If I was the Emperor, I would prohibit demonstrations that inconvenience innocent people.
The right of Free speech does not mean freedom to impede the movement of others. People who protest by blocking traffic are wrong-headed. They may get attention, but I submit that most of the attention is anger, not support for their cause.
Sit-ins may galvanize the choir but I don't believe such actions will change anyone's mind. My personal research indicates that just the opposite effect occurs. People who are inconvenienced harden their opposition to the cause and the group that created the inconvenience.
I see blocking traffic as a form of terrorism. Just like when a bomb explodes in a pizza joint or speeding truck intentionally running into holiday shoppers in a crowded square, the ones who are most harmed are innocent of the injuries that are supposed by the terrorist group.. Instead of having the guts to confront the real object of the anguish, the protester takes his anger out on anyone who happens to be in the wrong place. These "soft targets" are attractive to cowards who lack the guts to face their real oppressors.
Darwin tells us that a person whose calculus is to inconvenience others to get attention for his cause will likely pass these traits along to subsequent offspring. In a few generations we will have nothing but chaos.
Thus we need to nip the problem in the bud. Therefore, a modest proposal: Shoot the protesters in the groin, arrest the survivors and remove their reproductive organs..
What do you Think?
7/28/2018
7/21/2018
Peevish
I'm feeling a bit peevish this morning.
#1 In Massachusetts, the law states that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way, and autos must stop to let the walkers finish crossing. I do not have any problem with this law.
The right of way does not apply to people standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross. And it does not empower idiots to step into a crosswalk when there is a car approaching at 35 miles per hour, forcing the driver of said car to jam on the brakes.
#2 Breakdown Lane Travel. On many roads in this state, travel is allowed in the breakdown lane during certain periods. I'm not sure what the poor souls who actually have broken-down are supposed to do, but there have been cases where they have been killed by motorists tearing down the breakdown lane at 60 or 70 mph.
I have a simple solution to this problem. Amend the law to limit the speed in the breakdown lane to not exceed 30 mph. That would alleviate the bottleneck situation, would keep cars from speeding past you in the right-most lane, not to mention that it would diminish the likelihood of a crash with a disabled vehicle legitimately occupying the breakdown lane.
#3 Why am I paying for a land line? 20 times a day the phone rings and caller id says "Unavailable" or some other label that does not identify the caller. If I don't recognize the name, I do not pick up. but it is still annoying. Many are robocalls that leave a message on the answering machine, and I have to delete them. Verizon should offer an option to block calls from going to the answering machine, also I am the do-not-call list, which seems to be a joke as I am getting calls from known scammers and spammers. Verizon is not looking out for me, and I resent it.
#4 I have a big screen TV. Why do Netflix disks insist on showing movies in letterbox format ( the previews are full-screen, so don't tell me that it's the TV's fault. I hate when I see the message that "That option is not available" when I want to skip ahead so I don't need to view the anti piracy messages in six languages.
#1 In Massachusetts, the law states that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way, and autos must stop to let the walkers finish crossing. I do not have any problem with this law.
The right of way does not apply to people standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross. And it does not empower idiots to step into a crosswalk when there is a car approaching at 35 miles per hour, forcing the driver of said car to jam on the brakes.
#2 Breakdown Lane Travel. On many roads in this state, travel is allowed in the breakdown lane during certain periods. I'm not sure what the poor souls who actually have broken-down are supposed to do, but there have been cases where they have been killed by motorists tearing down the breakdown lane at 60 or 70 mph.
I have a simple solution to this problem. Amend the law to limit the speed in the breakdown lane to not exceed 30 mph. That would alleviate the bottleneck situation, would keep cars from speeding past you in the right-most lane, not to mention that it would diminish the likelihood of a crash with a disabled vehicle legitimately occupying the breakdown lane.
#3 Why am I paying for a land line? 20 times a day the phone rings and caller id says "Unavailable" or some other label that does not identify the caller. If I don't recognize the name, I do not pick up. but it is still annoying. Many are robocalls that leave a message on the answering machine, and I have to delete them. Verizon should offer an option to block calls from going to the answering machine, also I am the do-not-call list, which seems to be a joke as I am getting calls from known scammers and spammers. Verizon is not looking out for me, and I resent it.
#4 I have a big screen TV. Why do Netflix disks insist on showing movies in letterbox format ( the previews are full-screen, so don't tell me that it's the TV's fault. I hate when I see the message that "That option is not available" when I want to skip ahead so I don't need to view the anti piracy messages in six languages.
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