Court upholds right to give police the finger
A New York man can seek damages following a disorderly conduct arrest when he “flipped the bird” at police
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/04/court_upholds_right_to_give_polive_the_finger/
I couldn’t think of a better title, so stole the one from the article. I like this comment by FredRated:
WTF, common sense rears its ugly head? I thought it went extinct years ago.
And “believing his hand gesture to be some sort of distress signal” lol!
PoodlePlay, though, points out the obvious:
Swartz should be grateful that he didn’t get the shit kicked out of him.
This decision notwithstanding, it is important to remember that any cop can arrest you any time he damn well pleases, and if he happens to be an asshole, he can make life very unpleasant for you.
…
So at the end of the day, what did Swartz prove, other than the fact he is not only a colossal douche-bag, but a damned lucky one, too?
While I initially thought that this might be a tiny thawing in the police state, I pretty much agree with PoodlePlay and it is much ado about nothing. Just like Rodney King got his ass repetitively kicked even after winning a civil rights judgement against the cops. Dumbasses will always piss off the cops who will use their position of authority to retaliate. The problem I have is when the cops get a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card and no matter how outrageous their activities they suffer no consequences. Of course, just like the rest of our police state injustice system I don’t expect my complaining about it will do a damn bit of good, but I thought the article might be amusing to my reader(s).
There are a number of laws and rulings in place which trample constitutional rights. Clearly, these aren’t valid. They’re still used to persecute people. All you have to do is convince the m
easses that loss of rights is better than the alternative.