A few days ago, Voong was telling us about this elderly woman on the MRT who took pictures of others, and it irritated me. I forgot the first half of the story, because I think I was distracted? The second half of the story goes like this: One early morning, an old woman boarded the MRT, which was full, I suppose, because it’s the morning peak hour where everyone’s trampling over each other to go to school or to work or somewhere. Yeah, and so this old lady spotted a school girl sleeping in one of the priority seats. Then the old lady whipped out her phone to snap a picture, probably pissed because she felt that the priority seat’s hers.

Poor girl! She’s probably tired from staying up late to complete her schoolwork, then waking up early to rush to school, and tried to catch a few moments of precious sleep on the train. Or she probably fell asleep accidentally.

I just feel that some people are abusing their rights. Okay, maybe “rights” is too strong a term, since it’s no crime if you refuse to give up your seat to those “who need it more than you do”. You’ll just feel damn embarrassed, I guess?

It’s hardly fair to the girl who fell asleep, since she was unaware that someone wanted her seat. And I don’t know why that old lady had to do it, to post it somewhere and caption, “LOOK! THIS GIRL REFUSED TO GIVE UP HER SEAT TO ME!”? Poor thing’s probably too exhausted to notice.

Would make more sense if that old lady just picked on someone else who wasn’t asleep then. It’s like bullying.

I don’t like Stomp either. I don’t like the way some people — STOMPers, they call themselves — take discriminate pictures of others when they’re not looking. If that’s not low, I don’t know what else is.

People should mind their own business, seriously. Came across this article in Stomp, and I like the comments a lot! See what I mean!

Do they have no respect for others? Sure, you can be fined for eating on the train, but you can also be sued for taking pictures of others without their permission and publicizing it. Yeah, so some people are trying to be some freaking goody two-shoes, all the while infringing on others’ privacy. Sheesh.

You know, there are some perverts out there who take pictures of others when they’re not looking, and I don’t see the difference. Oh wait, these people are doing it for the welfare of our society, by shaming others (to make themselves look good, probably), and because they’re doing it for a greater good, they’re like, above the law, or rather, they are the law. To hell with them.

Those people are disgusting, the way they delight in other people’s humiliation. It’s an act of malice, to elevate the self by putting others down. Disgusting.

It’s not like I’m saying hogging seats, refusing to give up seats, eating on public transport, or jaywalking is correct (contrary to it, because it’s wrong, that’s why some people get a kick out of it), but who are those people to decide that hey, because someone else is doing something wrong, they should mete out punishment in the form of humiliation?

I think the whole give-up-your-seat-to-someone-who-needs-it-more-than-you-do is overrated anyway. I don’t think it’s for anyone to decide who deserves the seat more and who less. Sure, some might need the seats more, but others pay more for their transport fares, or they’re more tired, or something. Point is, it is morally and socially right to give up your seat to someone else, but is it just?

Thank goodness it’s not against the law if you don’t give up your seat. It’d be a really stupid law anyway. People who can afford it can just get their own cars and let those people have the whole train to themselves. A more intelligent move would be to separate the carriages into two: One for the normal commuters, the other for “those who need it more”, since they go all out to emphasize that.

Sorry, the picture’s not too clear. But it just shows that you should give up your seat for the elderly, those with kids, and those who are pregnant. Voong was even talking about asking that old lady to point which category she belongs to, since the only female in the three pictures is the one who’s pregnant, and the old lady’s not pregnant.

You know, I’m seriously tempted to do something and get caught on camera, for reasons unknown to me, probably to make a point. Anyone interested to join me in camwhoring? Then again, I don’t like cameras.