"rodney king sounds right. do you really stay hidden away in your wooded area
during all the excitement? wise, i quess. but... it was a strange day. it
started out feeling like a spirited but peaceful rally. one thing happened and
then another and you saw pictures of the rest. it can be very scary how fast
a crowd can turn and how hard it is to change the energy once it's out of
control."
Hi, jp!! I'm starting to catch up on posts, but have to leave soon for work. Did you finally get my email?
One of the things I enjoyed most as a younger person living in a very exciting urban area was being out in the middle of the fray. Unfortunately, when I had a baby I suddenly realized that although I could run fast if I had to, I was now encumbered with a child, and much slower moving, and also had a responsibility not to endanger her for my own excitement. It also changed the neighborhoods I hung out in! I found at least the edges of the Tenderloin exciting and vibrant on my own, but people would come up to her in her stroller and sometimes act inappropriately and she seemed very vulnerable. I tried to stay very flexible and open-minded/hearted, but got scared a couple of times.
So, yes, I did just hang out in the forest and watch the Rodney King riots on tv. Crowd mentality is strange and powerful. Things that start out mellow can quickly get out of hand. I guess the Critical Mass bicycle protest last Friday was a lot like that. It started for very good intent--to get public attention for more rights for bicyclists--and ended up with people fighting. But now a parking commissioner has suggested closing Market Street from the Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue to cars!! Civil disobedience looks so, well, disobedient or something, but often works to get attention.
You had asked someone about Luddites--here is the definition from my Webster's--18th century Leicestershire workman who destroyed machinery: one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest: broadly: one who is opposed to esp. technological change.
There was a whole group of people who were disturbed by the Industrial Revolution--who say it as depersonalizing, dirty for the environment and destructive for humanity. They rebelled, arguing essentially that men became more savage when taken off the land and put into cities doing repetitive tasks all day in factories. This is an argument that in some ways I agree with, in the pagan religious sense that being in touch with the land (the mother) and the animals and plants GROUNDS people and is stress-reducing to some extent. I also would agree that it is an over-simplification, however. There are plenty of brutes who live quiet country lives!!!
The UniBomber, whose use of violence to get his message out totally negated its power in my opinion, was essentially making a Luddite argument. If you have not read his Manifesto, which I believe is available on the Web, it is thought-provoking. |
