Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, September 19, 2012
Life "Your First Amendment Rights and Concern for Missing Service Members Are Affecting My Commute!"
Posted by David Schmader on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 11:48 AM
From the I, Anonymous reject pile:
OK I have to say upfront I have nothing against POWs. That being said, why dude do you have to wave your flag on the I-90 bridge? Every three days or so in the afternoon, you are on the side of the I-90 bridge holding up a large American flag and smaller POW/MIA flag. And we all slow down and stare. And traffic BACKS UP a lot. Now it takes me and all the thousand drivers an extra 30 minutes to get across the bridge. Do you think by extending our commute times that you are winning our support? Sure as hell not me. Flag-waving guy: Don’t hold us hostage through your POW message!
If living well is the best revenge, living shittily is its own punishment.
1
Hey, someone waving around a POW flag. That's something you don't see every day. Maybe next he could get a sticker and put it on his truck, or wear a shirt and go ride a motorcycle. And eventually all the flags and all the stickers and all the shirts will gestalt into a magic POW-rescuing airplane and go actually save people, I guess.
2
Although I should clarify that the dude's problem isn't with a guy waving a flag, it's with all the people that are slowing down to rubberneck.
3
EVERYWHERE I HAVE TO BE IS IMPORTANT! HOW DARE YOU SLOW ME WITH YOUR CONSISTENT MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO YOUR FALLEN BRETHREN! THE NERVE!
4
Letter writer is confusing cause and effect here. The traffic slows down there *regardless* of a flag-waving person. The person is at that point precisely because traffic ritually slows down there.
6
What about hands-in-the-air-praise-jesus guy who walks all the way down rainier everyday? What the fuck is his story?
7
I agree with the anonymous writer. The guy affects a lot of traffic and makes increases stress for everyone just trying to get West.
8
Well this is a better I, Anon than the one currently in the paper. Its actually based on something verifiable.
9
@6, I drove by that guy last week! He was walking right down the middle of the street, near Seattle U, like he thought he was parting the goddamn Red Sea. He does it every day?!
10
Is this one of the Vietnam POW/MIA guys? I remember seeing a bunch of them at the Vietnam memorial in D.C. in the early '90s. Even then, I thought they were weird. If there's any trace of the men we lost in the Southeast Asia jungle 40 years ago, it's their metal dog tags and nothing more.
11
Oh boo-fucking-hoo! Sorry, no sympathy for drive-to-work commuters anonymously complaining about slow traffic. You want to alleviate traffic? QUIT DRIVING. Flag-waver dude is a gentleman. I talked to him during my bike commute over the I-90 bridge. There is no reason to disparage this guy.
13
First, I am eternally amused by people who complain about traffic without any awareness of their own role in creating the problem. It's right up there with people who complain about people who complain. The irony is dense, rich and sweet like a chocolate torte. I need a cup of coffee to wash that down.
Second, the guy is asking for sympathy from the flag guy, but where is his own? Have a sense of scale, asshole.
Third, as others have noted, the slow-down is caused by idiot drivers (like the author of the I, Anon) and not by the flag guy. I drove past him last week and saw him just fine without having to slow down a bit.
Fourth, even though you did not serve (and clearly you did not or you would not cop this pissy attitude), you can at least honor those you did. Have twenty seconds of gratitude and respect for the sacrifice of others.
Second, the guy is asking for sympathy from the flag guy, but where is his own? Have a sense of scale, asshole.
Third, as others have noted, the slow-down is caused by idiot drivers (like the author of the I, Anon) and not by the flag guy. I drove past him last week and saw him just fine without having to slow down a bit.
Fourth, even though you did not serve (and clearly you did not or you would not cop this pissy attitude), you can at least honor those you did. Have twenty seconds of gratitude and respect for the sacrifice of others.
14
@4 Not to be too contrarian but a lot of Seattlites are hardcore rubberneckers. For instance, the other day, there was a ridiculously hot guy running down the I-90 bridge (in the opposite direction) with his shirt off, and as soon as we passed him, the traffic opened up. Now, I'm not saying that he was the result, but the location of the traffic clearing was rather unusual for that commute.
15
@4 - Not necessarily true. Today he has traffic backed up on westbound I-90 from mid span where he is standing, all the way back to Factoria. As soon as we passed him, traffic was clear until we got to I-5. So pretty clearly, he is a traffic nuisance, and is defeating his message.
16
@6
I talked to that dude the other day. He went into the Gross Out on MLK put his hands in the air and yelled "praise jesus. Jesus loves all o you." S I sarcastically yelled "yea what that guy said." Dude was all happy that someone agreed with him or whatever and dude talked to me for a bit about jesus then told me to have a blessed say, and said "Bless you brother." every time he ran into me in the aisle. So the guy went to checkout and paid with EBT (your tax dollars at work) and turned around with his hands in the air for a bit then yelled "Jesus bless everyone" and left
He seemed mostly harmless. Then I found out something terrible, he drives. I saw him at light on 23rd and Yesler hanging out his window with both hands in the air.
I talked to that dude the other day. He went into the Gross Out on MLK put his hands in the air and yelled "praise jesus. Jesus loves all o you." S I sarcastically yelled "yea what that guy said." Dude was all happy that someone agreed with him or whatever and dude talked to me for a bit about jesus then told me to have a blessed say, and said "Bless you brother." every time he ran into me in the aisle. So the guy went to checkout and paid with EBT (your tax dollars at work) and turned around with his hands in the air for a bit then yelled "Jesus bless everyone" and left
He seemed mostly harmless. Then I found out something terrible, he drives. I saw him at light on 23rd and Yesler hanging out his window with both hands in the air.
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