Protesters Shut Down a Major Freeway In Minneapolis. Stage Die-In.

[bilby]

When will people wake up and realise that the law is far more important than the people. Every law must be obeyed at all times, and every single infraction must be harshly punished. The only alternative is common sense anarchy.

It's not some abstraction - allowing protesters to shut down freeways shows that some people (the handful of protesters) are deemed more important than the thousands who needlessly get stuck in traffic. Also all these idling cars is not exactly good for the environment. Time for another internecine fight within The Left.

Nice 'bait and switch', but I was responding to your post where you said 'The police assisted the protesters who broke laws and prevented lawabiding citizens from getting where they wanted to go?
That police chief needs to be fired ... from a cannon.'

No mention there of the relative importance of different groups of people; or the protection of the environment.

You offered only one argument - that this was between "the protesters who broke laws" and "lawabiding citizens", as though that was a sufficient argument for your position that "That police chief needs to be fired".

This is, of course, untrue - the idea that the law is (or should be) more important to a police chief than the people he is employed to protect and serve; or the idea that getting a number of people stuck in traffic is such a vile outcome that it is worth risking the safety of people engaged in lawful exercise of their first amendment rights, is stupid, cruel and petty, and is the exact antithesis of freedom.

Or are you one of those people who insist that our freedoms can only be protected by our passive acceptance that we must at all times obey those in uniform without question or hesitation? Because that's some pretty piss-weak 'freedom' right there.

 

[ZiprHead]

The police are being praised for their restraint and assistance of the protestors.

The police assisted the protesters who broke laws and prevented lawabiding citizens from getting where they wanted to go?
That police chief needs to be fired ... from a cannon.

Derek, did they model the Chancellor in "V for Vendetta" after you?

 

[fromderinside]

When will people wake up and realise that the law is far more important than the people. Every law must be obeyed at all times, and every single infraction must be harshly punished. The only alternative is common sense anarchy.

It's not some abstraction - allowing protesters to shut down freeways shows that some people (the handful of protesters) are deemed more important than the thousands who needlessly get stuck in traffic. Also all these idling cars is not exactly good for the environment. Time for another internecine fight within The Left.

Placing index finger over thumb. Begin.

Atlanta has more freeways than people, yet the reckless drivers there can mess things up with just a couple inches of snow. You people need to be protected from yourselves and your authorities when using any social system. IOW I completely understand your reaction.

Out here on the left coast we've been doing freeways for more that forty years and we know they are vehicles for social adjustment.

Remember the Kent State riots following the national guard opening fire on students there in May 1970? Well in LA Minor universities like California State College at LA are withing three miles of five freeways, I 10 or San Bernadino freeway, I 710 or Long Beach Freeway, I 5 or Golden State or Santa Ana Freeway depending on your direction of travel, I 60 Pomona Freeway, and US 101 or Ventura Freeway.

We had speaker protests complete with suits with sunglasses on rooftops, and marches to all five of these freeways. The remarkable thing is truckers actually helped us out in blocking the freeways since all of america was against the Vietnam war by then. Looks like similar reactions are beginning to happen now with conservatives calling for changes in the grand jury system and the wringing of hands on the right about police losing public support.

Ah, the advantages of a few years perspective. The put-em in jail crowd (racist authority response to civil rights) are on their way out.

 

[Trausti]

Well considering the mayor is looking for an excuse to fire the chief especially in light of pointergate, and maybe that whole First Amendment thing might be a bit more important in the larger picture than the inconvenience of the drivers. (The protesters did not win friends by marching down the freeway. First rule of protesting: don't make the public your enemy.)

The first amendment does not give you a right to obstruct a major freeway.

Except now in MN maybe it does due to this precedent. If they stop a group of neo-nazis from marching down I-35 at rush hour it would seem to be viewpoint discrimination.

Well, these guys got arrested and charged for it. Their "white privilege" didn't help them much.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_V4ujhwvhc[/YOUTUBE]

 

[fromderinside]

(The protesters did not win friends by marching down the freeway. First rule of protesting: don't make the public your enemy.)

Demonstrating that people respect your right to protest is not a signal one is making enemies by marching on freeways. One needs to focus on what is happening here. From all persuasions people are rejecting what has been happening with police taking black lives with no consequences. You are looking at the beginning of another shift in political terrain. The authority right's overreach is causing them to lose control. One doesn't block freeways if drivers don't want them to block freeways is the signal here.

 

[fast]

I got road rage just reading this thread.

(I had more to say, but it just ain't worth it)

 

[thebeave]

What a bunch of assholes. We have stunts like that from protesters on the Golden Gate Bridge sometimes, and it has created problems for emergency vehicles trying to get through. I don't care whether its protesting police abuse, nuclear weapons or the Save the Kittens Foundation do it somewhere else where you don't disrupt peoples' lives. The middle of the fucking desert would be a good place to start, IMHO.

 

[bilby]

What a bunch of assholes. We have stunts like that from protesters on the Golden Gate Bridge sometimes, and it has created problems for emergency vehicles trying to get through. I don't care whether its protesting police abuse, nuclear weapons or the Save the Kittens Foundation do it somewhere else where you don't disrupt peoples' lives. The middle of the fucking desert would be a good place to start, IMHO.

Sure. Because a protest that upsets nobody is going to get a whole lot of attention.

If protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

 

[thebeave]

What a bunch of assholes. We have stunts like that from protesters on the Golden Gate Bridge sometimes, and it has created problems for emergency vehicles trying to get through. I don't care whether its protesting police abuse, nuclear weapons or the Save the Kittens Foundation do it somewhere else where you don't disrupt peoples' lives. The middle of the fucking desert would be a good place to start, IMHO.

Sure. Because a protest that upsets nobody is going to get a whole lot of attention.

If protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

Here in California we had a lot of people protesting nuclear power back in the '70's. Traffic was shut down quite often. I guess the protesters accomplished their goals, as there is very little nuclear energy going on in this state (or country for that matter), unfortunately, largely due to their efforts. Yay protesters!!!

 

[bilby]

Sure. Because a protest that upsets nobody is going to get a whole lot of attention.

If protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

Here in California we had a lot of people protesting nuclear power back in the '70's. Traffic was shut down quite often. I guess the protesters accomplished their goals, as there is very little nuclear energy going on in this state (or country for that matter), unfortunately, largely due to their efforts. Yay protesters!!!

It isn't the protesters fault that your system spawns scientific illiterates at an alarming rate. As I said, if the protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

That might include a decent public education system, so people are more often rational in their demands; and a decent society, so that the rational demands of the people are usually met. Effective non-protest-march opportunities for people to express their displeasure would be a good idea too.

Until those conditions are met, protesters are likely to occasionally disrupt your life - because they see this as the only viable way to attract attention to their cause.

 

[Axulus]

What a bunch of assholes. We have stunts like that from protesters on the Golden Gate Bridge sometimes, and it has created problems for emergency vehicles trying to get through. I don't care whether its protesting police abuse, nuclear weapons or the Save the Kittens Foundation do it somewhere else where you don't disrupt peoples' lives. The middle of the fucking desert would be a good place to start, IMHO.

Sure. Because a protest that upsets nobody is going to get a whole lot of attention.

If protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

If someone dies because an emergency vehicle can't get through the traffic, I would think that guy's day is more than ruined.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Sure. Because a protest that upsets nobody is going to get a whole lot of attention.

If protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

If someone dies because an emergency vehicle can't get through the traffic, I would think that guy's day is more than ruined.

I will see your hypothetical death and raise you unarmed men of color get shot in this country by cops on a regular basis. That's a thing, not a "what if"

Now I realize this may or may not mean shit to you, but my world is populated with beautiful, strong, witty, charming men who in spite of not being white, still do not deserve to die because a cop is afraid of black people. So when I weigh black men's lives against a traffic jam, guess which one wins?

 

[Axulus]

If someone dies because an emergency vehicle can't get through the traffic, I would think that guy's day is more than ruined.

I will see your hypothetical death and raise you unarmed men of color get shot in this country by cops on a regular basis. That's a thing, not a "what if"

Now I realize this may or may not mean shit to you, but my world is populated with beautiful, strong, witty, charming men who in spite of not being white, still do not deserve to die because a cop is afraid of black people. So when I weigh black men's lives against a traffic jam, guess which one wins?

So are you telling me that the only way to make cops not afraid of black people is to protest in the middle of a freeway? Out of all the possible protest locations, the freeway is the best choice?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Sure. Because a protest that upsets nobody is going to get a whole lot of attention.

If protests are ruining your day, then perhaps doing something to make your society less likely to spawn protests would be a good way to improve your own lot in life?

If someone dies because an emergency vehicle can't get through the traffic, I would think that guy's day is more than ruined.

The police would make sure the emergency vehicles got through.

 

[Trausti]

If someone dies because an emergency vehicle can't get through the traffic, I would think that guy's day is more than ruined.

I will see your hypothetical death and raise you unarmed men of color get shot in this country by cops on a regular basis. That's a thing, not a "what if"

Now I realize this may or may not mean shit to you, but my world is populated with beautiful, strong, witty, charming men who in spite of not being white, still do not deserve to die because a cop is afraid of black people. So when I weigh black men's lives against a traffic jam, guess which one wins?

I don't give a flying fuck what your precious cause is. If you purposefully stop traffic while I'm on the highway, <snip>. Whatever message you hope to convey will be completely lost in my hatred for you.

 

[RavenSky]

I was at the Miami Art Fair in Wynwood today, and they had a protest there this evening. Police simply redirected traffic around the intersection, and there was no problems for anyone. I did get a chuckle from two of the protester's with tape over their mouths chatting with a police officer. It appears that City of Miami police handled the protesters as respectfully as the NYPD has done in the last week. It is nice for a change. The protest itself was very moving. There were references to Eric Garner and Michael Brown; and Trayvon's parents & brother came to speak. The main organizing speakers used the people's microphone technique, and I ended up having to explain what they were doing from two young women from the midwest. There were also quite a few Guy Fawkes masks present. Aside from Sybrina and Tracy, one of the more moving speakers talked about being out with her best friend (a white girl) when they were stopped by police. The friend got really mouthy with the police officer. The young woman speaking was the one that got thrown to the ground and cuffed. Talk about #CrimingWhileWhite and #AliveWhileBlack in one incident.

 

[untermensche]

The only progress that has ever occurred is because people have taken to the streets.

The government is a force of stasis. It seeks to maintain the status quo.

The only time the government ever does anything positive is because people have taken to the streets and protested. At least beginning in the 20th Century.

The right of women to vote, the right of people to unionize, the right to a Social Security system, civil rights for blacks, the right to healthcare for the elderly.

These all began as people's movements. The government was opposed to every one of them for decades.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

I will see your hypothetical death and raise you unarmed men of color get shot in this country by cops on a regular basis. That's a thing, not a "what if"

Now I realize this may or may not mean shit to you, but my world is populated with beautiful, strong, witty, charming men who in spite of not being white, still do not deserve to die because a cop is afraid of black people. So when I weigh black men's lives against a traffic jam, guess which one wins?

I don't give a flying fuck what your precious cause is. If you purposefully stop traffic while I'm on the highway, <snip>. Whatever message you hope to convey will be completely lost in my hatred for you.

And I am sure that those four young men in Greensboro would have pissed you all to hell because they would have kept you from getting a cheeseburger at a lunch counter. Luckily for the rest of us, people who think like this, are in a shrinking minority.

BTW if this is all it takes to make you hate someone, The protestors are not the ones with the problem

 

[thebeave]

If someone dies because an emergency vehicle can't get through the traffic, I would think that guy's day is more than ruined.

I will see your hypothetical death and raise you unarmed men of color get shot in this country by cops on a regular basis. That's a thing, not a "what if"

Now I realize this may or may not mean shit to you, but my world is populated with beautiful, strong, witty, charming men who in spite of not being white, still do not deserve to die because a cop is afraid of black people. So when I weigh black men's lives against a traffic jam, guess which one wins?

Does Michael Brown count as a beautiful, strong, witty, charming black man? I'll spot you on strong, but can't say I agree with you on the rest...

 

[Axulus]

The only progress that has ever occurred is because people have taken to the streets.

The government is a force of stasis. It seeks to maintain the status quo.

The only time the government ever does anything positive is because people have taken to the streets and protested. At least beginning in the 20th Century.

The right of women to vote, the right of people to unionize, the right to a Social Security system, civil rights for blacks, the right to healthcare for the elderly.

These all began as people's movements. The government was opposed to every one of them for decades.

I encourage people to protest if the issue is that meaningful to them, but not in the middle of a busy freeway. I'm going to have to take issue with that.