Photos courtesy News2Share.
We’re living in crazy times.
Reportedly, a guy climbed to the top of the Fredrick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington DC, on Friday, to protest the war in Iran. From that high vantage point, he released a long black streamer. I bet the views were stunning from up there.
I definitely have my own concerns about the war in Iran. But I doubt I will ever feel strongly enough about it to climb to the top of a bridge, 168 feet above the .
The report I read gave the guy’s name as Guido Reichstadter, and described him as a “forty-five year old social justice activist” — and said he climbed the bridge on Friday morning, and was still up there on Saturday morning. I assume he had packed a lunch? It’s one thing to spend a day and night atop a 168-foot bridge, and another thing entirely to be atop a bridge without any lunch or dinner, or at least a little snack.
From a story on CommonDreams.org
As Reichstadter, who described himself as the father of two children with masters degrees in both math and physics, said in a video posted to social media on Friday: “Hi my name is Guido Reichstadter and I’m currently occupying the top of the Frederick Douglass memorial bridge in Washington, DC.”
Likely this was meant to indicate that Mr. Reichstadter himself has two masters degrees, but based on the sentence construction, it’s possible that his two children are the ones with multiple masters degrees.
Not to brag or anything, but one of my own children has a masters degree. But in math or physics. Maybe that’s a good thing? Maybe having a masters degree in both math and physics can affect how your brain works?
I don’t normally watch videos of people climbing bridges, but these are not normal times we’re living in. They are, in fact, abnormal times. And people are doing abnormal things.
As I’m sure everyone has noticed.
Mr. Reichstadter’s protest wasn’t only about the innocent men, women and children killed by the U.S. military in Iran. Since he’d gone to all the trouble of climbing a bridge, he also took the opportunity to protest the development of AI. He said he wanted to “urgently warn the people of the U.S .and the world of the imminent danger we are in, of crossing a point of no return towards the development of artificial intelligence, which poses the risk of catastrophic harm to humanity, including human extinction.”
Other people are proclaiming a similar warning about AI. Myself included. But as mentioned, I can’t see myself climbing a bridge in Washington DC.
Maybe I could do something else, abnormal? To get my point across? Since these are abnormal times?
I’ve been complaining here in the Daily Post for the past year, warning about the decline of democracy, unnecessary wars, and the unchecked rise of AI. But so far, it has done any good. Democracy has continued to decline, new wars have been started, and AI still gives me inaccurate information in spite of people using it daily.
I often have dreams that I find myself completely — or mostly — naked, in a crowd of people. Like in a grocery store, or on a airplane, or at a party. In the dream, I’m typically looking for my clothes, because I don’t really want to be naked. In the dream.
But these are abnormal times. Maybe if I actually appeared in public situations, buck naked, people would pay attention to me when I protest the war or the development of AI.
Even better… what if I were buck naked, on top of a bridge? Now there’s a crazy idea. But I’d rather see someone else do it.
Later on Saturday, I saw photos of Mr. Reichstadter setting up a tent atop the bridge. So this could be a lengthy protest event.
Incidentally, this was not the first time Mr. Reichstadter has climbed the Fredrick Douglass Memorial Bridge. He also climbed the same bridge in 2022, to protest the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
At the rate things are headed, he has the right idea to simply camp up there. Until something changes for the better.
Eventually, things will have to change for the better.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.