5 ms·

If you read TFA you’d note that quite possibly none of these people are rich or elite according to any reasonable Progressive taxonomy of evil. And they are not

If you read TFA you’d note that quite possibly none of these people are rich or elite according to any reasonable Progressive taxonomy of evil. And they are not showing that the law doesn’t apply to them; they realize that what they’re doing could land them in jail. And the article points out that the fame these people achieve is minor and fleeting — perhaps nonexistent — and Cannonballers often do it not for the fame but for the inherent challenge of it. These people embody the hacker ethos, and while their actions obviously inhabit an ethical grey area, challenges like the Cannonball speak to some adventurous souls in a way that no officially sanctioned event can. Note also, according to TFA, that the worst injury that has happened as a result of a Cannonball attempt was a driver breaking her arm after drifting off the road as a result of falling asleep at the wheel. Cannonballers and people like them are akin to the skater kids of Dogtown and Z-Boys while the acceptable events that a child of your comment mentioned are events for the well-scrubbed kids being driven around by their parents for soccer or lacrosse practice. But even skating has been captured by the parents and the commercical skate parks. We should pour one out for the death of yet another activity that people used to practice, yes maybe a bit for the possibility of fame but more likely, for the pure joy of that moment when everything comes together and you hook up. That’s why I’ve been doing start-ups for over twenty-five years. That’s why I rode my motorcycle solo between Brooklyn and Long Beach, CA, in fewer than four days, that’s why I’ve ridden solo to Alaska and across the Trans-Labrador Highway. I am posting this anonymously not because I’m afraid of anyone’s downvotes — I’ve whored my way to enough karma to burn at will — but because I don’t want to publicly associate myself with what I’ve done. The rewards of doing many of these things are quiet and private, and talking about them in public take something away from their merit because it amounts to boasting. These people do this for themselves, or to people able to share a beer with the people they did it with or someone who knows what they’ve gone through. These people, in all of their moral ambiguity, need to be respected. And “respected despite the moral ambiguity” is something that too few people can do today.

everyone 6y ago
Its nothing like the skater kids of Dogtown. A skateboard is not a ton or two of metal and plastic, a skateboard travels at a fraction of the speed. Its potential to crush and maim innocent people and cause damage on public roads is not comparable.
- coward8675309 6y ago
  The kids of Dogtown committed many, many property crimes as the trespassed to skate the empty swimming pools of SoCal during the drought and created modern skateboarding as we know it. Skaters all over America during the ‘80s and ‘90s were treated as degenerates and nuisances. I have friends who were endlessly hassled by the cops. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maxwellneelycohen/how-philadelphia-destroyed-the-greatest-skate-spot-ever-made https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maxwellneelycohen/how-p... You refer to people’s potential to crush and main, yet, again, the only recorded injury was to a single Cannonballer who broke her arm. I’m not arguing that these people are as pure as the driven snow — had you read my entire comment you would know that. If you drive I am certain that you speed and break all manner of laws on a regular basis. Most people who wrap themselves in pretzels to justify their lawbreaking while distancing themselves from those evil people over there that they’re nothing like. We are all criminals, we all do selfish, antisocial things that subtract from other people’s health, safety, wealth, and general wellbeing. I think everyone agrees, including those who drive the Cannonball themselves, that they deserve to spend some time in jail or at the very least suffer some nasty speeding tickets.
  - everyone 6y ago
    Simply trespassing cannot possibly harm another person. "the only recorded injury was to a single Cannonballer who broke her arm" Thats simply luck. It is a fact that speeding in a motor vehicle is extremely dangerous. There's endless data supporting the link between speed and death. Speeding in a motor vehicle on public roads is doing something that is known to, and can easily kill innocent people. If one really wants the social cachet of being a rich 'rebel', please do something that can only kill oneself. That would be fine. Dont risk the lives of other innocent people.
    - coward8675309 6y ago
      These people are not rich. Where is this recurring erroneous assertion coming from? Is your moral framework that all evil comes from wealth and therefore these people must be wealthy? We all get bees in our bonnet about different things and you’re entitled to whatever preoccupation suits you. I believe the world would be a far safer, less irritating place if traffic policing focused on people who don’t yield the left lane when traffic approaches from behind. The people who do this cause accidents by encouraging people driving quickly to pass on the right. Such lane hogs present a far greater danger to my personal safety than people who are simply driving fast, and leftmost lane slowpokes are far more likely to possess the sort of righteous attitude that your comment embodies. Righteousness and more specifically righteous anger get people killed.

everyone 6y ago

Its nothing like the skater kids of Dogtown. A skateboard is not a ton or two of metal and plastic, a skateboard travels at a fraction of the speed. Its potential to crush and maim innocent people and cause damage on public roads is not comparable.

coward8675309 6y ago
The kids of Dogtown committed many, many property crimes as the trespassed to skate the empty swimming pools of SoCal during the drought and created modern skateboarding as we know it. Skaters all over America during the ‘80s and ‘90s were treated as degenerates and nuisances. I have friends who were endlessly hassled by the cops. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maxwellneelycohen/how-philadelphia-destroyed-the-greatest-skate-spot-ever-made https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maxwellneelycohen/how-p... You refer to people’s potential to crush and main, yet, again, the only recorded injury was to a single Cannonballer who broke her arm. I’m not arguing that these people are as pure as the driven snow — had you read my entire comment you would know that. If you drive I am certain that you speed and break all manner of laws on a regular basis. Most people who wrap themselves in pretzels to justify their lawbreaking while distancing themselves from those evil people over there that they’re nothing like. We are all criminals, we all do selfish, antisocial things that subtract from other people’s health, safety, wealth, and general wellbeing. I think everyone agrees, including those who drive the Cannonball themselves, that they deserve to spend some time in jail or at the very least suffer some nasty speeding tickets.
- everyone 6y ago
  Simply trespassing cannot possibly harm another person. "the only recorded injury was to a single Cannonballer who broke her arm" Thats simply luck. It is a fact that speeding in a motor vehicle is extremely dangerous. There's endless data supporting the link between speed and death. Speeding in a motor vehicle on public roads is doing something that is known to, and can easily kill innocent people. If one really wants the social cachet of being a rich 'rebel', please do something that can only kill oneself. That would be fine. Dont risk the lives of other innocent people.
  - coward8675309 6y ago
    These people are not rich. Where is this recurring erroneous assertion coming from? Is your moral framework that all evil comes from wealth and therefore these people must be wealthy? We all get bees in our bonnet about different things and you’re entitled to whatever preoccupation suits you. I believe the world would be a far safer, less irritating place if traffic policing focused on people who don’t yield the left lane when traffic approaches from behind. The people who do this cause accidents by encouraging people driving quickly to pass on the right. Such lane hogs present a far greater danger to my personal safety than people who are simply driving fast, and leftmost lane slowpokes are far more likely to possess the sort of righteous attitude that your comment embodies. Righteousness and more specifically righteous anger get people killed.