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Traffic Blockade Protests Were a Nuisance. Lawmakers Want to Make Them a Felony.
(www.motherjones.com)
this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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I'm all for people protesting wherever they need to. But roads are not safe. Period. "Drivers should just stop and turn around!" Well, yeah, they should. But if someone doesn't, a lot of people get hurt. Don't use your body in a metal cage fight. You'll lose every time. So if you chose to protest in the street, just be aware of the risks.
I've seen photos of kids at roadblock protests. That's super fucked up. Kids and dogs don't belong at any protests, let alone ones focused on civil disobedience or whatever you may choose to call it.
This comment isn't about "muh commute!" It's about irresponsible organizers putting people in harms way.
Reminder that just about every argument that amounts to "protect the children" is a bullshit argument trying to override free speech and expression with some sort of misguided paternal instinct.
Well this is literally an instance of adults bringing children inherently unsafe.
Don't bucketize things, handle them individually.
Kids don't belong at any protests? What are you talking about?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Crusade_(1963)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/birmingham-civil-rights-march-history-dog-photo.html
Not every protest is family friendly, but the vast majority of protests are perfectly safe for kids. And there is a long history of child involvement in protests. I take my baby with me to protests all the time, and she has never been in any danger.
And children should learn about civil disobedience, too. It's not just for adults.
As for roads not being safe, I imagine you're against bicycling on the road, too, and using crosswalks.
The little rock 9 was not a protest, in the context of the kids being there. They were there to go to school.
Protests are just waiting for violence unfortunately, be it from state actors, contesting groups, or even unintended risk from within the protest group.
Bicycles and crosswalks have patterned usage , and yes come with risk. There the most dangerous places for pedestrians.
Staging a protest in a roadway is not patterned usage and is just waiting for an accident, or the evil actions of an opposing murderer.
As opposed to climate issues, where children do not live on the Earth and are therefore unaffected.
Just because someone is involved in the system doesn't mean they should be "on the front lines".
Kids are affected by war in Ukraine. Should children be on the front lines? Of course not.
Are you actually comparing bringing children to a peaceful protest with conscripting child soldiers?
Obviously I'm drawing a hypothetical to.make a point. Only a very presupposed reader would think I'm suggesting the magnitude of danger is equal. The exercise requires critical thinking to realize what is similar and what is not between the examples.
For your assistance:
My core point is that a highway is an unsafe place to gather.
Adults have the agency to make personal risk decisions, and children do not.
There are a lot of people in this thread just beating the shit out of strawman