Bubble of Obliviousness

Self-awareness is what separates us from the beasts. Is it possible that some people have so much self awareness that they have no awareness left for others? Does this make them a higher form of life?

It does not.

This often seems to be an issue in crowded urban situations where space is limited and the art of politeness is a distant memory. In some situations individuals have raised this level of being inattentive to the needs of others to a zen like state :

• the individual blocking an entire supermarket aisle in seeming contravention of the laws of physics by injudicious positioning / movement

• the group who have stopped to have a conversation in a confined space and feel no compunction to give way to other would-be occupiers of the space

• the family group who manage to fan out across the pathways in a public park and walk at half the speed of everyone else, leaving the only passing options as off-piste trudges through mud

The list goes on.

The Bubble of Obliviousness is a passive form of sticknorance and the experience of bouncing off one can be exacerbated if the bouncer is caught in the courtesy trap. There goes another time pocket...