Yes, it's not exactly the most pressing issue out there but it is very annoying and a kind of behavior that should be discouraged.

Problem being that there's a lot of people out there-- not just guys-- that think they shouldn't have to shift their backpack/close their damn legs/move their shopping bags when the trains are crowded, because they are entitled assholes, and there are more of them every day.

However, I am in total agreement-- this is in no way appropriate for the front page. There are far more important issues out there. It's not surprising, though. The news and the papers have been just another form of entertainment for years now. I prefer to get my news on the net.

That's fair. But I think we kind of abandoned that kind of right to privacy with the whole advent of the social media age. Most people don't seem to think of or remember a time when it wasn't totally normal to do things like that.

That said, I wish today this was headline news. It'd mean one less police-related shooting has happened for us to flip out over.

Atropos wrote:

When something like this gets coverage in the New York Times, the message it sends out is "This is acceptable; continue doing this."

Good point. I agree with you, but I think we might be in the minority, at least for a while. People still don't seem to realize how much of their privacy they give up with things like social media... and, returning to an old pet peeve of mine, echo chambers like reddit and tumblr reinforce behaviors that would otherwise be unacceptable. Just look at SJW culture, where it's becoming more and more okay to bully and dox people if they make mistakes or have ill-informed opinions. This sort of thing-- whether it's invading the privacy of strangers or trying to ruin their lives-- is because the echo chamber nature of these places allows people to filter out the negative feedback that would tell them they're doing something that's not okay.

I'm not just using an unrelated topic as a way to air my pet peeves, either. The first place I became aware of an actual organized objection to this sort of behavior was Move the Fuck Over Bro on tumblr. And it's a bit of a dilemma-- this is a courtesy issue, for sure. There's a lot of jerks out there that take up more than their fair share of space on public transit, and that should stop. But taking pictures of strangers without their consent is also an asshole thing to do. Still, how do you show that this happens and is an issue without proof of some sort? And the easiest way to get that proof, now, is to take a pic on your cell phone. I can see why this is a thing, and it's a shitty thing all around, but I can't see a better solution at the moment.

And it still shouldn't be front page news. That's just ridiculous. But again, mass media is worthless, and I can't imagine ever getting anything useful from it.

In conclusion, everyone else is an asshole. Get off my planet.