Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading that in the US tarring and feathering was used mostly as a way to physically abuse and intimidate black people, for example, if found after dark on a sundown town, or if perceived to be "uppity" by white racists.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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You beat me to it. I learned about tarring and feathering in school in the context of the war for independence, when loyalists and tax collectors were targeted. Then later when I learned about lynching it seemed a lot less cool. If we could bring back a collective targeted punishment from back then I'd suggest: removing the offenders roof and doors
It was used a lot during the first Red Scare too for labor organizers.
was mostly used as a way to physically abuse and intimidate black people
american history sucks so fucking much
You are supposed to have bad takes and this is a good take.
It also wasn't as lethal as it's depicted in film. They didn't always heat up the tar to a boiling point. Sometimes it was more room temperature. This meant the person was in a more pain and discomfort while a lynch mob beat them. It's still going to cause injuries, make it hard to breath, and get in your eyes, mouth, and ears.
It's the difference between pouring gasoline on someone and burning them to death vs. putting out a cigarette in their eyes. One version will kill you. The other won't, but it's still incredibly cruel and painful.
Since America got rid of trains there was no way to send the tarred and feathered villain out of town
Maybe call an UberPet and say they're just a big complainy bird?
Bring back running them out on a rail
there was glitterbombing and milkshaking not too long ago
Pine tar was a commodity only relevant during the age of wooden ships, and only in towns with boat-based industries. We need a modern commodity with the same outcome as tar and feathers. I can think of a few things but don't want to fedpost
consider corn syrup and 
as a 
egan alternative
No one is going to be as unhappy being corn syrup'd and bean'd as being tarred and feathered unless both are reallllyyy hot
Or if it's in an environment where that leaves them absolutely crawling with bugs
pine tar also didn't get as hot as miscellaneous other tars you might have easier access to today. if you did it with asphalt you'd just be inefficiently murdering them.
Tbf a lot of old timey punishments sound like inefficient murder
yeah, even so, the burns meant a decent chunk of people who it was done to died. it was just collective so hard to prosecute.
hot honey and body glitter
There's still foundation tar and fiberglass insulation. Both common household construction items and for absolutely nothing else.
Roofing tar is a thing that is available at any hardware store.
Liquid nails and model glue should work nicely if its too cold to have workable tar.
Krazy Glue and glitter
that's just my Pride outfit tbh
2-part epoxy resin, or UV resin if you have spare cash and a UV light (the sun) handy. Both are self-heating.
I mean its a pretty shitty thing to do to someone if they don't really deserve it. You're stripping someone, covering them in boiling pine tar, causing 2nd and third degree burns across most of their body, and then attaching feathers so they can't get it off. They chance of getting infection and dying are huge. Add to this its use against slaves and black freedmen and it's a bad look.
Bird union banned it
I really enjoyed Tár (2022)
We are living in the future, we need a more modern solution. That is why, in my professional goo expert opinion, we should be using the Gunk(TM) from Nickelodeon shows.
Random happenstance, but earlier this morning I was thinking about how handy some of that spray foam insulation might be in situations where you want make a vehicle unusable.
Where would you spray it? Asking for myself
Off the top of my head and entirely hypothetically, because I haven't actually had the opportunity to test it.
- if you know where the engine air intake is, clog that up.
- exhaust if it's not running yet
- windshield on the outside, but probably even better on the inside.
- the seams of the doors, if it sets fast enough will make them much harder to open.
- if you have access to the interior, the driver foot wells, seal up that whole access to the pedals
- if you have like $500 worth, fill up the entire interior.
We need start thinking about how to disable these things mechanically. It might be messy and not great for the environment but ripping off cooling hoses, cutting lines and things. For example, all those people on the hood of an SUV the other day trying to stop it, if someone had reached down instead and slipped a hook under the front, they probably could've gotten a hold of the cooling hose. The engine would've died down the road.
I'm a layman when it comes to cars but the tailpipe and fuel tank/charging port are some immediately accessible options.
@gunk is this true?
tar prices went up. that's materialism.
