if the elevator operators are arch-enemies

I came across this passage, when rereading "The Laughing Man." It bugged me before, when I wasn't on the list; wanted to see what y'all think now

"...all of us circulating ominously, and incognito, throughout the city, sizing up elevator operators as potential arch-enemies, whispering side-of-the-mouth but fluent orders into the ears of cocker spaniels, drawing beads, with index fingers, on the foreheads of arithmetic teachers. And always waiting, waiting for a decent chance to strike terror and admiration in the nearest mediocre heart."

What are the consequences of a world full of people who do this, or at least, the consequences if some people think this way? wrong to question it? ... like when Franny was accused of fearing competition, even if it wasn't exactly that; wrong to think her beloved Emily Dickinson wasn't trying "to strike terror and admiration in the nearest mediocre heart?" and the section men; maybe uneasiness about judgment

not to say that such a world actually exists, but curious to know what y'all think

luke

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"I have seen the light and it is good"
(cms)
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