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Jacques asked:
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Standing up at a soccer match
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I'm a 16 year-old football supporter and have noticed that in all seater grounds when someone in a
row in front of you stands up, out of excitement or anger, you have either to tell them to sit down,
risking an argument or stand up yourself. Those behind you have to stand up etc. It seems to me this
model of behaviour is common in societies. Does it have a name? Is there anywhere I could read a
discussion of its philosophical implications?
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Yes, this kind of behaviour does have a name, it's called being inconsiderate.
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People are being inconsiderate if they stand up and block your view at football matches. They are
failing to think about how their behaviour is affecting you. (If, as you say, they stand up out of
excitement or anger, and not deliberately to annoy you, they are not really being selfish. To me, that
would imply they had thought about you, but decided to put themselves first instead.)
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People being inconsiderate is indeed a very common behaviour. In order to stop this kind of
behaviour from spreading, you have to decide to be considerate yourself, even if other people are
inconsiderate to you. In the case of the football match, this would mean that you should stay sitting
down to avoid blocking the view of the person behind you — even if your own view has been blocked
by someone standing up in front. If you stand up as well, as you observe, soon a large number of
people will be on their feet.
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It is interesting that, in your question,you didn't consider this to be an option available to you. You said
that "...you either have to tell them to sit down, risking an argument, or stand up yourself." You then
continue; "Those behind you have to stand up..." — am I right to assume you don't actually regard
telling the person to sit down as a possible option either? Why do they argue when asked politely to
sit down? (I trust you would ask them politely?) Should there be people at matches to enforce sitting
in all-seater grounds, and eject anyone who will not sit? I don't go to football matches myself so I'm
not sure how big a problem this is.
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If you wanted to explore the philosophical implications of this you would need to look at theories
dealing with selfishness and altruism. Ethics might have something to say about it; but then so might
behavioural psychology. I don't know any specific sources, maybe someone else can suggest
something?
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Katharine Hunt
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