Thread by @wanyeburkett

Something I have been mulling for a while that I was too cowardly to face directly until this week is just how often riding transit predictably makes me feel bad about myself. If I respond, I'll feel bad. If I don't, I'll feel bad.

So, you know, why do that to myself?

https://twitter.com/SWENGDAD/status/1654875002347331586

If you can just bow your head in silence while a crazy guy threatens you and everyone around you and then walk off that train completely unaffected, unmoved, and unbothered, then I'm very happy for you.

I cannot. It will ruin my day. I will think about it a lot.

I find it dehumanizing and emasculating. It makes me feel like a sad coward. But there's also no upside to engaging.

So you really cannot win.

I have a lot of my personality wrapped up in preferring cities, in an attraction to transit, in urbanism, generally, which is why this is a difficult thing for me to admit to myself.

And, man, I cannot get over the cacophony of voices this week insisting that if I want to live in a city, then I better get used to it, because that's just how it is.

"Go back to the suburbs, pussy."

Ok, then, I guess. Your terms are acceptable.