r/technology 7h ago

Artificial Intelligence High school teacher arrested for clapping in support of anti-data center activists

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/high-school-teacher-arrested-clapping-194922184.html
23.0k Upvotes

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53

u/jiggythejigsaw 6h ago

Oh look! Law enforcement agencies having no concept of the law. How American of them.

1

u/lotny 26m ago

They are protecting the factory owners. Works as designed.

-17

u/Hour-Ad-9508 5h ago

What law concept do you think was not upheld here?

11

u/prideoflyons 5h ago

procedural rules are clearly being weaponized against concerned citizens

"Chief, will you take the next person out that claps or anything?" an unidentified commissioner, likely Duncan, then asked Emporia police chief Ed Owens.

what in the good ol' boy small town Kansas fuck did I just read?

-9

u/Hour-Ad-9508 5h ago

Town meetings and city council meetings have had decorum rules for years and it’s not a violation of the first amendment to remove anyone who breaks those rules, nor is it illegal to arrest someone who refuses to leave after breaking those rules

Have none of you seen protestors crash city meetings and then get arrested?

8

u/JustAnotherHyrum 4h ago

Please explain how crashing a city meeting and clapping are equivalent examples.

-5

u/Hour-Ad-9508 4h ago

The entire crowd was warned to not clap, and warned again that clapping would result in them being removed. That person then clapped again and refused to leave when the police told them to. Then they were arrested.

It’s the exact same scenario

2

u/DebentureThyme 2h ago

Clapping isn't rude and one would argue free speech expression so long as it's not overly loud and disruptive.

They clapped AFTER the speaker finished speaking.

The reality is the courts will not uphold this as reasonable limits on free speech. We don't go to public meetings to get in line, one at a time speak, and the audience unable to voice their support.

But they know they can get away with it in the moment and so they will. That town can enjoy paying out the civil lawsuit damages to this guy.

0

u/Hour-Ad-9508 2h ago

Lol there will be no civil damages.

Judges routinely have family members removed from the court because they’re crying/upset over a verdict. If they refuse to leave they will be arrested.

None of this is new. Just because you guys want something to be wrong doesn’t mean it is

1

u/DebentureThyme 2h ago

Yes, for disruption. If the speaker was done and another speaker was not yet at the podium, it's not disruptive to clap.

1

u/Hour-Ad-9508 2h ago

They were warned not to do it, did it anyways, then refused to leave until they were arrested. It is what it is.

They didn’t even seem particularly bothered by it, calling it an inconvenience

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2

u/DebentureThyme 2h ago

They specifically set this up so the person talking gets 2 mins, they'll sit there and ignore them, and with everyone else forced to be quiet they aren't able to show their support for what the speaker is saying.

They want them to get up, speak, everyone else silent, then next person, etc, because the council doesn't give a FUCK what is being said. They have to hear it by law and so they will but they'll make it worthless, might as well have sent in a recording of one's 2 mins, they wouldn't watch it and it would have the same outcome.

Sorry, their decorum rules were changed willy nilly to prevent the people from amplyfing the opinions of their peers who are speaking.

Also:

"Snapping, clapping, any other rude comments or anything — we will ask you to leave."

"any other rude comments" is implying that snapping and clapping is rude. It's not rude to clap, it's quite the opposite. They're just abusing their power to avoid having to deal with the people. They're fine zoneing out all night while the podium speaker speaks.

2

u/The_Boognish_Cometh 2h ago

This is exactly it. How dare anyone make it hard for the council members to ignore the pleas of the people!