this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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From the article: *Large SUVs were particularly affected. According to the police, notes were attached to the cars indicating that they were harmful to the climate. The tyres were not punctured, but merely deflated. The cars were parked in the area between the S-Bahn line and Elbchaussee around Kanzleistraße. *

Personally, I like this protest way more than glueing themselves to the streets, causing traffic jams where cars burn gasoline for hours and ambulances / firefighters / police gets stuck, putting innocent life in danger.

The article is in German. Warning: this link leads to google translate.

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[–] CarloGesualdo@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The situation you are describing where a car owner returns to their vehicle, fails to see their four flat tires, fails to notice the note on their windscreen explaining that their tires have been deflated in protest, fails to notice their car's tire pressure warnings, and drives any way, and drive enough to ruin their tires AND wheels seems unlikely enough to qualify as catastrophizing. The far more likely outcome is that the owner returns to their car and then spends some time, perhaps an hour or two, figuring out how to reinflate their tires.

I'm sure the individuals taking part in these protests also support politicians who desire stricter regulations about the types of vehicles they are targetting. Participating in peaceful protest and participating in a political process are not mutually exclusive.

I wish this form of protest would catch on elsewhere as well. Every day I’m struck by the number of huge gas-guzzling pick up trucks parked around the city, and seemingly every bed completely empty. Letting out the air to their tires would certainly be slower and more work than the old method of puncturing their tires, but has the dual benefit of not necessitating replacement (which has a carbon cost of its own) and not enabling the vehicle owner to file an insurance claim.

[–] upstream@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You are still assuming a lot of things:

  1. That deflated tires don’t get damaged either. Look up how tires are built.

  2. That everyone gets a sticker under the window and all four tires deflated.

  3. Apparently it has to be “catastrophical” to be bad.

  4. The only thing you are taking away from society is someone’s time.

IMO as long as you are messing with someone else’s property you are not “protesting”, you are a vandal.

However good you might find their intentions it’s not much better than blowing up mailboxes or slashing tires.

And whether or not you want to see it I strongly believe that point four is the most important part.

What happens to the people who couldn’t be treated at the hospital in time because their surgeon was left stranded with flat tires?

Sure, he could have just called a cab/Uber, but what happens when everyone in the neighborhood does?

Someone else could step in? Sure, but again it suddenly might be more than one that’s affected.

I’m not trying to argue that everyone has a job that society will miss if they are stuck at home for a few hours, but do you think that the people running around deflating tires do any kind of legwork to figure out if they should?

There was a “protest” like this in Oslo, Norway, recently, targeted at fossil gas guzzlers. However the “protesters” failed to discern between electric SUV’s and fossil SUV’s even though most of the electric ones carry special license plates.

At the end of it I guess it all boils down to what kind of ethics you apply. While I can agree with the viewpoint I wholeheartedly disagree with the method and form.

At what point do you find it is ok to do bad things to random strangers in some weird hope to do something good?

It’s not a “trolley problem”, you’re not killing one person and saving five, you are simply putting unnecessary hardship into people’s lives because you don’t like what they drive.

Do you honestly expect someone to go “oh no, not again, well I better go buy a different car”?

[–] zhunk@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

On the EV point specifically- big EVs are bad, too. They're still spraying tire particulate, and their high weight is more dangerous for pedestrians, small cars, bikes, kids, etc.