he kept referring to himself as Pakistani. *

Now this chap has a strong Brummie (Birmingham) accent, and thus the following conversation ensued:

Jumbie: “You were born in Pakistan?”

Driver: “I was born here, in England.”

Jumbie: “So you're British?”

Driver: “No, I’m Pakistani.”

Jumbie: “But you said you were born here in England. You’re British…”

Driver: “No mate, I’m Pakistani!”

Jumbie: “So you were raised in Pakistan?”

Driver: “No. I was raised here.”

Jumbie (with some obvious confusion at this point): “You went to school in Pakistan?”

Driver: “No, no. I was born and raised in England. I went to school here.”

Jumbie: “… but you have Pakistani citizenship?”

Driver: “No, my parents do. But I go there every year for holidays.”

Here, I pointed out then that he could not be Pakistani because he was by birth first a British citizen. This was something he refused to acknowledge or accept, not for one moment. He insisted he was Pakistani, and that Pakistan was his ‘home’ country.

He offered that at best he was a ‘British-born Pakistani’ but despite being born, bred, educated, lived, dated, worked, slept, shit and ate in Britain, he was… Pakistani. I should point out that this chap appeared to be in his late 30’s or early 40’s!!

All I could think to myself that this sort of close minded rejection of his native country, overthrown for a country he barely knows, was how radicalisation is born and rooted. I mean, this could lead to the fundamentalism of Islamic brainwashing (not that every person is susceptible to that), but it is how the subtle brainwashing begins and turns them into terrorists. A misplaced sense of loyalty to a country he has minimal ties to but which overrides everything patriotic he OUGHT to be feeling for the country that he owes everything to.

I have to say, it was a most paranoiac ride for me. This was a man who could easily turn against the English, and England at the drop of a hat, with only a minor amount of pushing…

The sad part is that this behaviour is rising among Muslim youth. It is interesting to note that this type of attitude resulted in a 47% increase in ‘honour killings’ (where Muslim women are killed for ‘dishonouring’ the family) since 2009. 47% increase!!

* Even though Trinidadians like to shorten their moniker to ‘Trini’, it is deemed racist and is actually illegal to shorten Pakistani to ‘Paki’.