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No respect for elders on the Green Line tonight

Guilty guy

A roving UHub photographer reports he watched young dude sitting on a D trolley between Kenmore and Hynes tonight as an old guy with a cane stood and struggled to stay upright:

Unbelievable. Man was clearly having trouble maintaining his balance while the trolley moved. The man even said: "I really need to sit down."

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Comments

Maybe next time you should tell the little prick to get the fuck up instead of taking his picture, no?

Between my mother and the nuns, I'm glad respect for my elders was a value beaten into me.

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"Between my Mother and the Nuns"

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And unlike Adria Richards, the little ass, whoops, I mean little "roving UHub photographer" doesn't even come forward under his own name when shaming the person online.

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I agree with this sentiment entirely as do 37 other readers at the time of this comment.

Unfortunately this has become the TMZ, or Inside Track component of the UHub website and twitter feed. I have no idea how someone posting a photo on social media of a perceived societal infraction on the MBTA constitutes news.

Its extremely passive agressive, and to be quite honest, the viewers do not know the complete story so judgment should be reserved.

I ride the MBTA everyday, and see alot of stupid people tricks, however I have never felt compelled to take a photo and complain about it on the internet. UHub should stop perpetuating this behavior.

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If this was TMZ, it would be a Kardashian not giving up the seat. If it was the Inside Track it would be Ernie Boch,Jr not giving up the seat.

Get it right!

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You're almost there... keep connecting the dots.

And the UHub online blog version is of this analogy is the average person.

Thanks for playing!

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And nobody pointedly asked the young man if he would get up? I do that all the time. What's the worst the kid could say - no? Outrightly no?

Silently fuming and taking a photo did not get the elderly man a seat.

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Or even politely asked him to stand? Kids aren't taught manners, so it's their fault they're self-absorbed little fucks?

Cripes

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Loudly and clearly asking if ANYONE can give the gentleman a seat, but not asking a specific person. This young man shouldn't have to explain to strangers that he's sitting down because of poor balance, dizziness, pain, whatever might be the case. We don't know that he's nondisabled. Yes, try and get seats for people who need them, but don't call people out individually since you don't know whether they have a disability.

The converse is a good idea too; if you see someone who looks to you like they could use a seat, offer ONCE, but let it go if they decline. They know their body and their skills better than you do.

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I have vertigo off and on. I've been to all kinds of doctors to try to figure out the problem but it's just "one of those things." I have an invisible problem.

I ride the Red Line most of the time and I'm sorry but I'm that a-hole leaning up against the doorway. It's a good way for me to keep my balance.

Having said that, I would have given up my seat for that guy. I don't want to brag but I did give my seat up for a Mom with a young kid the other day so I like to think I'd give my seat up for that guy.

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A friend of mine had a similar problem - she would get dizzy to the point of falling over and hitting her head on the sidewalk. She went to all kinds of doctors and was finally diagnosed with migraine-induced vertigo. She now has a looooooooong list of trigger foods she can't eat, but she's stopped falling over.

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Does that kid look disabled? No, he doesn't. He looks like another disaffected twenty something selfish asshole. My God, eeka, as hard as I try to respect your obvious highly liberal to the point of being obnoxious viewpoints sometimes, you are way, way off on this one.

And can you really compare the physical attributes of a apparently strapping young dickhead with that of an OBVIOUSLY physically impaired senior citizen?

Call me a sociopath or someone with violent anti-social tendencies, but I would have made it very clear to this little shit that giving up his seat to that old man was NOT optional. What if that was your father?

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What if that were YOUR son with MS or a bad knee or any one of a myriad of other problems that you can't see by looking, but that would make it unsafe for him to stand on a moving vehicle?

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Find another seat. Comparing the physical ailments of a twenty something with an obvious guilty look in his face with a senior who was literally asking for help is a little shallow, no?

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If it's a crowded train with no seats, where should he go? Why not ask if anyone on the train can give up a seat?

Sometimes people have a legitimate reason to sit down. Even those of us that don't "look the part". It's not a contest to see who is the worse off. And even if someone is just being lazy, taking a photo/constantly asking the same person isn't going to help.

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For the most part, the key to survival on the T is to ignore what's going on around you. So in my experience, people yelling anything tend to be ignored.

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But it makes more sense than taking a photo of some kid. And I've seen people do it before which resulted with someone getting up.

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Does that kid look disabled? No, he doesn't. He looks like another disaffected twenty something selfish asshole.

I have a very good friend who has MS and usually can't stand for long periods of time and at certain times can't walk more than a few hundred feet. He doesn't look disabled either, and I suppose to a stranger who doesn't know him, looks like a disaffected selfish asshole too. He's been subject to the dirty looks and occasional questioning by concern trolls who see him using his HP placard. Seriously. Think before making judgments.

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Hey, where can I get the badge that lets me judge the complete worth of a person and the situation he's in based on a photo I see on the internet?

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My father, may his memory be a blessing, was always one to assume the best of people and not make assumptions. He knew better than to think he knew anything about someone that they hadn't chosen to share with him.

He would not have approved of your violent and judgmental ways, though he would have forgiven you and shown you compassion. He was a better person than I am in that regard, because I just think you're being an asshat.

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Your Dad sounds like he was a cool guy. Mine taught me to never trust anyone who wore wing tips on the weekend. Of course, my father was robbed twice in his 10 years of driving the cab, so cynicism was sort of ingrained into us. I also suppose that's why my brother has no problem with the child labor in his Apple factories and I spend my days assuaging the insecurities of the 1%.

And I actually prefer asshole to asshat, a point I've made abundantly clear on the past.

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You'd be pleased to know then that the traditional "asshole" has beat the slightly edgy "asshat" in the swear words brackets:

http://deadspin.com/vote-jagoffs-second-round-of-o...

It's now up against "clusterfuck" for a shot at advancing. Better go vote!

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I have to agree! I would have point blank asked this kid to move and let this man sit. The worst he could say is no. Sometimes being called out, will make a person aware of their stupid actions (or in this case, lack of action). I know my grandmother is stubborn and wouldn't ask someone for herself to sit. However, if someone else asked and the person moved, she'd silently be relieved. -Mea www.hertrainstories.blogspot.com

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Everyone who rides this line should download and study this picture, then approach this jerk about his actions!

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Not to say this kid shouldn't have given up his seat, but aren't the handicapped seats on the other side of the door? These single seats would be rather hard to get into/out of with any sort of mobility issue, seeing as they're wedged between the door partition and stairs.

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I love getting dirty looks like this when I sit. Not saying this is that kid's deal, but I have hip and knee problems and it's just better/healthier when I sit. I still try to get my ass up when someone who needs that seat more than me needs it, but there's some times I just can't.

Maybe that kid should have gotten up, it's true, but think before you get grumpy over it. I have invisible disabilities and that kid could too, for all you know.

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Sorry, I find it almost inconceivable that a kid can get on the T without any kind of assistance but have a disability severe enough to deny a clearly hobbled elder a seat.

I'm curious, are your "invisible disabilities," at any given time, worse than a elderly man's vocalized needs?

If you, or the kid, are so needy perhaps you should think about sharing your seat with other needy people instead of gloating while others suffer.If no-one else offers you could probably rotate in the seat and both get there healthier.

It's "better/healthier" when you sit? Better than an old man losing his balance and breaking a hip?

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Good thing most cars have more than one seat, so hopefully ALL people in there who happen to have disabilities can sit down, and you don't have to berate someone about their hip, knee, or back problems being unimportant because they don't have an AARP card!

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Sure, his hypothetical disability is not as disabling as the old man in the picture. But what the picture doesn't show is ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE sitting down. And if the young guy has a need to sit down, his need is greater than at LEAST one of those other people.

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I'm a 55-year old gray-haired man with a very visible disability and an MBTA TAP card. I'd have gotten out of my seat for that old(er) man, although we'd be at the next stop by the time I could complete the maneuver.

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This kid should be ashamed of himself.

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Take the bus to City Point from South Station. Plenty of "beautiful people" pretending to text, listen to Ipods etc. while a blind dude, pregnant women and elderly stand. It is obviously the first time on public transportation since graduating from college.
Ps: Love the look on this ass wad's face!

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On a bus, the driver can intervene.

On a train, it's up to the passengers to handle it themselves.

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someone else could have given him a seat! all the blame doesn't go on this one person...I agree he should have though.

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I'm fairly horrified that you would post this kid's picture without knowing his situation.

What if he has a disability, or an injury?
What if there is a perfectly legitimate reason he couldn't get up?

It was always the worst feeling for me, when I had a knee injury to always feel like I had to obviously adjust my knee brace so that people like this wouldn't get mad at me for sitting down on a crowded train and give me nasty looks or make snide comments.

I would have been absolutely furious to have someone pull this kind of stunt on me in that situation.

If you can't actually ask someone in person, when they're right in front of you, why they're making a certain choice, how can you feel comfortable publicly shaming them on the internet?

exceptionally irresponsible and rude.

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How are we so certain from this one photo that the young man in question does not himself have a disability, like Multiple Sclerosis, which was why he remained seated?

Was every other rider in a seat old and with cane for us to single out this one person?

It seems like a lot of clucking in this hen house tonight.

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When I tore cartilage in my hip that made it painful to stand and walk, the only way I was able to get a pass from these judgmental folk was when I was using crutches post-surgery.

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1. "Roving UHub Photographer" = kid with phone? Even my mom is a roving photog now and she's in her 70s. Real photographers take credit, esp when smudging the image of a stranger on a public forum.

2. I like that people are sticking up for the kid, imagining him to be disabled, getting upset with your photographer...calling out the article as old news. Very Boston. We can all agree the kid should have gotten up, and the old man (or someone else but who?) could have asked for the seat, but when a photo of the incident can be taken, uploaded, and commented on in one evening, what the f do you expect? We're way past Kansas, folks.

3. There is no 3 y'all. I love this page. One request: more copy, less link only posts. The comments are gold when this happens.

p.s. ok, what's with that look? easy fella

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One thing is for sure: the concerned adult who posted this could have better used his/her time to a. find the poor guy a seat and b. teach the kid to look out for the elderly, pregnant women, weak, young children, etc. What might seem like common sense to us adults is something we learned from somewhere--parents, teachers, youth counselors, neighbors, scout leaders. Unfortunately, we live in a pretty selfish society. Today's kids have a much harder road to becoming good people. One of the most important things that adults can do (for children AND other adults) is to lead by example. I'm sure that I was with an adult who gave up their seat for an old person before I ever did. But I was taught that it's just what you do. If your role models live their lives giving up seats, questioning authority, treating the environment with respect and living their lives by strong shared values, you are very likely to do the same. (And if that doesnโ€™t work, then you tell the kid to get the hell up.) Outing the kid for not giving up his seatโ€”whether he knew better or notโ€”and posting pictures of him on the internet is a pretty lame response.

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I don't care for this type of posting, it singles out one of several people doing the same thing and suggests we shame him without knowing any details of the situation? I have no problem with protecting anonymity of the person who sent it, but its questionable to post this at the expense of another in what is basically a small town.

The snarky-Gawker-esque postings have been growing. Is this what you are trying to do? Its your blog, do what you want. Just my .02.

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Maybe I should have thought twice (well, three times) before posting this.

Why I did post it: I know the "roving photographer." He's a very deliberate person, not given to hyperbole, so when he e-mailed me the photo with a subject line of "Unbelievable," I thought it merited attention. I realize that that by itself won't convince anybody of the photo's worth, since you don't know who the guy is, but this wasn't just some random tweeted photo.

Given that I've known eeka for quite awhile, yes, I should have thought of the "hidden" disability issue, since she's discussed it before. Yes, the kid could have some problem of his own that warrants him taking a seat and not offering it to the old guy with the cane.

And because of that, the focus probably should have been on the entire car (or at least the area directly around where these two were) - it wasn't just the young guy that didn't offer a seat to the poor old guy. Even if not this particular kid, that's still, at a minimum, kind of annoying.

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And given all that, you are still keeping it up...why?

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this punk needs to learn some manners. hopefully, his grandparents will see this photo

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Maybe he's since found out that the kid was a suburbanite.

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You should remove this picture. It's more telling about the photographer than the man in the photo.

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He has a point, if you agree, you're free to delete. And I endorse it (to note, I don't endorse the supports arguments of Eeka despite our similar goals - going about "what if" is not an argument). When I first stumbled on this blog, I was drawn by posts about the T and stayed because it informs me of so many little things that occurs in Boston. Occasionally it alerts me to events (which I wouldn't mind seeing more). Then there are the occasional essays like the bridge over Riverside line that I absolutely love.

I do not come here for snarky posts producing Two Minutes of Hate to rage at someone we disapprove. There's enough stories of internet mob wars sparked by a people who decided to shame via taking pictures and putting it on the internet.

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That there's the possibility that the kid just didn't notice. I know that yes--it would be nice if we were all attuned to our surroundings all the time, but sometimes you just space out. He might have been sitting there, off in his own world, wondering why on earth that guy was snapping his photo. It seems a little presumptuous to assume that he was aware that the guy needed a seat and was just refusing to give it up.

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Sally - did you read the part of the blog in which it says the elderly man said - out loud - "I really need to sit down."

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In the din of a crowded B line car, "out loud" might have meant "audible within the elderly man's immediate vicinity," which included the photographer but not the rest of the people in the car.

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Right, because hearing loss only happens to old people (hearing aid user here since the age of 2)

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"Sally - did you read the part of the blog in which it says the elderly man said - out loud - "I really need to sit down.""

Sorry, Anon, but I agree with Sally. Trains are loud, just because the photographer heard this doesn't mean that the kid did. In fact he looks kind of angry, maybe he was having a bad day and was spaced out and not paying attention. And, btw, there's a seat on the opposite side of the steps from the kid, and three seats behind where the photographer was standing -- where are those people's photos.

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Or is hearing impaired. Who knows? Yes, the odds are that he's just a knucklehead but we don't know. And this is one of the hazards of the New Journalism (and Adam, you know that we love you) --that we have a story that isn't quite a story. We haven't fact-checked our assumption that this guy is indeed a total jerk.

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Oh Please... Glad that's not my kid!

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Oh, shoot! I know that kid. He's a very nice young man. I am honestly surprised that he didn't offer the seat. Lesson learned for next time, I hope. :/

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...is there a physical or other reason why he couldn't stand up?

I'm guessing the kid was just spacing and it wasn't a malicious act. If I do sit on a train I would certainly give my seat up to someone who looked like they needed it - but I try to go to my "other world" when I'm riding the train - and I do it more often to try and stop thinking about all the things I might be touching thanks to all of Adam's gross posts about things people do on trains :-(.

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(First of all, unless the person posting is his healthcare provider, HIPAA wouldn't apply...)

If someone informs us that this particular guy is perfectly capable of standing on the T, that still doesn't make it right for anyone to have assumed a couple days ago that this was the case before they had that information. It's never acceptable to assume someone using something doesn't need it or owes you an explanation or has to pull out their injury license or something. His reasons for sitting are his.

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As in if you don't move your fat Hippo Ass for old people - sorry - that was all tongue in cheek. As others have posted "<"sarcasm off">"

Not relevant to the time at hand (perhaps/perhaps not - I probably would have asked this kid or another passenger to move if I were concerned about the older gentleman as this person was) - but very relevant to the discussion of this thread - so just curious - "<"sarcasm on">" could this kid have gotten off his fat Hippo ass for the elderly gentleman?

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Adam, I'm glad to see your reply. I just don't like the internet shaming that the picture has, by singling this one person out. He was one potentially oblivious, selfish person amongst dozens.

But I can see your point, the picture is totally startling and upsetting, and makes you want to yell at the younger guy. That sort of does add a news-worthiness to the pictures, or at least a desire to share it.

I think blurring the younger guy's face would get the same startling message across, and serve as a nice reminder to everyone to pay attention to other people on the T, but it would remove the specific attack on one individual who was not the only one in the wrong.

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Unless the kid actually refused to give up his seat I don't think it is fair to single him out since there is a whole car filled with people who could have given up their seat or asked the younger guy to give up his. He may have been callous but maybe he was just clueless.

Did the photographer ask the kid to give up his seat? Or ask him why he didn't think to do so on his own? In cases of such passive behavior as this, I think it is important to dig a little deeper to determine an actual malicious motive before posting their picture on the Interwebs for a public flogging. This seems pretty irresponsible of yourself and the photographer.

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than yes, the 'kid' should have given the old man his seat. But do we know there's not more to the story? I look perfectly healthy, but have chronic very painful tendinitis in my right foot, and standing up or worse having to engage in some contortion on a crowded train or bus can become quite painful after 5 minutes. I also occasionally am in a foul mood, and perhaps don't have the best of manners. Presumably I'm not the only flawed human being on here.

The photographer here is the real obnoxious person. She [?] behaved like a lil' nazi. One of these days she'll pull her passive-aggressive picture taking crap on the wrong person.

*Cute T story:

As posted above, I have painful tendinitis in my right foot. I guess sometimes it shows in my body language, because a week ago on a crowded red line train, two bubbly Japanese girls [young women, one with a hello kitty thing on her bag...LOL] offered me her seat within 1 minute of my getting on the train. I politely refused, but that literally was the first time in my life anyone has offered me a seat on a train.

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I'm afraid that I'm going to have to invoke Godwin's Law here.

... if any poster does mention the Nazis in a discussion thread, Godwinโ€™s Law can be invoked, they instantly lose the argument and the thread can be ended.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6408927...

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If this man couldn't find a seat, that means dozens of people were sitting. Why single out this one guy?

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Adam, I think it is seriously irresponsible of you to post this photo and you ought to remove it.

Appearances can be deceptive. I recall standing on a crowded bus a few years ago and noticing an old man with a cane tottering back and forth in the center of the aisle as we moved along. All around him healthy people sat in seats so I loudly announced that someone ought to offer him a seat. I was informed that seats had been offered and the old man had declined for whatever reason. I had missed that exchange somehow--maybe I was looking out the window or checking out some hot Mormon at the moment seats were offered and hadn't heard.

Just because some old guy mutters that he surely could use a seat doesn't mean the kid heard, nor does it mean that he even noticed him. As Sally said, we should all be super aware of everything going on around us at all times--but especially on the T one often zones out and doesn't notice everyone on the train. When you don't know how to zone out and ignore people during your first year in the big city I can tell you that every nut approaches you for a chat.

Some clown with a camera takes a photo of a stranger on the train because he is certain that he is all-knowing and all-seeing and can read that boy's mind and exposes him to accusations to which the boy is unable to respond and this the right thing to do why?

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I am simply stunned by the people on this blog, defending this insensitive, classless miscreant who refused to offer his seat to a person who obviously needed it. anyone with a brain can look at this photo, and see that this kid is nothing but a punk. one doesn't need a doctorate to figure this one out.

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wholeheartedly agree.

Maybe some of the people defending him see a reflection of their own behavior in such a situation.

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"Anyone with a brain," is a very judgmental conclusion. A photo is not privy to anything except a split-second of visual perception --and I doubt the photographer followed the "miscreant" to ascertain he didn't have a disability of his own. That "brain" is passing judgment on woefully incomplete information. And even if he's a perfectly healthy guy, "neglected" is not the same as "refused" unless he a) heard and acknowledged the elderly man's plea and b) deliberately stayed put. Being oblivious to one's surroundings is certainly no excuse (and should never be) but why single HIM out and not all the other people on the train who "refused" to give up their seats?

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I'm totally amazed by the way people "think" that they "know" somebody does not have a disability by the way they "look".

Sorry, but even doctors can't pull that trick off. Notice how they always say that they have to do an examination before giving advice? Yeah, that.

Note as well: he is NOT the one occupying a seat that explicitly directs the sitter to move if they are able to permit someone to sit there who is having difficulty.

Or is all this just too much for your brain to handle all at once? Maybe? I hated having students like you when I lectured - "wahhh the problems are too hard make it simple (even though reality isn't simple) because it isn't fair if it isn't simple wahhh". Sorry - life isn't simple and the small-minded are the ones who insist that it is.

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Probably because it was the closest seat to the elder man.

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While I understand the concern that perhaps (in spite of several decades of age difference) that the kid might have a hidden disability exceeding the help needed by a much older man, there is one other issue not mentioned. Asking anyone to do something is fraught with becoming a target.

Just as the woman last week spit on a man who asked her to not be so loud at a subway station there is no way to know if this kid (or anyone) would not react violently to a reasonable request. Just because the kid is young and white doesn't mean that he won't instantly turn on a stranger who asks him to do something he doesn't want to do.

To me then a larger problem is how can any one individual safely take the initiative to ask one person to help out by giving up something when another person needs help? How many times has any reader encountered a scowl or worse when asking someone to not occupy a seat with their backpack, coat or by lieing across the seats?

Objecting to the photograph is also disingenuous considering how many cameras are recording our public actions everyday. I don't hear much griping about that. Does a government agency have a greater right to photographing than a private citizen? As for posting the picture this is a public situation: any so-called right to privacy instantly decreases upon stepping into a public area.

A different issue was the use of the "lil' nazi" in an earlier response. Given the uproar over Ken Reeves use of the term rape I am surprised that no one mentioned the at least equally inappropriate equating of individuals who committed mass murder to someone peeved at a kid for not offering a seat to an elderly man. That is a serious sense if disproportionality. But alas Godwin occasionally makes his appearance.

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To me then a larger problem is how can any one individual safely take the initiative to ask one person to help out by giving up something when another person needs help? How many times has any reader encountered a scowl or worse when asking someone to not occupy a seat with their backpack, coat or by lieing across the seats?

"A scowl," says the guy who tags the other poster for a "serious sense if [sic] disproportionality." Typical anti-social Boston attitude. I don't know, you could try being an adult and deal with a scowl. And maybe realize that for every crazy spitting woman, there's many more instances of people actually giving up their seats -- possibly with a scowl -- when they're asked which aren't reported.

Or you can escape to the internet, because that's just as effective in getting that old man a seat.

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Actually, the government DOES have a greater right to photograph a private citizen, in order to assist with law enforcement, as well as the security and monitoring of its installations. A private citizen snapping a photo of another private citizen for self-perceived reasons, with the intent to do harm, and without their consent or knowledge is a violation of privacy, and appealing to "but they're out in public" as a counterpoint is a fallacy. It's even less valid since the private citizen who took the photo handed it off to another private citizen to spread around.

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I showed the photo to my 10 year old son and explained as much as I understood, and said, "We don't really know why no one got out of their seat so this man could sit down but I expect you to give up your seat in this situation." So, Adam, thanks for that.

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Trust me: this kid had no hidden disability (unless 'lack of human decency' is a disability). Look at the other pic (below) in which he is reclining and has his left leg up on his right knee. Also, he sprung right up out of the seat when the trolley reached his stop. The elderly man boarded the train and grabbed the first pole he saw. He was not going to roam around the trolley, to see if someone would get out of a seat for him. there was one person in a position to help this man...and he chose not to.

Second Green line photo

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"There was one person in a position to help this man...and he chose not to."

One person? I count at least two. I missed the part where the still-anonymous jackass asked the man to give up his seat.

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Is that it's hidden. As in, you don't get to just look at their shoes to see it and they can still fold their knee and they might even be able to spring up and walk off the train...but remaining upright could be extremely difficult when not moving.

My brother's MS gives him a sometimes unstable gait, but you might not know it unless you know how he used to walk before it developed. He can sit and fold his legs like any other person...but if you ask him to stand on a moving train, he could easily sprain his ankle trying because the fine motor skills for balance just aren't there like they used to be. It's also extremely transient. Some days, he could walk a mile. Other days, he can't get off the couch safely without crutches. It all depends on relapse state.

He gets a handicapped plate/hanger and parks up front. Some days he gets out without his crutches and knows there are people giving him dirty looks as if he stole a parking space from the elderly. Same difference here.

Now, I'm not saying this guy has MS or even has a likelihood of having MS. I'm just saying you have no idea...and your followup doesn't expose any greater truth even if you want to think it does.

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I have MS. You wouldn't know it to look at me, but if I had to stand on a crowded green line train, you'd think I was drunk/a drug addict/crazy because I cannot keep my balance while standing on a moving vehicle.

Sometimes, I walk with a cane.

Even then, I have been verbally abused by people who thought they were doing "the right thing" by telling me that I didn't really "need" to use the cane.

I don't know what's worse, having an incurable neurodegenerative disease or the way I get treated by total strangers as a result of it.

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Even if someone finds this kid and he says he doesn't have a disability, that still doesn't make it right to judge. Because if someone's approach is that it's OK to say something to a person in a seat, then they're inevitably going to happen upon our anon friend with MS, who has just said that it's obnoxious to be on the receiving end of people's misguided comments all day. Even if the comments aren't intended to be harmful, no one wants to hear misguided meddling all day. Most people just want to go about their business.

FWIW, my preschooler has a neurological condition that makes movements look strange and uncoordinated but doesn't affect functional motor skills. Several times per week when we are out in public, someone will tell me that my child might fall and should be carried or shouldn't be on stairs or playground equipment or walking unaided down the aisle of a bus. Strangers will touch my child to "help" when I'm right there, being attentive, and obviously know my own child and wouldn't even think of intervening with long-ago mastered skills. These things people say are all well-intentioned, but they're ignorant and based on false assumptions about what someone can or can't do based on briefly seeing the person, and on not trusting that people know their own bodies and needs better than a stranger does.

No one should have to deal with constant messages about what they are and aren't capable of, or with debating whether they (or their parent) should tell a complete stranger about their personal business because "sorry, I need to sit" or "stop touching my child" wasn't effective when the interaction shouldn't have even happened in the first place.

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Was someone sitting there? Why not ask him/her to move and then help the guy to the seat?

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Arguing on speculation that "maybe he's also disabled", "maybe he didn't heard him", "maybe someone strapped a bomb on his baby sister that will blow up if he gets up or tells anymore before his destination" is pointless. Speculative and doesn't accomplish anything.

What we know at the moment is what we see in the picture. A old man who looks like he can use a seat didn't get a seat. A young man didn't gave up his seat. By that information, it looks bad, but does that mean broadcasting across the internet as the worst human being in the world?

And note "worst human being". When the internet takes something seriously, it operates on that line. Proportional reaction is rarely possible as thousands to millions of eyes are exposed to an incident. Yet and ironically the person pictured would only hear about it if it gets exposed on that level.

C'mon adamg, take the picture down. While it is true that once something is out on the internet, it is next to impossible to remove, leaving it on is public shaming on a scaled that I don't see it called for. Because in the end, it is still trying to spark an angry internet mob rather than teach any lesson.

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Innocent, etc.

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the photographer? Or can anyone start posting photos of random people on Universal Hub and make up terrible stories about them?

I'm not saying that this story is made up, but without knowing who reported it and being able to ask them directly we have no way to know.

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Your friend may well be a decent person, but he can't tell from how someone sits on the T whether the person has vertigo, panic attacks, poor stamina, inability to maintain grasp on a pole, poor balance, nerve damage, or any number of things that aren't any of our business but that warrant him sitting down for long transit rides.

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But I have a whole basket of told ya so's I'd like to start handing out.

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"Do I get up and let this elderly man sit down, or is this wierdo taking photos of me going to try something funny like rob me or grab my bum or do something else wierd...."

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. . . is this picture still here? There is no excuse for it.

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I try to be a thoughtful T citizen but I will admit that there have been times where I've been spaced out, or engrossed in a book, and snapped back to earth to embarrassingly see a pregnant woman or an elderly person standing in front of me. Not often but it has happened, more than once. So I have to cut this kid a break.

However, nothing grinds my gears more than the rubes who stand right at the doorway instead of moving into a car. I don't think I've ever spaced on that. I see plenty of footspace that this nosy, cowardly TMZ wannabe could be filing in towards.

And then shaming this kid while hiding behind a pseudonym? Roving photographer 2, space cadet 1.

Tally my vote for pulling the photo down unless the coward reveals himself/herself

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On the Orange Line today I watched a high-school-aged kid carrying a lacrosse stick get up and offer his seat to a middle-aged woman (not even elderly!)

So I guess the world isn't ending after all.

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y'all are making me afraid to take the T, more for fear of getting shot by an anonymous roving Uhub photog than by a gangbanger.

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Why the heck couldn't the photog politely say to the young guy: 'if you're able to would you mind giving up your seat for this elderly gentleman, thanks.' Why automatically assume the guy is an asshole? If he does have an invisible disability then he can politely reply that he is unable to. Perhaps he was zoned out and had the photog let him know the elderly gentleman would appreciate his seat, he may have gotten right up and apologized. The photog does nothing to help the elderly man with the cane and instead presumes the guilt of the younger guy and promptly forwards his photo accompanied by incriminating story for online bashing. No credibility.

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if this shameful young man learns a lesson from this episode, then the T will be a better place for senior citizens

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i have no idea if this kid should have, or could have, gotten up to give someone else his seat. i don't know him. he's not my kid.

but what sticks in my craw with all of this is the villagers standing around with pitchforks, lighted torches, and iphones. everybody seems to delight with public shaming. and this is KID. he's a kid who probably has a lot of life lessons to learn, but he shouldn't need to learn them in a public forum on the internet.

this whole thing, from start to finish, is just so unkind and cringeworthy. it is some sort of public endorsement of bullying, and we should be better than this.

does the T need to be better for senior citizens? absolutely! and there are a bunch of things we can, and should to, to advocate that. but harassing a random child on the internet is not one of those ways.

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One, it is visually compelling. Two, it is educational. Three ... (deleted, but generally reflecting a sense of surprise and disappointment at the majority of responses here).

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Lets just say for sake of argument, the kid had a disability..who more likely to withstand the pain of standing? I mean if the elderly gentleman is enduring it, you think this piss stain can?

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