# Protesters: why must you distrupt rush hour? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 20, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882 "2003-03-20T20:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/21 "2003-03-21T03:09:24Z")
Violent anti war protesters. Lovely. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/22 "2003-03-21T03:23:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blowero \* > \*\*Publicity for their cause. It obviously worked, since you are talking about it. \*\* Yeah, until someone dies because an ambulance or a fire-engine can’t get through. Frankly, I would firmly support a law saying it’s just fine to run these assholes down. Maybe we could do it like hunting permits: you’re allowed to mow down so many morons per permit. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/23 "2003-03-21T03:47:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\*Do they think President Bush will see the article, call Tommy Franks in the field, and say, “General, the freaks are puking in San Francisco. Retreat!” \*\* **gobear** - Although I nearly always disagree with your nigh-on-Nietzschean conservative views, I must say that this was _wonderful_. Bravo. It has kind of a Hunter S. Thompson feel to it, no? I like it, quite a lot. Rock on. LC ---
**Author:** ![dajah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@dajah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dajah)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/24 "2003-03-21T03:54:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*Surely there’s a better way to drum up publicity than pissing off commuters. \*\* Amen. ---
**Author:** ![Convict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Convict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Convict)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/25 "2003-03-21T05:01:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeep’s Phoenix \* > **Great. Now they’re vomiting all over the place to protest the war.** And killing themselves: > [@](#): > > One protester in a rope and harness committed suicide by letting himself fall from Golden Gate Bridge as police tried to coax him to safety. [http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/20/sprj.irq.war.protests.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/20/sprj.irq.war.protests.ap/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/26 "2003-03-21T06:48:35Z")
Jesus fucking Christ, watching the news I’m getting more and more pissed off. Again, this is directed not at all protesters. You’re blocking people from going to work?! What the fuck is the point of that?! You don’t think it’s OK for the US to take over Iraq, so you decide to take over my City?! Fuck you! Fuck you for spraypainting all over downtown. Fuck you for smashing in police cars’ windows. Fuck you for preventing people from supporting themselves. Fuck you for bringing _weapons_ to a _peace rally_. You are no better than the assholes who rioted in Oakland, you’re no better than the assholes who looted in Los Angeles. You are not protesters, you’re not demonstrators, you are fucking criminals without pride, without honor, without a cause. “We don’t want to alienate people. I hope people realize that political murder merits action that inconveniences them,” said protester Quinn Miller. You did everything in your power to alienate people. > [@](#): > > But support drops to 53% in Southern California, and [41% in the Bay Area](http://beta.kpix.com/news/local/2003/02/26/Poll_Shows_Bay_Area_Lags_in_War_Support.html). This is San Fran-fucking-cisco! **Most** of the people you harassed on the streets _agreed_ with the supposed cause you may have mentioned among all the vandalism. Watch the news tonight. You claim to be spreading your opinion on the war. Well, you could barely tell from the news. One word made that distinction- “Anti-war” protestors. The entire rest of the segment were focused on the harassment, the vandalism and the aimless destruction you shit all over the City. Great way to make your point. There have been thousands of good, directed, focused people working hard for months to get their clear, strong, messages heard, planning protests, distributing flyers, getting interviews, recruiting more people, and you erased it all. They weren’t on camera. They weren’t heard. All that was heard were the sounds of you throwing newsstands all over Market street and car horns of hard-working people whose days you decided to ruin even more than it already was. Mosques and Islamic community centers are threatened often these days, especially now with the onset of war. Why don’t you offer assistance to your human brothers and sisters who have been at high terror risk since 9/11 and even before? Why can’t you do something useful with your pitiful little lives? Ugh, you assholes make me sick. And I don’t drink coffee, so suggestions of Caffeine-Free Diet Coke are advised. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/27 "2003-03-21T06:54:11Z")
Is it just me, or do protesters who stand in traffic or lie on train tracks seem to further strengthen Darwin’s theory?.. -FK ---
**Author:** ![SLASH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SLASH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SLASH)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/28 "2003-03-21T06:59:57Z")
Wait y’all were expecting them to be intelligent? ---
**Author:** ![BondJamesBond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f8ce5/32.png) [@BondJamesBond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BondJamesBond)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/29 "2003-03-21T07:15:04Z")
It is times like this when I watch the sun set over the terraced rice fields, the green, fertile valleys, and the ancient temples that I realize why the F–K I live here. No traffic. No congestion. The only hippies we get around here are - like all 21st century hippies - spoiled little rich kids living off of Mommy and Daddy. I do not mind them. They arrive by chartered van, spend a few days and then move on. During their stay they pay 5 times market rate for rooms, food, drinks, diving, clothes, trinkets…and 10 times market rate for drugs. God bless 'em. They keep the local economy alive! Personally, I feel sorry for these people. At some point in the future they will have to rationalize or justify their actions to the Tory, Christian Democrat, Republican, etc. friends over cocktails at some swank Eaton Square dinner party. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/30 "2003-03-21T07:18:33Z")
Ah, man. I’m not a huge fan of violent law enforcement, but these assholes really need a nightstick jammed up their ass. Stupid fucking pricks with rich parents and too much time on their hands. Fuck em all to hell. Who in the hell do they think they’re impressing, besides themselves? Though I’m sure the European leftist/pacifist crowd are digging it. “Look, noble Americans are turning on their fascist imperialist government and demanding full justice for the world!” I’m AGAINST this war and still believe these fuckheads deserve a good trashing. Not just an arrest, a few hours detention, and a small fine. To hell with that, throw them in group cells that hold the murderers, rapists, and armed robbers. Then they’ll think fucking twice about disrupting the peace and order of society. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/31 "2003-03-21T07:57:33Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jeff Olsen_ > Surely there’s a better way to drum up publicity than pissing off commuters. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > Yeah, until someone dies because an ambulance or a fire-engine can’t get through. Read again, kids. I did not say I condone their actions. The question was specifically asked: What is the _benefit_ of their actions? I answered the question. They _did_ get publicity, and that _is_ a benefit. You can question whether the harm caused outweighs it, but you can’t say there was no benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/32 "2003-03-21T08:26:50Z")
Did anyone else see the footage of the fight in SF? I don’t know if it was related to the riot/protest, but there were a few folks pulling a guy out of a car and just wailing on him. Pretty surreal. And the guy who killed himself jumping from the police? Dynamic evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/33 "2003-03-21T12:05:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blowero \* > \*\*Read again, kids. I did not say I condone their actions. The question was specifically asked: What is the _benefit_ of their actions? I answered the question. They _did_ get publicity, and that _is_ a benefit. You can question whether the harm caused outweighs it, but you can’t say there was no benefit. \*\* Sure I can: the argument that “Any publicity is good publicity.” died around the time of Watergate. If they’re driving people _away_ from their cause, if they’re undermining the cause of legitimate protesters who might actually sway public opinion then the so-called benefits are non-existant. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![More\_Cowbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@More\_Cowbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/More_Cowbell)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/34 "2003-03-21T13:03:15Z")
Watching these cockmonkeys block LSD and other Chicago streets, the only feelings they stirred up were those of violence. I was hoping to see one of these two ironic twists: 1.) A gasoline tank truck to come plowing through the crowd as they chanted “no blood for oil”. 2.) To see them get a taste of the man they are protesting to protect and gas them like Kurds. The one thing they will cause me to do is vote straight Republican on all future elections. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/35 "2003-03-21T13:18:26Z")
Yeah, I thought it was funny that they picked Boston, San Francisco and Paris to demonstrate. Preaching to the choir, people. I saw the footage of the fistfight in S.F. From what I gathered (which could be wrong), it appeared some peace protestors blocked some dude who was trying to pass in his car. They surrounded his car and one of the protestors touched or stood on the bumper of the car. The driver got out and WAILED on the peace protestors. It was a good old fashioned butt whuppin’. He then retrieved his keys and got back in the car and (presumably) drove off. The peace protestors seemed genuinely shocked that they pissed him off so royally. Kumbaya my lord. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/36 "2003-03-21T13:32:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by auliya \* > \*\* > BTW if you are wondering what Australia has to do with all this, we are the ONLY other country to commit troops to America’s war on Iraq, besides the UK, not Spain or any of the 35 mostly unnamed countries who have suddenly materialised as members of the “coalition of the willing” as many Americans seem to believe \*\* Poland has sent troops as well, acording to a report the other day. Only 200, but they’re troops. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/37 "2003-03-21T15:30:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeep’s Phoenix \* > \*\*Great. Now they’re vomiting all over the place to protest the war. > > [Link.](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2003/03/20/heaving.DTL)\*\* Maybe the were looking to revive [Vomitoriums](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021101.html)? 🙂 **blowero** : sorry if I sounded like I was attacking you. ---
**Author:** ![austen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@austen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/austen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/38 "2003-03-21T15:43:16Z")
Yeah, it was pretty fucked up yesterday in Chicago. They hosed things up for HOURS. What burns me the most about it all is that the day before, Mayor Daley pleaded with the protestors to keep it centrally located. He basically said, protest as much as you want, but keep it to the plazas where it is easier to control. Did the protestors realize how much money they just cost the city of Chicago to get their “no blood for oil” point across? Millions. Thanks, protestors - thanks a lot. Now taxes will go up again. Fucktards. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/39 "2003-03-21T17:26:55Z")
If I ever do anything that warrants protesting, do the vomit thing. I’ll give you whatever you want. Since I don’t drive I was pretty unaffected by all the people on Lake Shore Drive, but I was a wee bit ticked off seeing several ripped and torn protest signs lying around the steps and platforms of the El downtown. I guess blocking northbound rush hour traffic was a little more important than making the Herculean effort to carry their crap down the stairs and toss it into a trashcan. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882/40 "2003-03-21T18:13:38Z")
Um, am I the only one that finds cosmic ballance in protesting a war about oil by bringing focus to how much we depend on oil-consuming devices to go about our daily buisiness? Rioting, damage to public an private property, littering, vomitting, etc, are all pretty much unacceptible behavior as far as ‘peace protesting’ goes, but getting people to realize how important their car is to their way of life by taking away their ability to use the car is a valid form of protest, IMHO. Of course, I wasn’t the one stuck in traffic. -lv [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-why-must-you-distrupt-rush-hour/162882.md?page=3)