So, I just got this lovely email:
Protest March Planned to Block the University Bridge
Montlake Bridge may be blocked as well,
Afternoon commuters should plan for delays
SEATTLE – An Occupy Seattle rally and march today has the potential for creating major delays on all arterials leading to and from Ship Canal bridges during the afternoon commute.
The rally is scheduled to take place between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on the University of Washington campus and then is expected to march west on NE Pacific Street to the University Bridge at roughly 4:30 p.m. The demonstrators plan to block the bridge during the afternoon rush hour so their presence will likely cause traffic delays throughout the afternoon commute – until after 6:30 or 7 p.m. Demonstrators may also block the Montlake Bridge during that timeframe.
Seattle Police Officers will be on hand to minimize traffic congestion but the blockage of any one bridge could impact other nearby Ship Canal bridges. Commuters should allow additional time for detouring to another route. Motorists who must get to the University or Children’s hospitals should plan for extra time to reach their destination.
The protests could be very disruptive to transit service this afternoon. For information or questions about transit service, please call Metro Transit customer service at 206-553-3000, and sign up to receive Transit Alerts at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/alerts .
Way to go, assholes. Look, let me tell you somthing about how the human brain fuctions. When someone does something that pisses you off (or in economic terms, imposes a cost on you), you care less about their plight - not more. In fact, you want to reimpose that cost back on them. When you block bridges, and fuck up everyone's commute so they can't eat dinner with their families and they can't get to school before classes start, and they have to use more gas than they budgeted for they do not look favorably on you for it. In fact, if you fuck up my commute, I want the police to wack you in the stomach with billy clubs to clear you out. I really do. To me, that is what democracy looks like. When the people build a bridge for transportation purposes, we don't allow a small subset of society to take it over so that it can't be used for its intended purpose. And we elect people who then authorize the use of force to fucking clear you out. That is what I voted for.
Ours is not a society in which you can get more money or better jobs or more equal income distribution by being a nuisance to others. We aren't a "pacify" type of society when it comes to dealing with people making demands of us. We're a "we will fucking beat you into submission" society. Look what we did to Afghanistan. Look what we did to Iraq in 2003 (mainly because some people didn't feel like we kicked sufficient ass in the first Gulf War). You are taking the wrong approach. You will turn the public against you and your plight with shit like this.
...and if you really want to fix your income inequality issue, turn your asses back around and march back to school and take some classes in subjects for which there is labor demand, and apply yourselves to learning the material. I know it may shock you to learn this, but there are still a lot of jobs for the educated. Yeah, you have to pay 6.8% or something on big chunk of student debt you will incur. Yeah, that sucks. I know. I have to pay it, too. But it's a small price to pay for an education and financial success.