The Brooklyn Bridge white flags & exploring.

Earlier this week, someone changed the American flags on the Brooklyn Bridge – replacing them with white flags of surrender. I don’t care who did it or why. I think it is awesome that they did. It’s a fun prank that harmed absolutely no one and is certainly not worth all the slow-news-week press it has been getting.

In 2003, I know a fellow who climbed the Brooklyn Bridge during the blackout. He did it because he was there, and it was fun. He didn’t even take photos. At the very same time, I was climbing the Greensboro bridge. I did it because it was there, and it was easy. In 2004, during RNC, someone stole at least one flag off the Brooklyn Bridge. That crime remains unsolved. People used to bungee jump and have punk rock concerts on the Willy B bridge in the 1990s – that was before the internet so only those directly involved knew it was going on. Every month, people climb bridges in NYC. John Law out in San Fran has been climbing bridges for decades now. Daylight? Night time? Who cares.

Where are the cops? Hopefully doing their job – out answering calls and addressing actual crimes. ‘Trespassing’? That’s not a crime – it’s a very American fraudulent law created by lawsuit happy American lawyers. Many other countries in the world don’t even know what the word ‘trespassing’ means. There’s no translation for it. The concept is completely alien to them.

Explorers have been climbing bridges in NYC since well before and long after 9/11. We’re no threat to anyone.

Explorers have been climbing bridges in NYC since well before and long after 9/11. We’re no threat to anyone, and the general public shouldn’t misuse their imaginations worrying about what we’re up to. We’re here, we’re harmless, get used to it. I mean fuck, GET USED TO IT. This site has been online for nearly 15 years now documenting our exploits all over and under NYC. If anything we are a benefit to the city: if we see something unusual (in these places that few go to and are rarely patrolled) – we’ll say something. It’s not like we haven’t been there and done that.

If some terrorist really wants to blow up an NYC bridge – all they have to do is drive a truck full of bomb onto it. No one will know ahead of time, and no one will be able to stop them. How could you stop them? Close all the bridges to everyone – because checking every truck isn’t viable. It comes down to a choice of what kind of world we want to live in – do you want one of paranoia with cameras everywhere and random anal cavity checks when you’re trying to commute, where your kids and grandparents are groped by low wage criminal perverts hired by the TSA – or should we live in a world where everyone is generally safe and happy, and every now and then some adventurous people exercise the freedoms our forefathers fought to preserve?

If anything we are a benefit to the city: if we see something unusual (in these places that few go to and are rarely patrolled) – we’ll say something.

The sooner the press and politicians get over this ridiculous notion that the the NYPD can and should be everywhere at all times preventing anyone from having even an ounce of fun, the better off we’ll all be. The truth is, there are hundreds of people trespassing in abandoned buildings, climbing bridges, and going into tunnels all over NYC, every week. We’re not harming anyone.

And since when the fuck is NYC suppose to be ‘Safe’ anyway? You want safety – go live in a fucking bubble somewhere. A city with a population over 8 million is going to contain a few oddballs that will do things you might not agree with. Welcome to humanity.

As for the White flags of surrender? I don’t want to know what they mean – the fact that they’re open to interpretation makes them awesome. In my mind, yeah, NYC surrendered long ago: to a hipster invasion driving up rents, to our politicians being bought and paid for by the real estate industry, to ridiculous anti-car, anti-gun propaganda, and a whole slew of other indignities. I though – as a native New Yorker – refuse to hand the terrorists their victory. I will not surrender to the paranoid delusions of the press and politicians. I think I can speak for all explorers in NYC when I say this: We will not stop exploring here. Not today, not ever.