Yeah, it’s like no big deal to the UK Guardian. Hey, it’s like public shaming!
‘Like a public shaming’: a night with the eco-activists deflating SUV tires
On a searingly hot night in New York City, a group of mask-wearing activists grasping bags of lentils set out to stage the biggest blitzkrieg yet upon a new target for climate campaigners in the US – the tires of SUVs.
The group – a mixture of ages and genders – split up as midnight approached, heading down the streets of the Upper East Side, lined by some of the most expensive apartments in the world and a gleaming parade of high-end, parked SUVs. This type of vehicle is the second largest cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade.
The Tyre Extinguishers, as they call themselves, furtively hand around bags of lentils ahead of their raid (the legumes are jammed into a tire valve to release its air slowly overnight) and size up their quarry.
A hulking Land Rover, sporting a parking permit for a Hamptons beach, is an obvious initial target, but a loitering doorman from a nearby apartment complex unnerves the group. They scurry down the street, then double back and settle upon an Audi.
One of the group kneels down, unscrews the tire valve cap, stuffs a lentil inside and puts the cap back on. The tire immediately lets out a startled “pfft” noise, a leaflet is slapped on to the windshield and the group melts back into the night.
Huh. So, the UK Guardian reporter Oliver Milman was hanging with young folks engaged in vandalism? Yes, this is actually a violation of the law, even if the tires are not damaged, and could be on the hook for the costs to tow or fix the tires, especially since many won’t know what the problem is and have a shop check the tires, which costs money and takes time.
America has embraced large SUVs like no other country, even in liberal, walkable areas like the Upper East Side, so the activists face a steep task in attaching stigma to the supersized cars that now dominate US streets. But Tyre Extinguishers’ nascent US operation has been flooded with insults and even death threats. One message vowed to “deflate your lungs” while another critic, in a nod to the British roots of the campaign, wrote: “Damn you, Redcoats!”
It’s utterly not surprising that a left wing news outlet will support leftists acting in a criminal manner.
“The amount of damage from a flat tire is nothing compared to climate change,” said one member of the group as we moved away from the first deflation, Central Park looming into sight through the dark. “Why do you need an SUV, especially in New York? It’s a vanity thing. You have freedom of choice, sure, but you don’t have freedom from consequences.”
It’s going to get very ugly when these people get caught in the act by the vehicle owners.
“It is like a public shaming,” said Dana Fisher, a sociologist at the University of Maryland who has researched environmental protests since the 1990s. “The target of public shaming is very unlikely to change their opinion from the shaming, so the question is, what’s the point? It’s an innovative, simple tactic to take the air out of someone’s tires, it’s not harmful, it’s just annoying. It’s like the training wheels to something confrontational.”
See? It’s just shaming. And it’ll be fun and games until they are caught and charges are pressed that cannot be dismissed. Or, a homeowner beats the ever loving shit out of one of them. Or plugs them with a 9mm.
Read: “SUV Tires Fall Prey To Gen Z Eco-Activists” Or Something »