Tell me you want to discuss something contentious on the phone, then go dark when I tell you I’d rather communicate by email. This has happened to me twice lately, once with a business I’ve criticized here on the blog, and once with a member of the staff here at Georgia Tech. What is it that’s so important that you want to schedule a phone call across five time zones, but suddenly a lot less important when I ask you to put it in writing?
Einstein in snow at Georgia Tech. Sculpture by Robert Berks.
Source: WGCL
I have pretty much quit riding my bike here in Atlanta. A substantial proportion of the drivers here (much higher than Tucson or Vancouver or Missoula) seem to have the attitude that the roads belong to them and cyclists can fuck right off. I’ve had people drive right up behind me and lay on the horn (on Piedmont, where there are four other lanes going the same direction), yell at me, and give me the finger, and others in my lab have had similar experiences.
I don’t know if that’s the kind of driver that killed a cyclist less than two miles from here, but I give it better than even odds.
Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson sent a message to the main GT listserv Tuesday. I’m not sure I buy the bit about ‘outside agitators’–one of the three people arrested was a Georgia Tech student–but all in all I think it’s a pretty evenhanded response. Here’s the whole message:
The events of the past few days have been incredibly difficult and challenging for the entire Georgia Tech community. Consistent with our traditions and values, it is especially important that during times like these we come together and support one another.
One of our student leaders, Scout Schultz, has died and we all bear the tremendous weight of that loss. I met Scout last year at the Lavender Graduation ceremony, and our entire Georgia Tech community is mourning the tragic loss of this smart and passionate young person. Losing a student, friend, colleague, and campus leader is one of the most difficult experiences that any of us will have to face.
BREAKING; GA TECH PROTESTERS SET POLICE CAR ON FIRE. #11Alive pic.twitter.com/cMV9wmmGFi
— ronjonesreports (@ronjonesreports) September 19, 2017
That would count as “violent protests,” right? Let’s hope that’s all that happened.
CNN has the story now, but no real details:
Georgia Tech police urged students to stay inside and lock their doors as violent protests erupted Monday on campus after the fatal shooting of a student by police over the weekend. There was a planned vigil for the slain student on Monday.
That’s really all there is that we didn’t already know.
By the way (in case my mom is reading) I’m at home, a mile from campus.
The beginning and the end of the story.
I’ve been reluctant to comment on the shooting of Scout Schultz. I don’t have any special insight or any information that’s not available on the news. I don’t want to rush to judgement and start throwing around blame for cops who, by every indication but one, were trying to avoid violence.
Is it fair to judge everyone who marched against the removal of a Confederate monument in Charlottesville? Surely not everyone involved self-identifies as a white supremacist or Nazi. When I marched for science in Washington, DC, I didn’t agree with every single thing that was said on stage or written on signs, but I marched anyway. Same thing, right?
