[ExI] Americans can be put in jail for poking fun at the government? Really?

[Darin Sunley]

Our brains are convinced there are only 150-300 people in our tribe, and
that that's the entire world. Dunbar's Number, dontcha know?

So when we hear 5-10 stories per year about police brutality and gross
injustice, it's a pretty big percentage.

The clear solution is to nationalize and dissolve all national media
companies.

On Thu, Oct 6, 2022 at 2:10 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> The problem, as is so often the case, is overgeneralization:  a few bad
> cops and unnecessary shooting and suddenly all cops are bad (like the
> overgeneralization by the cops that all blacks are criminals). This is the
> brain we are stuck with, folks.  So many errors.   bill w
>
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2022 at 9:58 AM Darin Sunley via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> Making powerful enemies (and your local cops are powerful, at least
>> locally) is a dangerous pastime, no matter what some "constitution" says.
>>
>> Some people seem to have a very weird sense of entitlement about this.
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 11:07 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>>  saying that because some people didn’t get the
>>> joke, it violated the law.  bill k
>>>
>>>  I cannot believe that a judge (in this day and age, blah, blah, blah)
>>> would say such a thing.  Many art cases have been adjudicated, and the
>>> artist can satirize anything at all, period.  FREE SPEECH unless causing
>>> riots  bill w
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 5, 2022 at 11:51 AM BillK via extropy-chat <
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The Onion Files Hilarious Amicus Brief In An Important Case, And
>>>> Actually Makes A Key Point In The Best Way Possible
>>>> Tue, Oct 4th 2022 10:45am - Mike Masnick
>>>>
>>>> <
>>>> https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/04/the-onion-files-hilarious-amicus-brief-in-an-important-case-that-actually-makes-a-key-point-in-the-best-way-possible/
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>> Quote:
>>>> The case goes back to 2016 when Parma, Ohio resident Anthony Novak
>>>> (who enjoys writing comedy skits for fun) created a parody Facebook
>>>> page for the Parma Police Department. It was pretty obviously a
>>>> parody, talking about how the department “strongly discourages
>>>> minorities” from applying for jobs at the police department. It also
>>>> offered “free abortions” in a police van, and promoted a “pedophile
>>>> reform event.” In short, it was a parody page mocking the Parma
>>>> Police.
>>>>
>>>> In response, the Parma police arrested Novak, claiming the parody page
>>>> disrupted public services. Really. Novak spent four days in jail and
>>>> then was tried but thankfully acquitted by a jury. Novak then sued the
>>>> city of Parma for violating his civil rights. That case has bounced
>>>> around the courts, but the rulings have not been great. The district
>>>> court granted qualified immunity to the police. The 6th Circuit rolled
>>>> that back in 2019 with what seemed like a good ruling at the time
>>>> (with the court rightly noting “The First Amendment does not depend on
>>>> whether everyone is in on the joke.”)
>>>>
>>>> However, on remand, the lower court again decided that the cops get
>>>> qualified immunity, saying that because some people didn’t get the
>>>> joke, it violated the law.
>>>>
>>>> Novak has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether or not a
>>>> police officer is entitled to qualified immunity for arresting someone
>>>> solely for speech parodying the government. It also asks the court to
>>>> reconsider the entire doctrine of qualified immunity.
>>>> --------------
>>>>
>>>> The Onion brief is quite funny in places, but it makes the point that
>>>> satirical parodies depend on initially fooling people, then them
>>>> realising it is a joke.
>>>> The Supremes have not yet decided whether to take the case.
>>>>
>>>> BillK
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> extropy-chat mailing list
>>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>>>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> extropy-chat mailing list
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> extropy-chat mailing list
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>>
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20221006/5c898207/attachment.htm>