Sunday, as many of you know, was the busiest driving day of the year. I'd planned to celebrate by re-blogging the 101 through Marin and Sonoma counties, but when I went out I found that practically every sign I'd put up on Wednesday was still up: not just the discrete ones, but the really big, in-your-face signs as well. It was practically impossible to drive between Santa Rosa and San Francisco without seeing a sign of protest somewhere along the way: "Impeach", "The War is a Lie." or "Let's Impeach the President for Lying." Not because the area is a hotbed of political activism, mind you, but because one guy spent a couple of hours painting and driving around. Because of that, damn near everyone travelling north of San Francisco over Thanksgiving weekend saw protest signs instead of just fences and trees.
So I drove back home with a truck full of signs and the weird sense of pride and failure that's come to characterize my feelings about this project. The pride comes from being able to take something as stupid and destructive as freeway traffic and use it to speak out for what I believe in: the voice of the individual. The failure comes from my seeming inability to motivate more than a handful of others to do the same.
And then I come home and read about this guy.
If I could've talked to him, not only would he still be alive, but from now until the war is over you wouldn't be able to drive in or out of Chicago without knowing how he felt about it. Instead he chose to stand next to a freeway, douse himself in gasoline and end his life in the most horrific and painful way known to man. By videotaping it and leaving instructions he trusted that the media would cover it. And they didn't.
I've been preaching this for over five years now: Fuck The Media. When you can reach a quarter of a million people in a day with nothing more than cardboard and paint, you don't need the goddam media to cover it: You ARE the Goddam Media.
USA - 1026
FB - 878
Because when you put a sign up next to a freeway,
people will read it until somebody takes it down.
. 
Send pictures to freewayblogger -AT- yahoo.com
4 comments:
Holy shit that's so sad...
To bad he hadn't found this site or just find a diff way to vent his anger.
The other day I went to one of my fav. bridges (a nice walking bridge) & to my surprise there was the sign I had put up a week ago. I felt glad that ppl were still see "We Don't Torture" big & bold everyday. I have been told that "I'm preaching to choir" putting up signs around the A2 area, but some times the choir needs to learn a new song.
how wonderful...that your signs were still up...and how sad that his death ment nothing
but seeing it on your blog -- we know it ment something...
keep on -- keeping on
A friend, who is a cop, was stuck in traffic behind this and when he got up to the cops, he was told it was nothing, move along, nothing to see here. The activist community in Chicago is going to honor Malachi with a vigil, bio, march and if the family is willing release the vid.
I was shocked when I first heard of this. What a shame that people feel the need to take it that far to get the media, that turns it's back, to listen to "We The People" to only be shunned after the fact.
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