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December 27, 2005
Fatally bad manners?
Via Pajamas Media, here's a tale of road mob psychosis: MILWAUKEE, Dec. 27, 2005 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- At least 15 young people dragged a motorist out of his car and kicked and punched him, causing severe head trauma, after he honked his horn to get them to move out of a street, police said.According to the article, there have been other similar incidents. I'd say there's a failure of law enforcement in Milwaukee, and if I had to live there, I'd want be be armed. Had the driver been armed, he'd have been fully justified in defending himself against a crowd of fifteen murderous people. As it was, he was defenseless. But that is no excuse for what may well have been rudeness on the part of the driver. Being in a car does not entitle a driver to behave any differently than he would were he walking down the street. I'm reminded of an incident in New Jersey in which a driver who'd been cut off in traffic followed another driver all the way home, ran him down with his car, whereupon the injured driver struck back with his fists and killed the other driver. He'd have been equally justified in shooting back, and that is true notwithstanding his initial rudeness. Cases like this make me wonder whether armed drivers might not be a bit slower to anger in situations that provoke confrontations. There's truth to that old saying -- "An armed society is a polite society." Most of the people I've known who carry guns also understand the consequences of escalation, and consequently, they're slower to do things like flip people the bird. MORE: According to this organization working to change the laws, Wisconsin is "one of only four states that prohibits anyone other than police officers from carrying concealed weapons." I'd say it's a good place to be a criminal. UPDATE (12/30/05): Five uveniles may soon be charged with the mob beating: Two are 17 years old, two are 16 and one is 14, according to a police statement that did not give the genders of the suspects in the attack on Samuel McClain, a 50-year-old father of 12. Police continue to seek more suspects, the release said.Pictures of the victim before and after the incident can be seen here. AND MORE: According to this report, three teens have already been arrested. CNN has another report of the arrests, as well as pictures. posted by Eric on 12.27.05 at 04:35 PM |
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Assuming the "mob" was loitering in the road (and he didn't just honk his horn at a group of people walking across the road), I'm not sure that honking his horn was necessarily rude. If I'm walking down the sidewalk and there are fifteen people (or even three) standing around in a way that leaves me no way past, I'm likely to say something. "Excuse me, but could you please not block the entire sidewalk?"
In a car, you don't have the nuances of language that you've got out of it. We try to get around this by modulating the length of beeps, but really, unless he just laid on the horn, I don't see how beeping at people standing around in the road (again, assuming that's what was happening) is rude. At least, no ruder than standing in the road in the first place.