The rise and rise of the hi vis jacket
The picture [right, courtesy of the DM] illustrates the extent to which the Hi Vis jacket has become a fail safe for all and sundry who wish to … er … well … remain safe ! The rider is on a stationary exercise bike but the full regalia is obviously necessary.
For many years it was de riguer for for the boys from the blackstuff and the like who risked life and limb putting our roads right in speeding traffic, their annual death rate fully justified wearing them.
That was then.
Bit by bit ,all and sundry now wear Hi Vis jackets for reasons that are becoming ever more dubious, the kiddies of course are now wearing the jackets in miniature form ever more on their trips, being herded along by like dressed parents as flocks of sheep
What happened to – here’s your sandwich and don’t be late – cyclists not only wear the same vests but have annoying flashing lights that match the signals they jump, and when in groups resemble plastic ducks.
All manner of people in jobs that would imply they have some authority now seem to wear Hi Vis all the time – police, security guards ambulance staff, the list gets ever longer, we are now required if driving in France to have these vests at the ready, on show in the front so you don’t forget they are there, and in this country whilst not having the same laws, drivers increasingly wear them all the time whilst driving.
Have they forgotten they are there or are playing at being policemen – who knows?
When seen in mixed groups of these people in authority they are now seen in what would appear to be optional colours of Hi Vis jackets so as to distinguish them though that would only apply to those wearing them as nobody else would have a clue.
I have even seen a different coloured vest worn over the original yellow one; this I would presume is a sign of status over the inferior being who is asked to make do with the common basic yellow one, rather like a sergeant’s stripes.
Dog walkers and dogs wear them, horse riders ditto, ponies and traps have drivers wearing jackets plus one for the road slung over the back of the trap plus the magic words in matching day glow “learner” or what else could it be “care pony and trap”.
I have even dolly in a kids pram wearing a Hi Vis, my house buyers surveyor recently turned up in a Hi Vis to inspect my property, what was all that about ?
We as a nation have gone Hi Vis mad, nothing can be done without donning the dreaded vest, all better to be safe than sorry the cry goes.
Well maybe, but of course when we reach the stage – fast approaching when no one dare venture forth without one the purpose will be lost in a sea of yellow rather like the use of all day headlights on cars, have I got one, well yes , a new one was left behind in my last house by the previous owner a paramedic, my wife thought it would be a good idea if I wore one in the unlit lane outside with no pavement.
Did I ? No, bit late in life to try to buck the odds.
Filed under: Politics & economics, Society & human issues, Wiggia
I make a point of wearing my low vis jacket of black with black trousers and black pack – in fact, everything in black. If anyone asks, I say my name is Luigi Vercotti and do they have an issue. The pencil moustache gets blackened twice a day.
On the bike at night, I wait for an approaching car and switch off the lights – coz that’s not what they’re expecting me to do. He he he.
The hospital’s very nice and the bed bugs keep me company.
James Higham recently posted…The rise and rise of the hi vis jacket
It is the carrot nose that makes a snowman stand out in the snow. So, real emergency workers will have to wear a red pointy nose; police random stop-merchants will have to wear blue flashing ears (lady policepersons can have playboy bunny ears just so long as they are blue and flash); ambulance persons will need special helmets with a large scalpel, red neon lit (non-flashing, unless they are the Chief ambo). The permutations will brighten up the townscapes no end.
I thought that we had almost missed out on the stupidity here – we do have to carry HiVis jackets in cars by law. Apart from that the trend appeared to have missed the village, that is until this morning.
While walking the dog this morning I saw one of our two village workers wearing one – why, when all he was doing was tidying up the boule court.
Wigga, have we gone Hi-Vis mad or is there something else at work?
There is a startling parallel between human society as it is now, and that of the social insects. The social insects represent about 5% of insect species, but vastly outnumber all solo species by weight of numbers. They are, as individuals, devoid of reason but as a group the colony exhibits an astonishing hive intelligence which makes them the top driving force in influencing the environment (bee pollination) and an apex predator in some species (army ants.)
Plato and others have looked to the social insects as an ideal society, and it is, if mindless obedience, self-sacrifice, fearless aggression and expansion of empire is considered as ideal.
There is a temptation to look at ants, which operate farms of vegetable or livestock, indulge in slavery, warfare, civil engineering, terraforming and so forth and to marvel at their cleverness. The case may be, in fact, that by associating in large co-operative groups, human society is devolving into that which has served the insects so well.
There are several examples of mammals (apart from us) which have developed into this mode of society. The most obvious is the naked mole rat, which has a queen (ie a sole reproductive unit, all individuals in the colony being siblings) and a caste system with physiological differences, ie soldiers and workers. The advantage is that which pertains to the ants – strength in numbers, co-operation, efficient production of earthworks etc. The downside is a mindless life underground where you either dig, fight – or mate with the queen and die young. This is not a downside for mindless insects, but the higher mammals have degenerated, like Well’s Moorlocks.
Hi-vis makes people look like bees and think automatically, insect-like. You suspend critical appraisal of authority, or your own safety, if you see or wear a Hi-Vis. They are yellow and striped. This is nothing but convergent evolution. Hivis = Hive.
There is a further implication of hive society which I will add later..
Completely on cue last night on BBC 2, Railways Keeping Britain on Track at 9.00 was awash with Hi Vis jackets, it seemed everyone was wearing one and it finished with the staion manager putting on a “blue” one to go out and explain why trains were delayed to the passengers, I’m afraid blue was a bad choice for a senior position she was almost invisible !
“In 1909, the taxonomist Carlo Emery made an important generalization, now known as Emery’s rule, which states that social parasites and their hosts share common ancestry and hence are closely related to each other (Emery 1909). In the strict version of Emery’s rule, social parasites are their host’s closest relatives, and likely evolved from their host’s lineage……….”"
In other words, insect societies are ripe for plunder and the plunderers are mimics which have evolved from the original insects. As James has mentioned in past posts, there is us and “them” . In my opinion “them” comprise of those we know as psychopaths. The brainscan of a psychopath reveals startling differences, and were supposedly not recognised as human scans in the initial research. They have no empathy for the common hive member ie the majority of humanity, and are strictly predatory. In the world of ants, the interloper uses pheromones (and stridulation to an extent) to mimic the host colony and is undetectable. In human society, the interloper uses words and physical appearance. As in the ants, resources are plundered, soldiers are turned from guardians to reapers for the profit of the controlling agents, A few percent of humans own most of the world’s resources, command the world’s armies, and can (again like the ants) cause hive members to turn against each other and then benefit from the confusion.
In short, human society,after the development of agriculture which made communal living possible in large numbers, has (due to some rule of nature) become more and more insectoid. This has resulted in the evolution of a caste of mimic predators, who are doing very nicely thank you. The upshot is that anyone who threatens them is neutralised by their own kind, after they have been influenced by the mimics. History is laden with such examples.
All interesting but particularly about the ants as an analogy. Got me thinking now.
James Higham recently posted…Suggestions for our next meal together [1]
because of my recent email security alert, I am now obliged to wear a hi-vis jacket while using this computer
It’s a health and safety epidemic. Certain jobs are safer with them on. We are not turning into insects. Although I can see the point. Good post Richard.
Interesting comments from Richard.
Pete, we are not turning into insects. Human society is imitating that of insects.Individual like you and me have faculties which insects do not , such as reason and an ethical sense. However the totality, as a hive, is devoid of such qualities. The original hunter-gatherer men were widespread but not locally abundant, whereas the hive is vastly more numerous and infinitely more powerful. As an evolutionary stratagem this is very successful, but at the same time it results in sublimation into a whole. For example, we can see the development of a nascent hive in the study of olive baboons versus chimpanzees. The chimp is intellectually superior and physically stronger but far less successful as a species than the baboon. Why? Because baboons are like bees in that they disregard their personal safety and will fearlessly attack their enemies. Chimpanzees will abandon their young if attacked by man and flee into the forest. How is this relevant to man? It indicates that once a society reaches a certain density (baboon troupes being much larger than those of Chimps) and level of social complexity it begins to act as a super-organism and protects itself. This is not a good thing for individual rights of man, and – I would contend – the hive mind influences the mental outlook of the individual. Chinese factories, crowds waving at the Queen (signatory of various Acts which beggar them or restrict their freedoms), soldiers enriching the shareholdings of psychopaths instead of defending the realm, policemen enforcing Her Majesty’s Revenue instead of keeping the peace. Individual constables and soldiers are decent people for the most part, but en masse? And if we are becoming a super-organism perhaps the physical conformity of “workers” wearing yellow jackets as a symbol of industry and authority is a result of that loss of personal identity which is the price to be paid for the functioning of a successful hive.
NB It is interesting to note the symbolism of the bee in royalty and government, and that Hi-Vis gear is mandated – in many cases – by HM Government ie the Queen. Queen, as in ants, bees, termites, mole-rats and one other species.
I would speculate that Christianity is the opposite of the hive, which we mis-call democracy, because in democracy we have rules and laws which emanate – allegedly – from the ground up. You are a slave to the mass who elect leaders who then do what they like. To go against a law, no matter how unjust, implies that you are “against society” . In Christianity there is God, me, and then every other chap. The Law comes from above, not below, and so you are free to critique injustice from the masses’ rulers who are tyrannical – whether or not they are in place because of the “will of the people”. You cannot do this in a democracy without being attacked. This would square with the current decline and ridicule of Christianty in the West and physical attacks on Islam in the Middle East.
And to conclude with three further examples of the hive being influenced by “them” to protect “them”. Firstly the dumbing down of education, a phenomenon easily noticeable in our lifetime. Secondly the disarmament of private citizenry. Thirdly, the habituation of physical searches, surveillance and the loss of privacy, and the whimsical opinion of a public “serv- ant” becoming a modus vivandi. For example, can you imagine a law forcing people to stand outside pubs in the rain to have a smoke being successfully enacted in the 1970s? If this law wasn’t a tester to see what the public will swallow and to gauge compliance, I would be very surprised.