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June 04, 2006
Beware the Bus Uncle
What do you think is the moral of Bus Uncle - the latest Internet cult video? It shows an ugly attack by a middle-aged Chinese nut case on a young man sitting behind him in a Kowloon bus.
The young man had tapped this individual on the shoulder, and asked him to lower the volume of his mobile phone conversation. The resulting bullying tirade, complete with obscenities, indecent references to the young man's mother and threatening gestures, was captured by another passenger who happened to have a video phone.
As millions of people downloaded the video, it led to a mini-boom in T-shirt, mug, notebook, book bag and even boxer shorts sales and a media frenzy, including this magazine interview, which revealed that Bus Uncle was a particularly troubled man.
So what should we take away from this incident? Don't lose your cool, because you never know when you're on candid camera phone? Or, as we've been wondering, having recently witnessed an ugly verbal assault a by a middle-aged man on a 10-year-old boy who'd walked across his line of vision during what was obviously a particularly tense table tennis match in a public hall, some older males might be in need of anger-management classes? Or, perhaps, that people who talk loudly on their mobile phones in public places might tend towards unpredictability. And it might be better just to move to the back of the bus.
Posted by cw at June 4, 2006 12:20 PM
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Comments
I watched the bus uncle video about a week ago and it's hilarious. That old man has issues. To get so upset over someone asking you to lower your voice is ridiculous.
There's like a million versions of that bus uncle video now. From remixed versions with songs, to karaoke versions to news reports spliced with the video. His catch phrase of "You have pressure, I have pressure, not resolved" is spreading like wildfire into normal conversations (for Cantonese speaking Asians anyway).
Posted by: Thanh at June 5, 2006 07:35 PM
Disgusting.
"The advent of the remote control was the catalyst for the downfall of society".
I fear for our future. You only have to look at myspace.
Society is crumbling at the edges.
Posted by: SM at June 5, 2006 08:29 PM
Give that older guy a break... he was talking on a suicide hotline. And the younger guy's attitude is not really that much better.
Posted by: Wing at June 11, 2006 02:21 PM