The American Thinker discusses the issue here, but it's not necessary to read the article in order to discuss the question. Here's the scenario. You're minding your own business, trying to drive from one place to another. Suddenly, you are confronted by people blocking the road. From the news, you are aware that people have been dragged out of their cars and severely beaten at these roadblocks. Increasingly, anarchists are armed. and people have been shot at these roadblocks. Frequently, cars are thrashed. What do you do? Do you stop in the hope that you will be merely inconvenienced? Do you drive on even if it means running someone over? Would your decision change if you could see that the anarchists are carrying weapons? Would you then be more likely to stop or less likely to stop?
I certainly would NOT stop; I'd take my chances with a jury. After what happened to Reginald Denny in 1992, I'm not waiting around to see what happens.
Part of me understands, the other part says that anarchists do not have the right to restrict where honest, taxpaying citizens have the right to go.
If I saw a crowd of folks ahead of my vehicle, blocking my way, and I could hang a "U," even if on a one-way street or highway, I'd do so. OTOH, if a crowd of folks surrounded my vehicle and were intent on its destruction, with me inside, Mr.Glock and I might possibly be able to extricate ourselves from said predicament. Last thing I'd want to do, unless my life was being threatened.
The roads are intended for vehicles and not pedestrians. Unfortunately, when the driver does plow through these obnoxious idiots, he's the one arrested. Worse yet, some liberal judges say we must yield to pedestrians. However, that should never include deliberate blocking of the roadway.
I would check that my doors are locked first. If I saw the mob far ahead of me I would seek to avoid. If I got caught in the middle I would floor it.
This is a hard question to try to answer without actually being in the situation to look at all of the possibilities. If I had some idea that there might be protesters blocking the road, I would not go at all. If I came upon it unexpectedly, the I would do the u-turn, like TG said. If that was not an option, and I could see that they were harassing the people in the cars, I would try to drive through slowly enough to just push people out of the way of the vehicle. If they started shooting, or even had a gun when they tried to stop the car, then I would honk the horn, and get through the protesters as fast as possible, to save the lives of all of us in the vehicle. It is crazy that the world has come to this point, and that people can even think that they can make it a better world, or change anything by standing in the middle of the road and assaulting people who are simply driving down the road. These protesters seem to think that anything that they do to others is perfectly fine, even when those people are innocently there; but anyone who does something to them, even if accidental, has no right to defend themself.
The want to hurt another human and the need to hurt another human are two very different situations. I just pray that we do not get so used to needing to that it turns into want to. And yes.....if the need was there, so be it.
I agree with that. But I think the "want to" exists in some number of these people, including their political leaders. I hope that our sense of universality does not end up militating against us so much that out of survival we are forced to reject it. I guess that's another way of saying exactly what you just did. Survival trumps everything, I'm afraid.
When I first entered into the theater of war, I didn’t want to be there specifically because I didn’t want to make the choice of killing someone. When my year was over and I came back stateside, it wasn’t a month that had gone by when I requested to go back. For the human psyche, need can turn into want very quickly for even the most devout peace loving people.
I can understand that. I hate to say it out loud, but there is something completely "natural" about operating at that level. I cannot imagine how it can be possible for someone who had been to war to return to "civilized society" and function. Plus, "civilized society" is anything but.