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The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

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Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#331

Post by einhverfr »

danmaz74 wrote: post #250
toyg wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fairness, as an EU citizen, I'd say most justice systems the world over are just shit. Sure, the rich and connected will get all sorts of rights and protections, but if you are Mr. Nobody (and worse, you were not born and bred in the specific area where you're being accused) then some sort of abuse is almost guaranteed. Look at the news in places like UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Canada: people "spontaneousl…

I'm not going to defend the Italian justice system - it's indefensible. But it's a fact that it is MUCH more likely to go to prison in the US than in Europe - just read the numbers.

Yeah, but in the US, if you are white and middle class, prison is something that happens to someone else. Look at the numbers.

The US prison-industrial complex can't be legitimately defended. The way it targets black and poor people in order to provide profit to private parties is something one might otherwise think only happened in China.

But this case is abuse of a whole different kind and on a level which is strikes at issues beyond the norm/

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#332

Post by einhverfr »

bglazer wrote: post #279
zacinbusiness wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia - fear these places.

that's just incredibly asinine. Vanderbilt Duke UNC Rice Georgia Tech Virginia Tech University of Virginia That's a partial list. PLACES TO BE FEARED! It's legitimately damaging to the American South to perpetuate stereotypes like this. It makes smart people want to leave, or never go in the first place. I've lived in Memphis Tennessee for my entire life and I can guarantee you that it would be a better place if peop…

I think there are places to be feared everywhere. The wrong neighborhoods in Seattle may not be so safe. Ditto with Houston, LA, Detroit, NOLA, etc.

The secret is simple: ask locals. That's the best way to be safe wherever you travel.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#334

Post by vidarh »

D9u wrote: post #70

The Comal County District Attorney's Office did not intend for Carter to suffer what happened next, Flanary says, but it was reasonably foreseeable: He was sexually assaulted. The fact that prisoners are commonly subject to sexual assault, and that this consequence is trotted out as an acceptable deterrent to crime, illustrates just how uncivilized the US prison-industrial-complex is in this, the year 2014. Failure t…

I keep saying, that if I lived in the US and was picked out for jury-duty I'd have an extremely hard time of voting to convict anyone, even violent criminals, because of the nature of the US prison system.

Even more so because it is unclear whether it actually makes the public any safer, given the extreme re-offending rate.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#335

Post by vidarh »

dnautics wrote: post #253
tbastos wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, there are problems everywhere, but you cannot compare the level of bullshit in the states. Just look at the statistics on Wikipedia, and the many documentaries on YouTube and newspaper articles on it. Yeah if you're poor and vulnerable you're screwed anywhere in the capitalist world. But in the states you're screwed even if you are middle class (absurd bails) and have a good lawyer, because the government is so…

But otherwise many countries in Europe are incomparably safer. You mean like how there was no protection against double jeopardy for Amanda Knox?

A single counter-example from a single country in Europe on the basis of a looser version of double jeopardy protections does not have any bearing on a claim that many countries in Europe (of ~50 or so) are safer, though. It does not even demonstrate that Italy isn't safer.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#336

Post by vidarh »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #98
dirktheman wrote: post #20

I think anyone agrees that this whole situation has been blown out of proportion on a massive scale. But threatening to shoot up a school, in the light of recent events... really? What if he actually DID shoot up a school, and afterwards people discovered that authorities WERE warned? People need to realize that what you post on the internet can be interpreted different than what you actually meant. Besides, threaten…

+1. I'm as liberal as they come, but the guy deserves the weight of the law to come down on him like a ton of bricks for even hinting at considering to shoot kids in a school.

So you're in fact not as liberal as they come. With a view like that you're pretty far from being liberal at all by my account.

Personally, I'd consider a place where you could be convicted for making statements like the ones he did a police state. I say this as a father of a young boy who is at school right now.

I find the very sentiment that this kid deserves the weight of the law to come down on him outright disgusting.

Was it right to investigate? Yes. They might have found someone with a stockpile of weapons getting ready to shoot up the local school or kindergarten - they didn't know the kid or the context of the statements.

But the situation should have changed rapidly once they had searched his home and found nothing, had found nothing else to indicate he was going to actually shoot up a school, and found no evidence of actual planning or specific threats. Have him see a psychologist, maybe. That's about it.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#337

Post by vidarh »

res0nat0r wrote: post #215
mcv wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wow, I didn't realise US police were that bad. You didn't? Stories about attrocious behaviour by US police, and the sorry state of the US prison system, not to mention the fact that the US locks up more people than any other country in the world, have received a lot of attention here and elsewhere. To me, the worst one was the prison that bribed a judge to convict more children.

So one story of the justice system going wrong in the USA means the whole system is systemically corrupt? By this thinking I hope neither of you drive a car to work every day. You'll really be afraid of the risks with that one.

As of writing this, there's more than one story of the system going wrong in the US on the frontpage of HN alone (How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help - https://medium.com/p/9f53ef6a1c10/ is the other one; I believe it was posted after your comment)

If it was one story, it wouldn't be so scary. What is scary is the ongoing stream of horrible abuses of power that gets reported.

Especially because so many of them include aftermaths where nobody gets held accountable.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#338

Post by watty »

alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #264
watty wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow your first remark. Are you trying to say that because he said "kindergarten" instead of naming a specific kindergarten that it's no longer threatening or a threat?

Yes exactly. It's the difference between "I'm so angry I could kill someone right now!" and "I'm so angry I could kill so-and-so neighbor right now!"

Not exactly. He didn't say he "could" shoot up a kindergarten, he said he was going to. Is there a difference between naming a specific kindergarten? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean only one of them is a threat.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#339

Post by doktrin »

code_duck wrote: post #314
rdtsc wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another interesting point is when the system acts irrationally, this is not lost on psychopaths and those with evil and malicious intents. Knowing that a snapshot of a Facebook post taken out of context can land that person in jail for months is a goldmine opportunity for some people. This just adds to the list the other things could include: plant child porn on their machine, call the terrorist hotline with a tip, l…

A Facebook post out of context, heck... you could doctor the HTML using browser dev tools to make anyone appear to say anything at all on Facebook.

For those more familiar with legal proceedings :

Was the defense not able to submit the IM context themselves? The conclusion seems to be that it would basically exonerate him, so why could they not disclose it?

The article goes so far as to mention the context "hasn't surfaced". Why on earth not? Is this because Facebook refuses to release the IM history?

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#340

Post by alexeisadeski3 »

watty wrote: post #338
alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes exactly. It's the difference between "I'm so angry I could kill someone right now!" and "I'm so angry I could kill so-and-so neighbor right now!"

Not exactly. He didn't say he "could" shoot up a kindergarten, he said he was going to. Is there a difference between naming a specific kindergarten? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean only one of them is a threat.

In my example, both use the 'could.'

I really don't think that someone should be charged with 'making terroristic threats' - nor any kind of threats - with just a vague statement of intent.

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