In a week when our House and Senate take up the ill-advised proposition of extending unemployment insurance benefits to striking workers locked out by their employers, it is perhaps timely to ask, like this BBC News Magazine writer, "Why do US pickets walk in circles?" The experts weigh in:
Is it to comply with laws that prohibit blocking ingress and egress to buildings?
Is it to more effectively spread the message?
Is it to make it harder to cross the picket line?
Is a circular route required because marching in a straight line might be considered a parade, which needs a permit?
Is it even a circle, or more of an oval, or just walking up, turning around, and coming back?
The article doesn't let us know; all we know for sure is that it contrast with the British picketer's practice of huddling together in "donkey jackets" next to a "rusty brazier".
Go figure.
