The Subway Spy: Smart, Simple Solution for L-Train Pain, or an Assassin of New York Charm?

Every New Yorker falls into one of two categories. There's Group A, people who do strange shit on the subway, and Group B, people who see other people doing strange shit on the subway. Group A used to victimize Group B. But now, the tables are turning. Your subway torturers are possibly having the tables turned on them.

The New York Post reports today on Tom Sibley, a 26 year-old Billyburg Bro blogging a site called Subway Douchery. Essentially, people see things on the subway that are ridiculous, send them to Sibley, and he publishes them on the site.

Contributors have caught a man trimming his nails, a kid eating chicken wings and leaving scraps on the floor and -- tops on the ick list -- a man vomiting between two other riders. The blog began with basic bad behavior, mostly of riders on the L line, which Sibley rides daily.

Rock steady, vigilante justice. The unfortunate side effect of society becoming increasingly reliant on infotainment culled from being constantly monitored is gonna have to move over. So will paranoid maniacs afraid everyone's watching them, because sorry man, They definitely are watching you.

One problem, though: New York's plagued with some of the most vain, attention-seeking succubi who'll do anything they can to grab your focus, and shift it in the direction of whatever ridiculous screed they're preaching, shtick they're playing out, or pitch they're making to sell you. Giving these people an outlet? 'Could be a pretty deep rabbit hole of underground insanity.

Then again, the threat of everyone having a cell phone camera and a blog dedicated solely to pictures like these might actually reduce the recurrence of flashed wang on the subway. Good thing, especially considering the disenchanting reality of the matter: that MTA employees and transit cops are only interested in policing minor violations for quotas and fostering resentment among those they're supposed to protect and serve (which helps fill said quotas). New Yorkers taking things into their own hands is, in this instance, a pretty fair shake.

[fkamer@villagevoice.com]