Sunday 22 November 2009

Knowledge: Video; Confessions of a Traffic Warden

Confessions of a Traffic Warden

Well worth watching the Channel 4 Documentary at the above link.

Some interesting points -

1) Durgha's view of England being 'non-violent'...Oh how different his pre-conceived notion of what violence is in day-to-day life...It might not be shots to the head on a daily basis, but England's definitely got its violence.
Like the narrator mentions 'I fear he might be dissapointed...'

2) Durgha is one of a kind with regards to passion for this country. The average immigrant worker hasn't read the works of Shakespeare.

3) 'Bashers' - the traffic wardens that proudly set out to give as many tickets as possible, well, to be honest it doesn't surprise. Learning what I know now about the psychology of uniform and how it affects personality function, especially from the Stanford Experiment, I am not surprised to find that although there are no official targets to be hit, certain workers take out whatever conscious or sub-conscious anxt they have in ticket-giving, or 'bashing'. Isn't it interesting that they are given a badge number, (which is a new inception, giving them the power to arrest)and that their uniforms are so hectic - Hi-viz stripes, numerous pockets for radios and equipment, etc. Very similar to that of the security industry, perhaps even militant.
Hmm...

4) 'Code Red' - Oop, definitely getting more militant! 'Within minutes, back-up arrives' - Haha! Even the old bacon brigade is helping them out! Haha! Wow, all in the name of revenue.

5) 'Safe streets' as embroidered on the uniforms of the wardens. This, is what democracy looks like - radios, uniforms and immediate back-up.

6) 'It's a kind of game, yeah?' - Oh it is my friend, a game that requires you to play Balls Out!

7) Clever use of editing perhaps, but do you notice how on edge the vast majority are in the film, both the wardens (fearing of their own lunches being spiked!) and the general public?

8) 31.30 - a warden's own perspective on what 'democracy' will look like...

9) 35.55 - 'But Durgha knew, in order to keep his job he had to be firm with the public' - oh that's right, wage-slavery's gonna require a swift trade of your morals folks.

10) 40.50 - And that's the sound of the 'Moral Dilemma' approaching... 'Sell your soul...go back to sleep' whispers the hum of the machine.

11) 'You should kill your emotion. You should become professional.' Wow. That just solidifies my lack of surprise when genuinely good people enter a governmental institution, or even a profit-based institution, and then become 'evil'. It all makes perfect sense. 'You should be mechanic' - an intrinsic characteristic of a component of any machine, would you not agree?

12) 'I want to empathise with the people' but this 'places a man in a very terrible condition' - and that is the nature of capitalism, that it cannot function along side of democracy. The two cannot co-exist with eachother.

13) 44.30 'Let me tell ya that members of the public will never like CEOs. That's a fact.' Oh, the reciprication of distrust and hostility. How productive.

14) 'They don't have any spirituality' - It's a sad, sad truth my friend.

15) 45.30 - Pay Attention!

Hope you enjoyed it,

No comments:

Post a Comment