When workers go on strike, picketers will congregate round the gates of their workplace holding banners roadward. These banners will usually say something like “Honk!”, “Honk for the fire-fighters!” or “Honk if you, like us, feel that the government’s proposed wage increase package for your hardworking fire-fighters is insultingly exig[u]ous!”
The requests on these banners are only capable of eliciting a public show of support for the cause championed and, as such, are a restriction on freedom of expression at odds with the rights protected in the Constitution of the United States of America and the ECHR. To prevent picketers becoming embroiled with expensive and lengthy legal proceedings in the Supreme Court and Strasbourg, I propose the establishment of an (inter)nationally recognised car horn “signature” signalling the driver’s disagreement with the cause of those stood round braziers idly.
Something along the lines of nerner-nerner-ner, perhaps.-- my face your, Jan 01 2003 The Internationale http://www.anu.edu....i/marx/int/int.htmlChoose your version and garnish it with any amount of sarcasm you desire. [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] Perhaps a switch which mists a little gas into the muffler, creating a loud and scary gunshot-like backfire, with the possibility of a tongue of flame out the exhaust pipe. That would get their attention as they scramble for cover. Drivers who used this option too often might explode their muffler, thus making a built in incentive for people to thoughtfully consider the points being presented by picketers, rather than reflex disapproval.-- bungston, Jan 01 2003 I find that a slow crawl past the line with an extended finger gets the point across. Croissant nonetheless.-- angel, Jan 02 2003 *Cough* Tailpipe + Castor Oil + WD-40 *Cough*Careful what's behind your clunker, though - it leaves a black shellac which is *impossible* to remove.-- thumbwax, Jan 02 2003 exigous. n. The result of a post spell-check alteration to the body of an idea, performed well past bedtime.-- my face your, Jan 02 2003 I like the fact that you taught me a new word [mfy], but wouldn't "meager" or "penurious" have done the job equally well with a higher rate of recognition? Really articulate strikers in your neck of the highlands.-- jurist, Jan 02 2003 there must be a way of getting a *raspberry* sound which is the most obvious. blast air through a narrow tube ending in some thick, rubbery huge lips.-- po, Jan 02 2003 "Raspberries" is the easiest sound in the world to duplicate. Think of of any Mack or Kenilworth diesel rig downshifting.-- jurist, Jan 03 2003 I would if I knew what the heck you were talking about and yes I did imagine that to be so.-- po, Jan 03 2003 Let's see. Strikers always strike just because they're just lazy and greedy, right? It's got nothing to do with wages, benefits, safety conditions, etc. Hmmmm, and we have people working full-time but still in poverty. While real wages have stagnated (or declined), executive compensation has skyrocketed (though it has no link to real-world performance). Company has dismal year, executive bonuses in the millions; company makes record profits, workers take pay cuts, benefit cuts, safety cuts, split-shits, etc. Hmmmmm.... Maybe someone knows the Morse for,
"I'm an angry moron who can't be bothered to understand what's going on. If the TV tells me workers are demanding a 2% wage hike over three years, I get furious because I'm unable to comprehend that, set against the inflation rate, that's actually yet another wage cut, plus the workers have been stripped of benefits and the working conditions are unsafe. Meanwhile, housing costs have... Ow! Ow! MY BRAIN HURTS! Don't make me think! I just want to give the finger to these people."
That might work.
Only problem is that you'd have to honk for a long time, and people might get the idea you were an angry, ignorant moron.
Oh, wait...-- rowlycat, Jan 03 2003 Because everbody who opposes any strike action by any group of workers is necessarily an angry, ignorant moron.-- my face your, Jan 04 2003 Hark! are those strains of" The Internationale" we hear swelling in the background?...Several days ago I posted that [mfy] could use any one of a number of customisable auto horns to play a bar or two of "The Internationale" in humorous counterpoint to the strikers' assertions. I then removed that post and link because I felt that kind of heavy-handed satire was juvenile and inappropriate amongst such enlightened peers. [rowlycat] is making me wish I'd left that commentary in place.-- jurist, Jan 05 2003 Can we have a separate horn signature, so that I can "Honk if I Didn't Do It Last Night"?-- CheeseFilteredCigarette, Jan 05 2003 "Honk if I didn't do it last night..." That's a new tune to me. Link?-- jurist, Jan 05 2003 ........and in summary folks, it appears that democracy, in its infinate forms, has failed once again. Frustrated Citizens are left with only one option: 'la prise de la Bastille' *[headsup: asking for a link on this one will make you look un-educated] On the other hand a 'friend of a friend' in a certain municipality of Vancouver, BC [remaining nameless] somehow forced his name through the system and onto the voting ballot for the municipal election. WITHOUT ANY CAMPAIGNING (no signs, no speeches, no fliers, no kissing babiess etc etc) recieved 16,000 votes - no he didn't win, but still. Makes you think, don't it?-- Slaytor, Jan 05 2003 // a restriction on freedom of expression at odds with the rights protected in the Constitution of the United States of America //
What rights are those, then?
(Hint: the First Amendment protects citizen's free speech against restriction by *Congress*.)-- JKew, Jan 05 2003 I'll come clean. The stuff about the Constitution was total guesswork. The original draft of the idea included no mention of the US - the ECHR part was in, though: a product of the peculiar mind state that comes from reading UK right-wing tabloid The Daily Mail ("Bloody countryside-hating, interfering leftist Europeans, they'll be making homosexuality mandatory next I tell you!" etc.) - but I thought I'd chuck it in, so nobody felt left out. Sorry.-- my face your, Jan 05 2003 May I have a link on the Prize de Bastille, please? I did find something on a guy who got a chunk of Bastille stone as some sort of award, but that really doesn't make sense in the context.
As far as honking at strikers / getting on high horses, not all who march with signs are on strike - eg the PETA folks.-- bungston, Jan 05 2003 Why not just wave a copy of the Daily Mail out of your window? They'll get the message.-- egbert, Jan 06 2003 I'd prefer it if the drivers just paid attention to where they were going instead of gawping at every roadside distraction that they come across.-- DrBob, Jan 06 2003 Honk if you agree.-- egbert, Jan 06 2003 When driving past said picketers, you could always just veer into them.-- Jinbish, Jan 06 2003 Not funny Jinbish. I've been on the receiving end of that sort of behaviour.-- DrBob, Jan 06 2003 bartholemew jehosephat: There is a tendency that nearly every institution that works for a good cause becomes less and less benevolent as the cause is realized. For example, groups like MADD which once worked for the noble purpose of keeping drunk drivers off the road have, in pursuit of a continuing raison-d'etre, started promoting insane policies like arresting bar patrons whose BAC--while they're sitting at the bar--is over 0.08. Such policies have nothing to do with reducing drunk driving, and may in practice run counter to that aim (since people who would otherwise wait at the bar until they're below 0.08BAC might be inclined to leave sooner).
Unions, IMHO, have followed the same pattern as many other once-good causes, and the need for them has largely run its course.-- supercat, Jan 06 2003 Instead of honking, you could yell out the window, "Keep on gurning, Gurny! GURNY!". Those lackwits would probably wave back. Those in the know would nod knowingly.-- bungston, Jan 06 2003 random, halfbakery