On September 29th a group of motorcyclists got into a violent confrontation with an SUV that is now being called the "Manhattan Brawl". The driver of the SUV, Alexian Lien, was sent to the hospital for stitches to his face after being beaten by some of the bikers in the group. And so far at least one of the bikers is paralyzed after being run over by Lien's car. Here's a video of the event:
An interesting way to look at the Manhattan Brawl is to see how different sides are analyzing the events. One article claims that the motorcyclists in the incident don't actually qualify as a "biker gang". Autoevolution.com claims that not enough leeway is being given to the motorcyclists due to their image as a gang. Other sites clearly portray Lien as the victim of a senseless attack from crazy people.
So I guess the real question is who deserves the most blame? Both sides ended up getting hurt somehow and both sides in some way initiated conflict. The SUV probably wouldn't have run over a man if the motorcyclists hadn't hogged the entire road and forced him to stall. The man who started beating on the SUV with his helmet probably wouldn't have done that if his friend didn't get run over. In the brawl clearly there were victims and perpetrators, but it seems like the lines of guilt are being drawn almost entirely on preconceived notions about one side's identity.
Ahhh Amanda you mentioned how who should get the blame, I love that you and Stephen also did that. It really is interesting to see all the different sides that can be spun on one situation. I guess it really depends on what bias and previous opinions.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned at the end, I feel this is more of a battle of identity i.e. one claims who he is by stating who he is not. What is the role of the "average joe", if he were in this strange situation (halted by a group of bikers)? What is the role of bikers, more broadly, public organizations? Individual v. Organizations... and the DA sides with Lien (Individual). One could only imagine what this means for any organization doing a future public demonstration, that would inconvenience certain individuals. Said individuals might feel it's OK to run over someone with an SUV, regardless of any sanity.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we can think about questions of ethics and justice, without thinking about blame, or at least without thinking about assigning blame to one unique person. For Smith, of course, most of our moral judgments involve determining whether others would approve or disapprove of conduct. In this case, though, can we separate approval from judgement and blame? Maybe we should focus on the response, not the incident itself. Is charging the Bikers but not Lien appropriate? Why or why not?
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