Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => Politics & Current Affairs => Topic started by: Nearly Sane on November 10, 2022, 05:53:54 PM

Title: The cost of road protests?
Post by: Nearly Sane on November 10, 2022, 05:53:54 PM
Bound to happen. Always surprised that it surprises those doing the messaging.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/death-of-cyclist-in-berlin-provokes-debate-over-road-protests
Title: Re: The cost of road protests?
Post by: Walt Zingmatilder on November 11, 2022, 08:37:06 AM
Bound to happen. Always surprised that it surprises those doing the messaging.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/death-of-cyclist-in-berlin-provokes-debate-over-road-protests
Yes they are doing a great thing but yes they have blood on their hands.
I’m afraid this is a lesser or greater evil world where even a good cause might be a gateway to being a damnable person.
Title: Re: The cost of road protests?
Post by: Spud on November 11, 2022, 09:14:00 AM
I don't know the details of the incident in Germany, but it suggests to me the importance of keeping a hard shoulder on all motorways, as this would enable emergency vehicles to get through
Title: Re: The cost of road protests?
Post by: ProfessorDavey on November 11, 2022, 10:12:50 AM
Yes they are doing a great thing but yes they have blood on their hands.
Are they doing a great thing?

While I don't disagree with their cause, I'm not convinced that their actions help rather than hinder its realisation. I suspect public opinion is largely in favour of decarbonisation to help climate change, so in that context I'm not convinced you need to take drastic action to get attention - the attention is already there. The risk is that you push climate change back from being a mainstream concern with the public, towards one that becomes associated with a rather extreme group of actors.

I get that there is a time in a campaign when you need to bring things to the attention of the public and sometimes need to use quite extreme methods to do so - but on climate change that time was perhaps two decades ago, not now.