When a person is left alone with the whole system and a huge number of difficult problems, not everyone can cope with it. Someone immediately breaks down and gives up, while others may try to defend the truth and their rights. Today we would like to tell you 4 stories about people who decided to challenge the system alone.
Marvin Himeyer's War
Marvin John Hemeyer and "Killdozer" is a human bulldozer who rose to prominence in 2004. John was an ordinary US citizen - a retired military engineer, a participant in the Vietnam War. In 1992, he purchased a piece of land and opened his own auto repair shop. Everything went well until the neighboring cement plant decided to expand. It so happened that the Chimeyera auto repair shop occupied the land necessary for the plant. John refused to sell his business. In response, the owner of the plant started a lawsuit - and won it.
In 2001, the city of Grand Lake approved the construction of a cement plant in such a way that John's workshop lost the car entrance. That is, the pensioner was essentially losing his business. Most of all, Hemeyer was annoyed by the fact of legality, because the court and the city authorities took the side of the richer and more influential owner of the plant. But John didn’t start to nurse. Having leased his land to a garbage collection company, he started to work in his specialty. The military engineer turned his bulldozer into a Killdozer, welded 30mm thick armor onto the cockpit. For a better view, John equipped the Killdozer with a video camera system connected to two displays in the cockpit. The cameras' lenses were protected by bulletproof plastic. In addition, a ventilation system was created,which maintained the temperature in the cabin and could clean dust from video cameras with compressed air jets.
The Chimeyer War began on June 4, 2004. After driving a bulldozer through a cement plant, John went to the city administration building, then to the office of the local newspaper; drove in and home to the judge. In total, 13 buildings were destroyed, and the total damage to the city was $ 7 million. More than 200 bullets were counted in the armor of the converted bulldozer, as a result, several bullets pierced the radiator, and the engine jammed. Not a single person was injured, except for Himmeyer himself: he shot himself without leaving the cockpit.
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Yang family home
The Yang family lived in their own house in Chongqing, China, and they were the only family in the block who refused to sell the plot to a major developer. In response, the developer dug a foundation pit for an apartment building 10 meters deep so that the house of the Yang family became a lonely "island".
In 2007, the story blew up the Chinese internet and local media; The Yang family was dubbed "the coolest in history," as the practice of forced evictions was a common problem, especially in rural areas. There, in addition to pressure from large developers, the authorities resorted to police force.
As a result, the Law on Property was adopted at the Fifth Congress of the National People's Congress. The Yang family and the developer came to an agreement, according to which the developer presented the family a new apartment of the same size and in the same area. In addition, the story of the Yang House gave rise to the concept of the "House-Nail": inspired by the struggle of a poor family, many other Chinese began to defend their homes in a similar way.
Nelson on the tank
Sean Nelson is a simple American, a former military man who works as a plumber and is caught in an unpleasant cycle of events: injury after an accident and hospitalization, police detention, divorce from his wife, death of his parents. Sean tried to sue the hospital and the police, insisting that the detention was unreasonable, and in the hospital he was treated negligently, as a result of which complications occurred. Nelson lost both cases and was forced to bear legal costs.
Then the former soldier began to take down the "roof" - constant quarrels with neighbors and amazing "startups". One day, Sean decided to mine gold and dug a hole 5 meters deep in his backyard. No gold was found, but he filed a notification with the city authorities that he would be mining rock in his yard. Oddly enough, he was denied a license. The last straw was the theft of plumbing from his truck, leaving Nelson without a job and a livelihood.
On May 7, 1995, Nelson arrived at the National Guard arsenal, made his way to the warehouse and opened the hatch of the 46-ton M60 tank with a crowbar. This was followed by the slowest chase in American TV history. The tank moved at an average speed of only 45 km / h, the police easily chased it, but could not inflict any damage on the tank. Nelson, in turn, also had nothing to answer: there was no ammunition on the tank.
As a result of the slowest chase in San Diego history, in half an hour, Nelson's tank de-energized 5,000 households, crushed dozens of cars, and paralyzed traffic on several major highways. An attempt to bring down the bridge was unsuccessful: the supports withstood the pressure of the tank, and at that moment several policemen managed to climb it. One of them opened the hatch and ordered Sean to shut down the car immediately and surrender. Nelson tried to throw off the police, making sharp maneuvers, but was shot. Later, public hearings were held on whether the use of firearms was justified or whether gas grenades should have been dispensed with. The policeman who killed Nelson was fully acquitted. The only victim of this event was Sean Nelson himself.
Forbes vs. Trump
Michael Forbes is a Scottish farmer who refused to sell land to Trump (before his presidency). Donald Trump, in his usual cheeky manner, called the farm "an abandoned trash bin" and intended to build a luxury golf club and hotel in its place. But Forbes had a different vision of beauty.
Michael got media attention and insisted he would never sell his land to Trump. Despite a very generous offer (£ 450,000 straight away plus £ 50,000 annually), the barn door bore the words "No golf club." Some time later, the Scottish Construction Department nevertheless sided with Trump and ordered Michael to leave the farm. In response, Michael Forbes sold part of the land in small shares for little money solely to increase the number of owners, which significantly complicated the process. Donald Trump never built a golf club, and a documentary was filmed based on the story with a sassy Trump-style title, You've Been Surpassed.