So a man was brutally beaten...lets play the blame game.
I saw the video, as I'm sure many have, and what I witnessed was the abuse of the law on both parties -- Alexian Lien (the poor fool, stupid enough to disturb a wasps nest) and the Hollywood Stunz group (a.k.a the wasps' nest).
You just don't do that, Lien.
So yea, the biker group was aggressively blocking major roadways for their fun. They should have found a way to legally reserve some road somewhere, or at least find some other place to do their fun (i.e not a major public roadway that leads to a major metropolitan area). But a guy, with all logic/reason, just doesn't commit vehicular assault on a couple of bikers (with a family in the car) and expect everything to be hunky dory -- especially if every one of his biker buddies will wittiness it! Seriously, is it healthy to poke a bear? Is it reasonable to spit on a lion? Is it OK to kick a horse's hind leg while standing behind it? Then as to why poor Lien decided to piss-off an army of bikers is beyond me...I'm sure the meeting with the boss, or the lunch break, or a beer with the guys, or whatever it was could have waited. "But what if it was an emergency", many would ask. Well, one emergency certainly doesn't resolve another. As anyone who saw the whole video would agree, he would have gotten caught by the traffic either way. Way to go Lien...
Am I supporting the bikers?
Slightly. What they did was extreme and unlawful....but quite human. While I applaud their humanity and desire for justice (again Lien, I'm sure you didn't have to ram your car into them if you wanted to pass...) they didn't have to smash the guy's face in. If one man had the Land Rover's action on camera, I'm sure others did too. The evidence would have been more than enough to convict Road Rage Lien. The authorities should have handled this business.
hah, the law always feels better when the blues bash in the the brains of a road-rage-maniac than when the public takes the matter into their own hands.
Which brings me to my final point...
Where were the authorities? Being that they failed to prevent this havoc, they have the ultimate blame. There was a massive street hunt through town, just to catch and get vengeance on this one guy, AND no cops were around to stop it? I mean, if one kid brings a knife to school, every cop in a 20 mile radius flips (exaggeration), but if a swarm of bikers hunt one guy down in public, no authorities are around to bring the peace? It is this sort of weakness, shown by the local authorities, that gives way to the criminal groups that many fear: gangs, mafias, cartels, you name it. Lucky for us, this show of local force was done by a group of biker stunt artist -- not a gang or self-appointed militia.
Remember, anarchy happens when the will to empathizing ends, and apathy reigns. Lien, next time, don't run over a guy. Empathize with him...try to drive around -- or call the authorities (that should have been there.)
As always you never cease to amaze me at how well written and thought out your blogposts are. I also really enjoy your artwork. I hope to see more of it in your future blogs.
ReplyDeleteThank you sir, for your kind words of encouragement. (^_^)
DeleteHey Stephen! I agree with your insistence on the need for authority figures. I would always get a little pissed off back home if my route to school was blocked by a marathon or a triathlon (and I'm not saying that I would ever intentionally run over someone). But I understand how frustrating it can be when your route is completely blocked and you can't do anything about it. The one thing that distinguished the marathons and triathlons from this incident was that there were always police blocking/redirecting traffic to make sure that everyone stayed safe.
ReplyDeleteAhh, tell me about it...those triathlons can get lengthy. But this raises another issue...
DeleteIf it had been bicycles that halted the traffic, the public would be siding with the injured bicyclists and rally behind the bicyclist that were able to catch up and avenge their fallen buddies. Of course, they'd call the bicyclist group stupid and unlawful, but they'd still root for the bicyclist "underdog". In the end, since motorcyclist have achieved an identity of public infamy, they receive no mercy.
I love how you brought up the idea of who is to blame, I mentioned that in my blog. I remember one morning, there was this huge parade (might be the wrong word for this instance) of bikers and at one of the traffic circles on the road connecting my neighborhood to the highway they had a guy on a bike blocking each entrance of the traffic except where the flood of bikers came from. Did I personally have a problem waiting the extra 30 seconds, No. But there were certainly a lot of people around of me that did mind. So its interesting to see more instances of this, not just with bikes, but with other examples as well.
ReplyDeleteThe public has to accept it: what Lien did was extreme. There must have been a better solution than to cause that sort of harm to others, to himself, and potentially to his family. He could have waited, or simply called the police.
DeleteNothing is so importantly that you would risk everything like that.
I like what you did here about talking about authorities needing to be involved. It did seem crazy that the army of bikers can close off a highway and chase a family down in the middle of new york without any officials being on sight to help out. This could have all been prevented if the cops just showed up at the intersection and broke up all the bikers in the first place!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Surely someone witnessed the event and decided to inform the police of the halting of traffic/manhunt. If not -- well -- lets just say that that sort of apathy is the cancer of society.
DeleteYou are the first one to really take the side of the bikers. It seems that many people are undecided after first siding with Lien, but you mildly seem more inclined to their side. I notice that you focus more on practical rather than moral reasons at first, and that you even think there was a kind of justice in what the bikers did. It does seem, though, that this is one of this instances in which, when we think about it carefully, we come to a different conclusion. Hobbes of course places much more emphasis on reason than the other thinkers we have read, and I notice that you end with a kind of Hobbesian argument about needing to have the authorities keep order. These are just observations, but I wonder if there is a connection between the various aspects somewhere.
ReplyDelete