110$ fine for giving someone the middle finger

[cowbell40]

Wtf is with people thinking saying "fuck you" to a cop won't get you in trouble? There's laws against making inappropriate hand gestures everywhere.. how is this surprising to people?

so much for free speech...

So basically, you could stick your bare ass out the window and call it "free speech" and expect not to get in trouble?

 

[theklng]

so much for free speech...

You mean freedom of hand gestures? I don't think that exists.

What kind of assgole flips off the cops, guy deserved it.

hand gestures are a kind of speech as well. let me put it differently: that guy would not have gotten a ticket if he flipped off a regular person. why should law enforcement officers have it any different?

Wtf is with people thinking saying "fuck you" to a cop won't get you in trouble? There's laws against making inappropriate hand gestures everywhere.. how is this surprising to people?

yeah, no, not everywhere.

So basically, you could stick your bare ass out the window and call it "free speech" and expect not to get in trouble?

you're not getting my point: there is a semantic associated with flipping someone off. this semantic is hardwired into pretty much every culture's gesticulation and thus acts like a word in a language.

tell me, how widely spread is the bare ass association? i don't know what someone would mean if they stuck their bare ass out the window, nor do i think a lot of other people would know. i.e., there isn't a common terminology for that kind of show; which makes it impossible to decipher in semantics. above that, there is also a law against showing off genitals or any parts of your body that may be treated as such (at least in most places; there isn't one here).

by your logic we should not be able to say "fuck off" to a police officer either, or to anyone else. free speech is just that: the ability to communicate using common terminology to describe any semantic you want. if you infringe upon a gesture, it is the same thing as infringing upon a word.

 

[MajoraPersona]

I shot the sheriff.

But I nuked the deputy.

Only in Canada would someone get off that lightly. In medieval times, if you did the equivalent, you would be killed. Feudal Japan? Killed. Sadam's Iraq? Killed. America? Sent to Guantonamo Bay and sodomized by a man named Mr. Bubbles due to his habit of covering the other inmates with soap. Or possibly tasered, which has a low killing rate. Great Britain? Those guys with the fuzzy hats would teleport out of nowhere and break your neck. Also the royal family would swallow you whole by unhinging their jaws. In Soviet Russia, cop gives finger to you!

Need I go on? Yes? In China, they'll take care of you. Hawaii? They'll introduce you to Pele. Starship Enterprise? They'd give you a red shirt. Death Star? Ambassador to Alderaan. World of Warcraft? Banned resulting in suicide, or else locked in eternal solo battle against Ragnaros. Ancient Norway? Having to sit on the sidelines during Ragnarok. Prohibition Era? Cement boot diving in the Hudson.

That's enough for now, I think.

 

[Mekado]

I once saw a video of a guy who videotaped his friend walking out of his car and flicking a police officer off. The Officer took out that stick thingy and started beating him and he ran back for his car.

Just listen to these idiots, they deserve to get clubbed

 

[Syntax Error]

I wonder what he would of gotten if he'd have mooned him?

He must be a very talented guy if he can moon the officer while driving away. Would be real cool if it did happen though.

 

[captainwalrus]

Disrespecting a police officer in any way leads to punishment. That is how it typically is in most Western nations.

My bone of contention is that unless there is a written statute against disrespecting an officer, or a statute that covers flipping off an officer, then people who disrespect officers should not be punished for doing so. Yeah, it's a dick move, but that's how the rule of law works. If officers can punish people on a whim, society no longer functions on the rule of law. And that's a shit ton worse than an idiot flippin' the bird.

 

[Emphraim]

While I don't really understand how holding up a finger is offensive

While it's good you're thinking outside the box, you're not living in a social vacuum. Gestures and phrases have implied meanings behind them, and pleading the innocence of the gesture in this case is absurd.

While I don't really understand how holding up a finger is offensive, if the guy knew doing it would piss the cop off and did it regardless, he deserved the fine.

As I said in the rest of my post, if the guy knew he would piss off the cop, then obviously it had an implied meaning behind it and he deserved the fine.

 

[humpees]

Aw Id just shoot him in the leg.

Really though, the guy was stupid enough to flip off a police officer RIGHT to his (OR HER) face. And that deserves a ticket just solely on the fact that the guy is and forever will be, a dumbass.

besides Canada has to pay for its medicare SOMEHOW

Last time I checked, it's not actually a crime to be a dumbass. Cops just like to play God, that's what this is about. I'm just glad that in America, you can't get arrested for disrespecting an officer [http://boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html].

Is is really so hard though, just to show respect and be done with the whole thing. Instead of being an arsehole just for sake of being an arsehole?

Should the guy have flipped off the cop? No, I don't think so. The cop is just some guy who was doing his job. I do believe, however, that it is the man's right to give the cop the finger, even if it is morally reprehensible. To punish someone for essentially saying "Fuck you" is abuse of power in my book.

In a lot of places, saying "Fuck you" is considered abuse, not saying this is right but it happens. The guy had no reason to be offensive and I feel he deserved the fine.

kill all cops

Please tell me that was sarcasm...

 

[Mekado]

Please tell me that was sarcasm...

No, that man had every right to configure his fingers any way he pleased and that cop took his money away for no reason.

Maybe you'll grow out of the "fight the power!" phase one day...

Kill all cops huh ? anarchy forever huh ?

Because yeah, they're out to get you! would be much better without police! (look at some african states, they seem to be having a blast!)

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

Sorry... But I've got to agree with a lot of what people have said before me...
This isn't a matter of "free speech", this is a matter of a man, badgering a police office after recieving a ticket. It's his fault, you just don't do that to police officers. Simple as that.

 

[michael_ab]

its called respect you idiots, if you dont respect someone in a position of power, be it law enforcment, gov, management, or just a parent or sibling, your going to be punished, this is how the world works, laws or not. anyone who thinks differently is an overpriviliged twat who never got bent over a knee, which should be remedied quickly

 

[michael_ab]

and africa dosent suk because they are savages or anarchists, its because of corrupt political figures, and thats only where govermnets have control

 

[michael_ab]

cvni2oe87n, tell me, what would you do if i randomly walked up to you, and flipped you off?? im pretty certain you would run me down and kick my ass, or shoot me whichever is more conveinent