The Utard Stare

for those of you who have spent any time in the "great" state of utah, you'll know what i'm referring to when i say 'utah stare' (dubbed the utard stare by me). if not, i'll enlighten you the only way i know how: with severe sarcasm and exaggerated examples.

its funny how special people feel when they are in a car. (some background first). walking past pedestrians invariably means a downcast look or a glance the other way at whatever is over there. for some reason people cant seem to look each other in the eye when they walk past each other. byu? usa? world problem? i dont know. but it seems to me that two people walking past each other cant bring themselves to look the other in the eye. this is the background, and what makes the object of this post so hypocritical. b/c the opposite is so NOT true when cars are involved.

and that brings me to the utard stare. why the crap do people just stare at you as you drive past?!?!?! what on earth are you looking at?!?!?! they seriously just lock eyes on you and refuse to look elsewhere.

for example: your facing north in the left hand turn lane. you turn left, and the person facing east is in their turn lane to head north (figure out your directions people). so as your turning you drive right next to the person in their turn lane. and every time, they just STARE at you like they've never seen another person in their entire life. what can possibly be so intriguing? these same people who would rather look at grass or cement when walking past you on the sidewalk, now cant seem to take their eyes off you, for the simple fact that they're in a car.

i've a hypothesis: living in the age of technology we do (i'll post about this later), it seems provo has lost a little of its self-confidence. people can no longer talk to each other or enjoy a face to face conversation. impersonal means are now used to develop relationships. for this reason people cant look at you when your right there next to them. but when they see someone drive by they have no problem staring at them b/c there is no risk of actually having to talk to them. thus, the utard stare. they feel safe b/c they're protected behind glass and steel. but whatever the real reason is, i wish people would just glance if they have to, and move on. but its incredible. even after you make eye contact and they clearly see that your looking at them too, and way past the point of awkwardness, they continue to stare at you! (this is true of car to car eye contact and car to sidewalk eye contact).

i've now lost patience with these people. i've decided to employ my own stare. the mccoy DER stare. everytime someone feels obliged to stare at me as i'm driving i'm going to return the favor by making the DER face back at 'em. it may be a small thing, but i will do my part to rid this area of the useless and annoying utard stare. concentrate on the road people. thats probably why there are so many accidents in provo. "oh wow, look at him/her." (subconsciously deploy their utard stare). "look out!!!!" and thats that