re: #244 Dark_Falcon

There are differences, and you are right in many ways. I’ll revise my opinion in light of your critique:

The protester in question has the right to speak, but not the right to lie. His sign’s message and imagry were outright falsehoods. A sign like that should not be allowed into a town hall meeting.

Ah, but he has the right to be wrong and still express himself. The fat expert was wrong about the school grounds thing—Supreme Court protections are modified only in regards to the sanctioned activities of schools with regard to students, and vice versa. There are also laws which restrict the types of activities for which school grounds may be used, but this is to avoid the impropriety of state support for private or partisan business. In a small town, a school might be used for a youth group whereas in a larger city it might not, on the principle that in the small town, all possible demands can be met and therefore all groups are treated equally, whereas in the city, not all demands can be met, and therefore some would be offered use of the facility and some would not. This is on top of others proscriptions, of course.

But for political activity, after hours, the school is a public facility like any other, and the Supreme Court rulings which curtail some first amendment protections regarding students in school do not apply. Other proscriptions concerning public-owned facilities still will, of course.

He has the right to wave his ugly sign about. His real mistake was in going after the officer. No need to broadcast the man’s name.

Note that our hero did not display the courage of his convictions. The hallmarks of civil disobedience are A) non-violence, B) a intent to be discovered, that is not to “get away with it” by stealth, C) a willingness to accept whatever punishment is routinely accepted for the particular infraction, and I think there’s one more.

This weaselly video-camera “social activity” is misguided. Don’t go film yourself making a little bit of trouble and then not finishing what you start, and I AM TALKING ABOUT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, for those keeping score at home. All this guy has done is piss off a bunch of people who now think that he has been wronged. He has not—he voluntarily took the sign down.

If he wanted to raise some real support, he should have peacefully allowed himself to be charged, removed, arrested, what have you. Until you’re willing to peacefully demonstrate the seriousness of your belief, don’t bother America with your annoying videos. We have bus crashes to watch.