You've been quite critical of others making leaps of logic here, but your repeated assertion that Arbery was somehow trying to stick it to these CHUDs deliberately is one hell of a whopper.
No, you are screwing up in the same way the others are. I'm suggesting a way to interpret The Chase, based on what I see. I think it fits the facts better.
Others are making the unfounded assumptions and bald claims, such as that he was exhausted from running for his life. That's an assumption, and I don't think it holds up well, based on the time v distance covered.
I can think of a lot of more plausible explanations why someone being menaced in public might stick to public roads and not sprint off to a secluded area, and "toying" with his pursuers strikes me as especially implausible.
Perhaps Arbery thought he would be safer if he stayed in the public eye, perhaps he thought his pursuers would leave him alone if he continued his jog and ignored them, perhaps he thought others would see the situation and intervene on his behalf. Perhaps he thought the police may be on there way and hopefully defuse the situation.
All these explanations strike me as much more plausible than the idea that he was slowly jogging around "their turf" as some display of dominance. That somehow, the unarmed jogger being pursued by two separate chase vehicles that were steadily escalating the violence felt that he was in control of the situation, strikes me as patently absurd.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, the unspoken assumption by a lot of posters here is that he had to be meek and fearful. Not my starting assumption, especially considering his final run at Travis.
The funny part is, I'm not the slightest bit surprised that many here find it impossible that Arbery was courageous in the face of The Chase. I see no reason why he wouldn't be, especially if he didn't yet know they were armed and as dangerous as they turned out to be.
We know how the story ended, so you are assuming that he knew that ending at the time and acted accordingly. That's a bad assumption. At the time, Arbery had no reason to think this was anything but some fat rednecks flexing on him. And as I have argued, I have no reason to think he was so cowed.