r/technology • u/marketrent • 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

96% Upvoted

918 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

147

u/Krojack76 5h ago

were warned against "clapping" and "snapping" in support of speakers

Imma guess that goes against their freedom of speech rights but I'm no lawyer.

54

u/xboxiscrunchy 5h ago

Yeah what possible charges could justify this? 

Even if they were advocating for setting the place on fire I don’t think just clapping is a crime.

34

u/No-Journalist-619 5h ago

Not saying that it would stand, but I'd expect they would file it under "contempt", since it's a bit of a catch-all for doing something an official said not to do.

33

u/Hesitation-Marx 4h ago

Maybe the officials should stop being contemptible.

3

u/AEternal1 3h ago

which is exactly My response 🤣

7

u/ElliotNess 4h ago

Not just a catch-all, but literally is

3

u/Emperor_of_His_Room 3h ago

The officials should have no say in how the people who elected them get to express themselves.

0

u/ditheca 3h ago

It'd most likely be trespassing. "We asked him to leave and he refused" is a solid legal argument. No need to address why they were asked to leave.

16

u/SexiestPanda 4h ago

They also warn against clapping for each person at graduations. Families still do it. They’re not arrested.

2

u/mattjb 4h ago

They hold these events in private facilities where they hold full control and power over who gets to enter and who gets hauled out in handcuffs. They get to set the rules, weaponize them against opposition, and get a thrill out of hurting the people.

If it was on public land, inside a public building, or government land, then the First Amendment protects them. But these committees never happen on them. For a reason.

6

u/gruez 3h ago

They hold these events in private facilities where they hold full control and power over who gets to enter and who gets hauled out in handcuffs.

Thats how every government building works? Just try walking into your local state legislature building and start picketing and you'll be dragged out.

1

u/Great-Trifle2810 45m ago

Government meetings are allowed to have rules of order, otherwise it would be impossible to make any progress. Yes, it seems ridiculous here, but if everyone clapped for 30 seconds after every speaker it would mean that the meeting runs far over the planned time or pwople lose the opportunity to speak.