World's Stupidest Protesters
Feargus O'Sullivan writes at CityLab of the climate change protesters, who -- hello, geniuses -- get their message across by blocking public transportation:
Londoners watched as activists glued themselves to, and climbed onto the roofs, of subway trains, forcing transit services to halt on the London Tube's Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway, which shuttle riders to the U.K. capital's two financial districts. Angry commuters counterattacked, and some demonstrators were set upon violently. There are no reports of medical treatment being needed, but eight arrests of protesters were made.
Is there ever a person who changed their views, joined a cause, because the protesters inconvenienced them and made them late to work?
Also, hello, dipshits! You're protesting climate change by blocking, yes, public transportation!
The Tube protest may have been designed as a wake-up call for a society that the activists believe is speeding towards catastrophe, but the early-morning incident has unfortunately already ended up being something different: a public relations disaster that, against a backdrop of widespread public support among Londoners for Extinction Rebellion's planet-saving message, has reinforced some of the negative stereotypes about the environmental movement. Right-wing commentators have been quick to damn the protest as "class war" waged by privileged people who have the "luxury of hijacking the underground."To understand what went wrong, you need to know a bit about London geography. The stations targeted by activists--Canning Town, Stratford, and Shadwell--are physically very close to the financial district of Canary Wharf. But they are a world removed from it. These stations serve some of the poorest areas not just in London, but in Western Europe. Most commuters shuffling to the train platforms at 7 a.m. (in a country where professionals usually start work after 9) are not wealthy financiers--they're lower-income workers scraping a living in a notoriously expensive city. Footage of climate protesters with what British people would instantly read as middle-class accents blocking working-class men and women trying to get to their jobs soon after dawn--where they might be sanctioned for lateness--is terrible image-making. It plays into the hands of people who dismiss environmental activism as a hobby for privileged progressives.
I proabably didn't save it to disk, but last week someone made the point that the tradition of civil rights protest puts the protestors at risk (of inconvenience and much worse), not the surrounding community.
Crid at October 19, 2019 4:49 AM
Ah, it was a young Canadian.
Crid at October 19, 2019 5:04 AM
One of the interesting things about these disruptive protests.
They are never directed at changing hearts and minds from the bottom up.
The objective is always to put top down pressure on the government and courts to force an authoritarian solution from the top down.
Something that in a true republic should be almost impossible to do because the government doesn’t and shouldn’t have that much power.
Isab at October 19, 2019 5:17 AM
It is a bit ironic. You'd think they'd block trucks or cars that aren't using the carpool lane.
NicoleK at October 19, 2019 6:52 AM
Lefties today are far too reliant on expanding and solidifying government power in enforcing their dictates.
In California, the legislature has abandoned its duties to legislate ahead of public opinion and left government to the courts. First, a proposition for a controversial issue is put on the ballot. Second, a vote is held after a rancorous campaign. Third, the loser sues to overturn or delay implementation of the results. Finally, the relevant court renders a verdict and the law is made.
The problem with that is any law passed by court fiat cannot be changed when the inevitable unintended consequences arise. When a tweak is necessary, another lawsuit is the only way to address the issue.
And when courts issue a broad enough order, compliance is still complicated and unwieldy, far outside the intent of the court. Busing, for example was never simply busing kids from a neighborhood to a school and mixing them there. It involved complicated routes and schedules to ensure the "proper mix" of students in every school. Where I lived, it involved busing sixth- and seventh-graders across town before dawn and after dark to a central integrated school, the "sixth-grade center" and "seventh-grade center."
The NAACP probably got this fiat-seeking ball rolling with its lawsuit efforts to overturn "separate but equal." The organization brought hundreds lawsuits in various states in an effort to end the law-mandated marginalization of black students into inferior and poorly-funded schools. Finally, Brown v. BoE made it to the Supreme Court. While we all celebrate the results, the precedent the process set has turned out to be a dangerous one.
Conan the Grammarian at October 19, 2019 6:52 AM
"Is there ever a person who changed their views, joined a cause, because the protesters inconvenienced them ..."
That isn't the objective. Proving to the girl over there how manly you are is. Heck, getting arrested isn't really a deterrent either. Now you've got 'cred'. 'Hey baby, I went to prison for the trees.' Getting beat up by a bunch of yobs is probably the right way to get the people to go do their sexual posturing somewhere else.
Ben at October 19, 2019 8:25 AM
It's true. I totally would have banged a guy who went to prison for the trees.
NicoleK at October 19, 2019 9:25 AM
Related. Questions, there are questions. But first:
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/345754/
That's in regard to Hanoi Jane and Sam "I played a prosecutor on TV" Waterson getting arrested at a climate protest in DC. This isn't about them, this is about them gaining undeserved power over the rest of us so they can build the New Soviet Man.
Scratch a Green, find a Red.
I R A Darth Aggie at October 19, 2019 10:19 AM
"Is there ever a person who changed their views, joined a cause, because the protesters inconvenienced them and made them late to work?"
Yes, I am one of those whose views "changed."
Changed in the opposite direction of what they expected. If those acting like knobs are in favor of something - and it might very well be something that I never paid attention to before - then, I sure will be against it.
Something similar happened in New York with the "Black Lives Matter" thugs. They all congregated in and around Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan; basically taking over the park. (this was the one where a protester was caught on camera shitting on a cop car - such class!)
Well, one thing that Zuccotti Park is known for is the number of food trucks around it. Folks who make their living selling hot lunches to workers in the nearby office buildings.
Okay, so the office workers had to walk around the protesters and, perhaps, had to go elsewhere for lunch. But, what about those food truckers? If they couldn't set up their truck elsewhere that means they lost business for those days/weeks.
Were these "Black Lives Matter" protesters even aware of what they did to others?
They sure turned me off to their cause.
charles at October 19, 2019 10:36 AM
Another disruptive protest, but one generally cheered on. I posted one of this guy's tweets in yesterday's linkies about how Holland's farmers are mad a hell and aren't going to take it laying down.
https://twitter.com/detgrim/status/1184921389196890112
I R A Darth Aggie at October 19, 2019 10:37 AM
Again, if you want me to take your opposition to global climate change as authentic, I want to see that you've given up a smart phone, your computers, the internet, and condemned Google for the massive amounts of electricity they're chewing thru for their data farms.
I may still think you're wrong[*], but I'll give you props for not being a raging hypocrite.
[*] for instance, who decided that 270 parts per million of CO2 was the best level of CO2? and how did they come to that conclusion?
I R A Darth Aggie at October 19, 2019 10:44 AM
NASA scientists on reaching the 400 PPM threshold in 2013:
https://climate.nasa.gov/400ppmquotes/
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 19, 2019 10:53 AM
This guy (in scrubs -- might have a hospital to get to) doesn't have time for your protest:
https://twitter.com/brandondarby/status/1185385482475229184
szoszolo at October 19, 2019 12:47 PM
Darth Aggie asks who decided 270ppm CO2 was ideal. During the last ice age when it got down to 220ppm, plants were suffering. 180ppm is where plants die. At higher elevations such as the Tibetan Plateau, CO2 was too low for plants to survive (lower atmos pressure). Does that sound ideal?
cc at October 19, 2019 12:54 PM
I believe those were actually Occupy Wall Street protesters, but you can be forgiven for the mistake, since BLM is almost equally creepy and crappy.
mpetrie98 at October 19, 2019 5:05 PM
One real problem occurs if the change they're seeking comes to pass. The protestors will claim that their demonstrations brought about that change, so their actions were completely justified. It was the same with the end of the Vietnam War.
Fayd at October 19, 2019 7:06 PM
Leave a comment