• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    It’s not the road. It’s the travelers on the road.

    They aren’t blocking the road. They are blocking the people from going home, going to work, looking for a toilet, picking up their kids, buying groceries, visiting their families, trying to get to the hospital before the baby comes or grandma dies…

    It’s one thing to be slowed down by someone who also has places to be, things to do, people to see; a fellow traveler who is sharing the road.

    It’s something entirely different to be stopped by a selfish prick whose sole intent is to prevent others from completing their journey.

    • spidermanchild@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Their intention is to protest how we are ignoring climate change, you know, the civilization ending catastrophe. There are road delays all the time, for construction, crashes, event traffic, weather, floods, electricity outages, etc. Do you get this upset for every one of those events?

      I’d argue “share the road” includes uses such as protests, marches, bike races, whatever. It’s a public good, you don’t have the final say on “approved” uses. Traffic in my town is insane on game day, do I get to jail the sports teams organizers for the disruption for 5 years? Someone probably shat their pants due to the delay, where is their justice?! Boggles the mind that a trivial delay causes this much outrage. Car brain is a hell of a thing.

      • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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        4 months ago

        The intention is to obstruct people from traveling. The purpose behind that intent is irrelevant as that intention is completely unacceptable.

        There are, indeed, road delays all the time, caused by people attempting to share a shared resource.

        JSO isn’t sharing a shared resource. They are monopolizing, privatizing that resource, excluding anyone else from using it.

        Marches, bike races, even protests can be acceptable, so long as detours are available to bypass the obstruction. In all of these cases, the roadway is marked “closed” before the last intersection before the obstruction, so traffic can choose a different path. But such courtesies don’t achieve JSO’s intent. The courtesy of a “road closed” sign completely defeats their intention of preventing people from traveling. They want as many people as possible trapped for as long as possible, and that makes them a bunch of fucking assholes, no matter how righteous their cause.

        Tribal Police in Arizona had the right approach to this sort of idiocy.