San Francisco Protesters

Apparently some people thought it was a good idea. A gang of protesters disrupted BART service in San Francisco. They chose to do this at rush hour, disrupting the commute for ordinary citizens. They are morons.

Is it troubling that the BART police shot another person at a BART station recently? Yes.

Are there problems with the BART police? Obviously, ever since the Oscar Grant shooting, this has been a controversial topic, and I'm not qualified to discuss the racial politics at the heart of the matter.

Well, except for the fact that as this article points out, some WHITE protesters called a BART spokesman "Uncle Tom" and "a self-conflicted blackie." If this is accurate, how bizarre. They really don't have the right to say this. These individuals REALLY don't have the right to shoulder the cause of a minority expressing anger at police oppression. They can speak up with people, but they can't speak up FOR them, and that's what it seems like these protesters were doing.

Protests and civil disobedience are a double-edged sword. They are the right of the people and a powerful tool. But they can also serve those blinded by, what, a narrow sense of self-righteousness? A thirst for excitement?

I'm sure some of the protesters genuinely believe that they were standing up for truth, justice, and the Bay Area Way. Did they stop to consider if this was a particularly helpful stunt? From my perspective, it doesn't seem like it would have done any good, and it makes some of them look twisted and moronic.