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Translations: Train Incident Becomes Metaphor for Principled Disobedience – “Smash That Window, and Take a Breath of Freedom!” (chinadigitaltimes.net)

submitted 1 week ago by klu9@piefed.social to c/china@sopuli.xyz

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A man who used an onboard emergency hammer to smash a hole in the window of a stalled train to relieve the suffering of his fellow passengers in a sweltering carriage has become an unlikely and memeworthy hero. His small act of rebellion—in defiance of a perspiring train attendant who half-heartedly attempted to stop him—has become a timely metaphor for other forms of altruistically motivated disobedience.

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[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 week ago

I feel like there a perfect metaphor for modern legalism in this. You are stuck in a car that is heating up. You know there is fresh air right on the other side. You know it’s illegal to break the window but it won’t hurt any people and it will help some people. Do you adhere to your common sense or the rule of law?

I ran into a similarly bizarre scenario once where police with assault rifles came into a department store chasing a car thief. A lady nearby started having a panic attack and couldn’t breathe right. I helped her sit down and was grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge by the register and a teenage store attendant stopped me, had a radio discussion with his manager, then they instead had someone bring a cup of water from the in-store cafe (which took maybe 7 minutes while this lady was hyperventilating on the floor with her worried 6 or 7 yearold standing by). I was floored that anyone would worry about the sales status of the water in that scenario.