Asked if their tweets were about the 16-year-old rape victim, Sheriff Abdalla said “no question.”ADDED: Here's how Talking Points Memo reported the basis for the arrest: "The older girl was charged with aggravated menacing for a tweet that threatened homicide and said 'you ripped my family apart,' according to the attorney general’s office." Pathetic!
“We’re monitoring Twitter 24 hours a day,” he said....
Sheriff Abdalla said the girl’s tweet was: “You ripped my family apart, you made my cousin cry, so when I see you . . . it’s going to be a homicide.”
The lyric in [Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill's] song “Traumatized” is: “You ripped my family apart and made my momma cry. So when I see you . . . it’s gon’ be a homicide."
March 20, 2013
Teenager arrested for tweeting rap lyric containing the word "homicide."
"Two teenage girls have been accused of sending threatening tweets about the rape victim, a day after Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond were sent to juvenile detention for raping the West Virginia girl."
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That's beautiful, no matter who says it.
It's not exactly...subtle.
"Monitoring".
Is that like "Surveillance"?
Interesting quote from the sheriff, "It’s beyond me why these young people believe it’s OK to post things of this nature on social media".
Because if they applaud if a Republican goes to the hospital, it's OK because it's for Barack?
As I say, Constitutional rights are becoming a contact sport.
The girl in the Polanski case said that the attendant publicity of the case was more traumatic than the rape......I don't know if the girl involved in this case has the money or means to get out of town, but that would be the most prudent course of action. Her life in Steuvenville will involve lots of stares, whispers, and petty harrassment.....Remember that school bus driver who got bullied. Some feminist or activist should start a drive to collect some money so this girl can put Steubenville behind her.
I think that should actually be construed as a threat.
That it was wrapped in a rap lyric is of minor consequence.
"I think that should actually be construed as a threat."
It's not directed at anyone in particular.
Is this really a good enough reason to arrest a teenager?
The crime charged, which is framed around First Amendment "true threat" doctrine, requires that you knowingly cause someone to believe that that you will physically harm someone.
Spouting off without a target isn't enough.
I'm ok with it.
Is this really a good enough reason to arrest a teenager?
Of course not. Historians will look at our total surrender of the Bill of Rights after 9/11 as the root cause. We won't be judged well either. We're all sheep, really.
It's not directed at anyone in particular.
See, maybe I'm Twitter ignorant.
Aren't they always @...somebody?
This one seems to be specific:
"I'll celebrate by beating the BLEEP out of Jane Doe."
OK, I'm about as Twitter-illiterate as anybody here, so let me ask the question,
When you twit or tweet or twitch or whatever, unless it's directed at someone, it's basically intended for the people who "follow" (receive your twits when sent) you, not the whole universe, correct?
If the girl didn't know about the twit, it would not be chargeable, would it?
(is this an Ann (conlaw) question?)
Aren't they always @...somebody?
No. They can include @somebody, but most are not specifically addressed to anyone.
not the whole universe, correct?
Correct. Although if you use a searchable term or a hashtag, your tweet becomes visible to anyone searching that term or tag. Your tweet can also be re-tweeted to others from your own followers.
Twitter is just blogging, with a word limit and everyone on the same page.
You can put @ and a name/link if you want, but it's not like email. It's not sent to anyone in particular.
It might have been aimed more directly at the victim, but the news article does not say so.
I had to search to find an article that included the text of one of the tweets as opposed to a mere assertion that there was a threat. I found that strange and deceptive.
That's why I blogged this story, because of the decision to arrest and the way it was reported.
Relax, it's not like she burned a poppy.
Rap lyrics are stupendously bad...
Its about time somebody go to jail for it.
"Twitter is just blogging, with a word limit and everyone on the same page."
When does anyone see what's on someone's blog? You have to already want to go there or you do a search. It's basically the same.
You can put @ and a name/link if you want, but it's not like email. It's not sent to anyone in particular.
Twitter does have a direct messaging function that only goes to the @somebody you direct it to. It's "private."
I believe the direct message/regular tweet conundrum caught Rep. Weiner.
When does anyone see what's on someone's blog?
I think Google+ offers up blog previews on their home page, even if you are not a follower of that particular blog. KInd of like a friend suggestion on Facebook.
I was kidding back there...
Did she do anything cluing in the tweet that she was quoting a song?
When put up lyrics here I usually put them in italics... which is not the same as Italian... but that's a whole different language... which is not important right now.
"It’s beyond me why these young people believe it’s OK to post things of this nature on social media".
edutcher - It's more that they hear this stuff on the radio every day.
We’re monitoring Twitter 24 hours a day,” he said...
That's a lot of paid union overtime for something that can be outsourced for free. The sheriff could save their taxpayers x amount of dollars with no loss of security to its citizens.
Lem said...
Rap lyrics are stupendously bad...
Its about time somebody go to jail for it.
I tend to disagree. I think it's better to talk about them and expose them--without fear of being labeled a bigot--by the new anti-bigot crusading youth.
"Twitter does have a direct messaging function that only goes to the @somebody you direct it to. It's "private.""
True, but the article refers to tweets which would just be posts, not email/texts.
She isn't just any kid, and she didn't simply quote a rap lyric. She is the cousin of one of the boys convicted in the rape case, and she changed the lyric from "you tore my family apart and made my mama cry" to "...and made my cousin cry" (making it pretty obvious who and what she was talking about, not to mention who she was talking to, even if she didn't "@" the tweet to "Jane Doe") before completing the lyric as wriiten, with "so when we meet, it's gonna be a homicide."
I'd have to know more about the whole situation and any previous encounters between the victim and her assailant's cousin before deciding how big a threat this actually was, but it wasn't just some random girl arrested for quoting a rap lyric on twitter by a sheriff acting on orders of "Big Brother."
Is this really a good enough reason to arrest a teenager?
Any excuse will serve a tyrant. - Aesop
We're living in an age of petty tyrants. Often well meaning, but tyrants none the less.
I was kidding... I even said so.
True, but the article refers to tweets which would just be posts, not email/texts.
Yes, but I was just trying to educate the Twillitterates about the ins and outs of the platform.
I'm sorry Lem. I was lashing out at someone not even here for taking me to task once for mentioning some hateful lyrics and for not appreciating the centuries of "struggle" behind them.
Seems like hate speech to me.
I say arrest and worry about 1A later.
As W James Casper pointed out, it's very easy to understand who the tweet was directed at. Also, once again, like the wrong fuel in the limo, the newspaper article might be poorly written because of an inability to understand the situation.
Can a threat be conditional? WHEN I see you it's going to be a homicide is different from typical threats, such as I'm going to kill you.
The only thing that I am hoping for is that they quickly move to imprison the hateful and violent animal abuser who tweeted "Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, his truth is mar—"… Oh wait, that's a Civil War song!
Next time I see you, you're gonna die.
You're going to have to be really careful about Bible quotes. Stay a mile away from Ps. 137, just to call one out.
Not you, the other one.
No, not you. The other, other one.
Here's the flipside.
DJ says the conviction is unjust. He gets death threats. Any arrests of the people who threatened him?
Or do we only arrest people who criticize government action?
A teenager is arrested for ... blah blah ... something he or she shouldn't have been arrested for in any sane world ...? So what else is new? People get arrested for al sorts of absurd reasons these days. We are a nation of pussies subject to the whims of emotional basket cases and overreaching government (these two groups are not mutually exclusive).
I have a real issue with punishing speech, even threats. It's a different issue if there's an ongoing, deliberate campaign of harassment or incitement but someone making a one-off nasty comment should not lead to an arrest. Why should the power of the state be used to punish someone who made someone else feel bad? People are stupid assholes and say they're gonna do things they aren't actually going to do. Such is life.
Constitution? Talk to me later. We in the government have important work to do.
Just tell the teenager it's a tax not a penalty, and it's all Constitutional n' shit.
And whodathunk this would happen under a Democrat Preezy?
I'm shocked, shocked to find that fascism is going on in here!
Well, Pogo, we are just learning how to tax unacceptable behaviors, and, since taxation of behavior has been deemed Constitutional, our total oppression only a matter of time. Most of us have no problem with this, as there are only three types of people: slaves, slave masters, and criminals. (Criminals can be divided into three sub-groups: convicted, jalied/awaiting trial, and those not yet arrested and charged.)
Exactly.
But I, for one, welcome our new fascist overlords.
“We’re monitoring Twitter 24 hours a day,” he said....
I think that's a testimony to how unhappy the community is about the rape conviction. It's like the government is punishing somebody, and now the government is checking the airwaves to see if anybody is complaining about the punishment. And if you complain, there will be a punishment against you, too!
Contrast the treatment of the dj who got death threats. Hey, that's what happens when you criticize the government! You just have to accept death threats.
Whatever disgusting or dangerous thing you do the best way to get away with it is to not advertise it. This has always been true. I guess new media users haven't figured that part out yet.
She changed the lyrics to personalize it and make it about the person who made her cousin cry. I assume her cousin is one of the convicted rapists.
It sounds like a threat broadcast to the world.
“It’s beyond me why these young people believe it’s OK to post things of this nature on social media,” he said.
Before the Internet, was it beyond him why young people said stupid stuff?
When writing song lyrics, it's important to bear in mind that "homicide" can be made to rhyme with "formaldehyde."
God help her if she makes a gun shape out of a Pop Tart.
I think the sheriff can shoot her for that.
"Remember kids, if you’re drunk/slutty at a party, and embarrassed later, just say you got raped!”
He might be wrong, I don't know enough about the case to say. But it is a problem with these date rape cases. There is a perception that reality shifts with the woman's mind.
It's a legal argument that reminds me of abortion. According to Casey, women get to decide if it's a baby, or just tissue. You can go back and forth in your mind. It's your body, it's your choice.
Similarly, a woman gets to decide if sex is rape. It all depends on her will.
"It's my body, it's my choice!" Under this rhetoric, a man can find himself defined as a lover at night, and a rapist in the morning.
I think the tweet qualifies as "assault", and would permit preemptive action by the intended target.
In a crowded mall, what if someone suddenly shouted out "I'm gonna kill someone, and I don't care who it is!", and then pulls out a gun. If you are standing near that person, and also armed, what would/should you do? Wait until the barrel is actually and clearly pointed at YOU?
"I'd have to know more about the whole situation and any previous encounters between the victim and her assailant's cousin before deciding how big a threat this actually was, but it wasn't just some random girl arrested for quoting a rap lyric on twitter by a sheriff acting on orders of 'Big Brother.'"
Even if they knew each other, or went to the same school, or lived on the same block, or whatever... Does a 16 year-old girl lamenting the conviction of a family member really seem like a credible threat to you?
What's more likely here? A real threat to kill another person, or a angry child simply acting out? If it's the latter - which I think it is - then it doesn't seem like an arrestable offense.
In a crowded mall, what if someone suddenly shouted out "I'm gonna kill someone, and I don't care who it is!", and then pulls out a gun. If you are standing near that person, and also armed, what would/should you do? Wait until the barrel is actually and clearly pointed at YOU?
Was the girl who tweeted in proximity to the target with a deadly weapon in hand?
what if someone suddenly shouted out "I'm gonna kill someone, and I don't care who it is!", and then pulls out a gun.
Well, the having the gun is the important part in that bit. If they just shouted "I"m gonna kill someone' people would probably look at you to see if there was any means. Or real intent. Otherwise they would decide you were either 1. Crazy or 2. Joking and let you be.
If she threatened the president, on twitter someone would talk to her and tell her not to do it again. If it got that far. She probably wouldn't be arrested.
This is kind of mixed up in 'artistic expression' so I'm not sure it tracks as a real threat. At least, I've seen worse on twitter. Or twitchy, rather, because I don't do twitter.
It doesn't seem obvious to me what was going on:
Sheriff Abdalla also said the 15-year-old started apologizing on Twitter for making death threats, but she was charged for only the threatening tweet authorities found.
Well, the tweet contains motive for revenge and threatens murder.
Yes, that really is a good enough reason to arrest a teenager.
Trey
I dunno, but if that twit got quietly took behind the barn and put out of her misery, I bet society wouldn't lose a nickel of income taxes.
That said, the whole situation is disgusting. Were the boys who were convicted skunk drunk and unable to appreciate the consequences of their actions? How about the crowd that was taking these photographs? who would do such things? Execute the lot of 'm. Just throw a grenade into the room next time.
That said, I have little sympathy for people who drink themselves into a coma and get preyed on. Unless maybe it's their first time. Don't get that sloshed! You might as well run out in the street and then whine when you get run over. It's just stupid. Nothing will make what the girl did non-stupid.
That said, there is apparently this anti drinking culture in Ohio and maybe this is what comes of it, that kids can't hold their liquor because they have no education in drinking.
That said, calling this rape seems to cheapen the word. Rape is getting fucked, not finger-fucked. That's molestation or mopery or something.
That said, the hell with Ohio.
That said, I guess it's nice that black football players and white football players molest drunk chicks together in a display of racial unity.
So if I can couch my threat in a lyric or a poem it isn't a threat? This case centers on tweeted pictures of an unconscious 17 year old with a #rape hashtag. And somehow a threat on twitter should be a certified letter before it becomes a threat?
Is it a good enough reason to arrest a teenager? Absolutely. Is it, in and of itself, enough to convict? Nope. Steubenville is a very small town where everyone knows everyone. Not using someone's name in a threat isn't a get out of jail free card.
Was the girl who tweeted in proximity to the target with a deadly weapon in hand?
Congratulations on missing the point of the analogy. The point is that you don't have to be the exact and clear target, only a probable one. The girl is clearly a probable target, else why the tweet in the first place?
The real question here is, --- what are you allowed to do, preemptively, if someone threatens your life?
I really can't understand the animosity towards this kid. Unless, of course, you genuinely believe that she is not only intent on murder, but actually capable of carrying it out. That must be included in order for this to be a "threat".
I just want to know what you believe is actually being served by an arrest. Does anyone really think that violence was prevented by police action? Or was the "assault" or "threat" here in potentially adding to the trauma of a rape victim?
I really can't imagine anyone actually feeling threatened - as in perceiving actual danger - by the emotional outburst of a 16 year-old.
Anyone can be arrested. If she's charged, then they are really wasting time and money.
The real question here is, --- what are you allowed to do, preemptively, if someone threatens your life?
I think the first thing to do is quickly determine the credibility of the threat.
Is there anything in the tweet to suggest that the young lady is doing more than just blowing smoke? I think not. But I don't live in a Steubenville OH.
“We’re monitoring Twitter 24 hours a day,”
Isn't that nice.
America in the age of Obama, sucks.
By the way, if the girl who tweeted this happened to be a boy who had a twitter timeline full of praises to the profit Mohammed, this would never be happening.
Neither would it happen if she were part of the LGBT community.
Rights are only for special people in the America of today.
Steubenville is a very small town where everyone knows everyone.
False stereotype. My kids go/went to high school in a town half the size of Steubenville and not everyone knows everyone. My kids didn't know everyone in their class, let alone everyone in school.
I've lived here nearly 25 years and it's not uncommon to go to Walmart or Krogers and see only a handful of people I know.
I'm wondering if the arrested girls are black. If so, they may be more likely to see the lyrics as just a song. DeWine's a hard core Republican against SSM, abortion, etc. In his losing bid for Senate in 2006, he was even opposed by other Republicans.
“We’re monitoring Twitter 24 hours a day,”
You never know what's going to set off a spontaneous riot in the Middle East.
Is there anything in the tweet to suggest that the young lady is doing more than just blowing smoke? I think not. But I don't live in a Steubenville OH.
The birthplace of Dino Martini!
If this Sheriff has time to monitor Twitter 24 hours per day, I'd say his office is too big by a factor of 200%.
Let's start the budget cuts now.
Blowing smoke is illegal, innit?
s there anything in the tweet to suggest that the young lady is doing more than just blowing smoke? I think not. But I don't live in a Steubenville OH.
The correct vernacular is Stupidville, Ohio ... please.
YO. I'M GONNA POP A CAPS-LOCK IN YO AZZ.
Ann Althouse said...
"I think that should actually be construed as a threat."
It's not directed at anyone in particular.
Is this really a good enough reason to arrest a teenager?
----------------------
Yes, Ann. It's probably the right call because it is a threat aimed at intimidating a witness. Unless you believe that relatives or the accused have a right under free speech to state the accuser's safety, or prosecutors, or judges safety -is at risk of violence - if they go forward.
This pernicious intimidation has taken root in and become widely accepted in the black underclass, the "no snitch" Code, which thugs and their supporters now seek to impose on society outside the 'hoods. It has undermined our justice system and made much rampant black crime on other blacks unsolvable because "no one saw nuttin'"
I believe courts have already well established that a threat can be substantiated even if the accused targets the victim with "quotes" from some other person, a song, the Bible, or allegorical tale of the fate that befell another "snitch".
And threats can be clear to be threats even if not eyeball to eyeball with fists shaken in the victim, or prosecutors, or witnesses, or judges face.
Phone calls, use of 3rd Parties to convey the threat of harm, use of mass media..
Nichevo said...
I have little sympathy for people who drink themselves into a coma and get preyed on.
The girl in question said that she didn't think that she had that much to drink, and thought that someone had drugged what she was drinking. If that's the case, she only needs to drink part of a beer or part of a soda.
DADvocate said...
Steubenville is a very small town where everyone knows everyone.
False stereotype.
I live in an Ohio town just a bit smaller than Stuebenville and I can't go to the grocery store without nodding or speaking to 30% of the people I see.
Ohio must just be a friendly state. You know, except for the rape and twitter threats.
Kids are all to often idiotic. A couple of years ago in Maysville, some wanna be rapper made this video. Lots of high school kids in it although the rapper is a little older.
The school got wind of it. The coaches of every sports team watched the video and suspended for a few games every athlete in the video. The basketball coach's wife is a high ranking officer in the police force. Within a few months the rapper was arrested for possession of marijuana.
Not everyone knows everyone in a small town, but if you don't mind your P's and Q's, they'll watch you and catch you doing something. Overall, that's probably for the better.
I can't go to the grocery store without nodding or speaking to 30% of the people I see.
30% is less than half of everyone. I nod and smile to everyone I make eye contact with. That doesn't mean I know them. It means I'm from Tennessee, where in my experience people are a lot friendlier than Ohio.
I think the first thing to do is quickly determine the credibility of the threat.
Yep. A person in a mall with a gun directed at you is a clear threat. A person at home misquoting rap lyrics is a question mark. You look into it, decide if it's real or not, and then probably let the girl go with a warning that threats are taken seriously.
And I don't think the snitch thing applies since the trial is already over with and the real 'snitches' were the idiot kids themselves who posted evidence all over the internet.
If the 1st amendment guarantees our right to heap further abuse on a rape victim, then count me out as a 1st amendment supporter.....The stink of this case rubs off on everyone who goes near it.
Since the name of the girl that was raped is known, why not tell everyone the names of these two girl tweeters.
Anyone can be arrested. If she's charged, then they are really wasting time and money.
True. Anyone can be arrested.
Takes a special kind of cop to approach this twitter twit and talk to her about what she said. You know...actually engage in conversation and try to avoid arresting her. We don't have many of those cops around.
Arrest is always the first choice. (Which is why posting cops in schools is such a bad idea.)
"Since the name of the girl that was raped is known, why not tell everyone the names of these two girl tweeters."
Yes, because mob justice is best justice. Nothing like a little vigilantism and retributive violence to get the blood pumping, huh?
DADvocate, I can see why so few people are friendly to you.
"Historians will look at our total surrender of the Bill of Rights after 9/11 as the root cause. We won't be judged well either. We're all sheep, really."
--Garage Mahal
I wish I could be this optimistic. It's more likely that future historians will praise the post 9/11 destruction of the bill of rights for empowering the government to find and root out the spies, saboteurs, hoarders, kulaks and other enemies of the state. We will be praised for paving the way to the glorious utopia.
It does sound threatening. Does quoting a threat somehow make it not a threat?
I don't know if she should be arrested for it, but suppose she killed the rapist and then it turns out she had posted this? Wouldn't we all say that it was a clear indicator of intent?
Althouse wrote;
"I think that should actually be construed as a threat."
It's not directed at anyone in particular.
Is this really a good enough reason to arrest a teenager?
She says YOU made my cousin cry. So the threat is directed at the person who did so. Even if she didnt tweet him directly, only one or two people actually made her cousin cry and who is saying she will kill the next time she meets them.
"I don't know if she should be arrested for it, but suppose she killed the rapist and then it turns out she had posted this? Wouldn't we all say that it was a clear indicator of intent?
It's a clear indication of state of mind which, as I've been trying to point out, is that of a teenage girl who is upset over the fate of a family member.
Yes, the family member is guilty of a horrible crime, but I don't quite expect that kind of objectivity from a child.
Prosecutor Sam Pate and whoever else is responsible for these arrests and the monitoring of these two troubled teens' Tweets should be put in pillories in the middle of that craptastic and shitty shit-hole town and be pelted with pig shit for a day or two.
Fuck, sometimes I hate this country.
The Seventh Seal is going "Arp! Arp!". I agree with Garage @10:40
Arresting her was stupid and wrong.
The proper response to bad speech is more speech.
A threat is nothing. If anything, it is helpful, because it gives warning.
Let's say this girl really did intend to kill the accuser. Would it be more helpful to the accuser if the attack just came out of nowhere, or if she knew that someone was actually intending to kill her?
From that perspective, the tweet is helpful, and it is stupid/foolish to prevent such advance warnings in the future.
Or from another perspective: say the tweeting girl was angry and considering killing the accuser. Tweeting her rage acts as catharsis, and now she no longer wants to kill the accuser. Again: why punish an actual positive outcome, reducing the chance of that positive outcome in the future?
Or let's go back to the original assumption, and the tweeter does intend to murder the accuser. How long can you hold her in jail? 30 years? 10 years? Even a year? Probably not even a year. Throw her in the slammer for 30 days for making a threatening statement. Does that make her less likely to murder, or does it fill her with resentment and thus now more likely to follow through on the threat?
I think the latter is a real possibility.
Perhaps in some cases, arresting her for making a threat cows her into dropping that notion.
But publicly shaming her (the "more speech" solution) does that equally well, and probably more effectively.
Arresting her for speech only, with no follow through actions, is tyranny.
'It's not directed at anyone"
Really, Ann?
Just a coincidence she happened to tweet that Lyric at this time, right? No threat implied, just an honest to Gaia coincidence.
Ann, if this was March 2011 during the Madison craziness and something like this was tweeted regarding you ... Would you be this cavalier?
I think not.
Some of you are just completely ridiculous. This whole arrest is a load of bull. What happened to having privacy? What happened to having just cause before making an arrest on a high schooler quoting song lyrics? I get it "watch what you post" yeah yeah I get that from my dad all the time... But there's a point when you can't just sit here and judge people or assume things about people just based on their online profile. Especially when it comes to matters like this, one thing about my generation is that we are a very sarcastic and cynical bunch, you can't take everything we post online so literal and serious. We get it cause it was made for us, we understand it, we define it, we are the vast majority, and yet we arethe biggest victims of our own entertainment but on a level never seen by the other generations. See we can't screw up anymore, we can't make mistakes that the baby boomers made. All those kids growing up in the 60s-80s, I'm willing to bet did way stupider stuff than us, drug use was higher, drunk driving was a bigger threat... Yet the baby boomers were one of the most successful generations in America. Our issue is every mistake we make is blown up on social media, it can be tracked online, jobs can hear about our personal life, shit that won't mean jack in the corporate world. I could be a successful CEO somewhere and never get the chance cause of some stupid shit I said on facebook in my freshman year of college. Grant it I have cleaned up my act on social media cause I don't want to face those consequences, because its necessary for me to succeed in life, especially with my internship. It just shouldn't have to be that way. Point I'm getting at is bullshit like this, where a teenager gets arrested wouldn't happen if social media wasn't so heavily "monitored" or our privacy wasn't so heavily infringed on. Also the older generations need to learn more about social media and my generation before making rash assumptions and judgments, you guys had your fun listened to your "devil" music did your share of partying and bullying and what not. The only difference now is a lot of its online and unfortunately too easily publically available. "Let he without sin cast the first stone."
" What happened to having privacy? What happened to having just cause before making an arrest on a high schooler quoting song lyrics?"
She didn't get arrested for quoting "Puff the Magic Dragon" or "Give Peace a Chance". She got arrested for making a THREAT.
It takes a willful blindness to pretend that quoting THAT particular line at THAT particular time wasn't a threat.
For pete's sake I am a dyed in the wool hate the government libertarian but even I can see this.
Oh, and as much as I am happy to bash the Boomers -- the WORST generation this nation has ever suffered -- you need to get over the victimization mentality LuckyCharms, there's nothing new under the sun. Social media is nothing more than a Microing of the macro. Humanity has lived in societies where everyone knew everything you said for millenia. We called them "small towns". People learned the wisdom of not saying every stupid thing that popped into their heads. Maybe you should learn that too instead of whining about people reacting to your complete lack of filter.
She made a THREAT.
So what?
Lots of people make threats without following through.
If we put everyone in jail for making threats, there would be no guards, because we would all be in jail.
Starting from age 3 or so.
And the arrest would do little or nothing to prevent actual violence.
In some cases, it might create resentment that guarantees violent follow-through.
Free speech should still be free.
Let people make threats without arrest.
You WANT people to self-identify as a potential problem.
The victim knows who to watch out for, and if the threatener follows through, you have their threat to make sure you can get them for pre-meditated, and increase the sentence.
Caradoc, I'm well aware of "small towns" (I went to high school with only like 800 people I know how word travels), I was talking on a bigger scale. And I'm not sitting here just complaining either. If you read ny comment you'd notice that I do filter myself online, because I'm not one of my generation putting out the image we do. I'm just saying I think the way online media is operated and how personal information is easily available to the public is ridiculous and there should be more restrictions on it. The difference today from the rest of history is that in many circumstances you could simply move out of that "small town" to start new, nowadays with everything online, little posts and mistakes can follow you everywhere. Things get blown way out of proportion now and these small negative problems turn into bigger problems too easily. I mean when push comes to shove at this moment we have to adapt to how society is going. I have I make an effort too, don't get me wrong. But regardless I think its wrong and there should be some change.
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