Thursday, July 14, 2016

Diminishing returns

I drive on 35W nearly every day. My morning commute brings me across the bridge usually between 6:35 - 6:45 a.m. If I'd left later yesterday, the commute would have been significantly longer:

Minnesota highways once again became protest grounds Wednesday, as dozens of people took to the southbound lanes of Interstate 35W near downtown Minneapolis at the peak of the morning commute, the latest public disruption in the wake of last week’s police killing of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights.

Police arrested 41 protesters who were charged with misdemeanors, including public nuisance and unlawful assembly.

The coalition, in a statement, said it condemned the killing of Castile and “believes this shutdown reinforces our belief that comfort and business as usual must be disrupted until substantive changes occur in our city and throughout the country.” The group also said it was demanding dismantling of police departments. “We believe that security for all of us does not lie in use of aggression and force.”
Here they are (photo from Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune)


Two quick observations:

  • I think the protesters would do better to spend less time with Saul Alinsky and more time with Dale Carnegie. This is a stupid, petulant way to get one's point across. It's also perilous as hell, since southbound 35W has a lot of twists and turns as it approaches downtown Minneapolis and the cars traveling on that stretch of road often have to brake quickly when there's a slowdown. They were putting people's lives in danger, including the lives of black people, who use 35W quite a lot. If one truly believes that Black Lives Matter, this is an odd way to demonstrate that belief.
  • If these folks think eliminating police forces is a good idea, they might want to think again. In the absence of force, eventually you'll have vigilantism. And a lot of the folks these people enjoy pissing off are heavily armed. Just sayin'.

4 comments:

jerrye92002 said...

These demonstrations are pointless, unless the point is to tick people off enough that somebody gets run over. Especially when most of these people are white, their cluelessness (or criminal anarchic behavior) becomes obvious.

I mean, what is the point? The man is dead, and an investigation into the justification (or not) of the shooting is fully underway, so these people do NOT know the facts of the matter. They aren't calling attention to something being swept under a rug, since everybody knows already. They aren't complaining about justice not being served, it is fully underway. They're obviously just creating havoc for the hell of it. There must be consequences.

Fred said...

Your blog is literary proof that articulated thought does not correlate to educated thought. You may not necessarily see my criticism as fair [and may very well plague me with elaborating on some sort of justification], but [I can all but promise you] it will be painfully obvious to future generations that may stumble onto your words.

I likely won't post something for awhile, but I hope you know there's at least one person out there (today it's me, but I suspect I'm not the first) that may be enjoying their nightcap by seeing what laughable concerns and worldviews are presented on this blog.

jerrye92002 said...

Fred, your vacuous post proves its own alleged point-- that well educated has no bearing on common sense and in too many cases seems mutually exclusive. If you care to comment on the substance of the matter under discussion, I'm sure we're all ears.

Bike Bubba said...

Drawing attention to the fact that BLM ticks people off by blocking major highways is a laughable concern?

And yes, your host has a super thin skin about people disagreeing with him, which is why I've seen any number of people disagreeing with him for years (myself included at times) in good humor. Or something like that.