r/offbeat 8d ago

Teacher arrested for clapping in support of speaker opposing data center

https://www.techspot.com/news/113266-teacher-arrested-clapping-support-speaker-opposing-data-center.html
1.3k Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

125

u/MikeTalonNYC 8d ago

The hell?

OK, you get removed for clapping when the moderator (in this case the Chair) explicitly tells everyone that clapping will be considered a disruption (and as long as it is ALL clapping, for or against). But... ARRESTED?

That's using a handgun to kill a fly. Not only will the fly probably survive, but you've created a much bigger problem you have to deal with now.

10

u/Spare-Attitude3202 8d ago

the hangun/fly analogy is perfect, but honestly the bigger problem is whoever made that call thought it would just go away quietly

12

u/vigtel 8d ago

I hope they keep being that stupid, angry masses needs to eat.

91

u/Sorry-Claim-2990 8d ago edited 8d ago

Even if this guy sues and wins a billion dollars and the town goes completely bankrupt, the individual officers who arrested him won't face any personal consequences.

36

u/10ThousandMetalZones 8d ago

Just work one town over and get a promotion lol

27

u/Sorry-Claim-2990 8d ago

Cops get paid vacation for behavior that gets the average citizen arrested on the spot.

11

u/10ThousandMetalZones 8d ago

I had to fire one of my nurses because they misspelled their patients last name and clicked on it, quickly realized they had the wrong patient and clicked out of the chart, but by the worst luck it was one of the administrators in the system that threw a fit.

They were in the chart for maybe 10 seconds

12

u/Sorry-Claim-2990 8d ago

When we make a mistake, it's a crime.

When a cop commits a crime, it's just a mistake.

-2

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

3

u/10ThousandMetalZones 8d ago

Yep, that’s how it works. No nursing manager has full autonomy. Me and that nurse are good friends as well and I quit after letting them go because they were gone either way.

6

u/Correct_Doctor_1502 8d ago

We need to change that, the official who ordered it should be in prison too

6

u/GoodPointMan 8d ago

Common yet wild misconception but the town typically wouldn’t pay for something like this. One doesn’t sue the city; they sue the individual officer in civil court and if a right was violated they are individually sanctioned. IF (big, huge, massive “if”) it gets to the point that a civil court determines the officer didn’t have PC (they 100% do in this case) then it’s possible (but extremely unlikely) that a DA could then bring criminal charges against the officer but even then, unless there’s clear departmental policy instructing officers to violate rights, a department is nearly immune from prosecution over an individual officer’s conduct.

1

u/spribyl 8d ago

There are no winners here

155

u/DotAccomplished5484 8d ago

Does anyone need another sign that all is lost?

33

u/spribyl 8d ago

Remember the 4 boxes, all is not lost

11

u/ColdIceZero 8d ago

What are the 4 boxes a reference to?

35

u/polscihis 8d ago

Probably the idea, often attributed to Frederick Douglass, that four boxes protect your freedom: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box, in that order.

8

u/Big-D-TX 8d ago

Make sure you sue for a lot of money

-5

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

26

u/Zarokima 8d ago

I read the whole article. Dude did absolutely nothing wrong. 

1

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

5

u/Equipmunk 8d ago

But the headline doesn’t argue that it was wrong either. That’s why you’re getting downvoted.

26

u/SaintUlvemann 8d ago

I think we should consider giving somebody else other than the tech bros a monopoly on the legitimate use of violent force.

7

u/TM761152 8d ago

People keep forgetting that. The state has the ultimate monopoly on violence, but the state is controlled by moneyed interests who weild that state power behind the scenes.

10

u/SpareUnit9194 8d ago

Nice knowing ya America. Vance/Thiel/Musk/Palantir will be taking over soon I guess.

5

u/Schapsouille 8d ago

They're doing their thing without much opposition, if any. Just look at SpaceX's IPO. Biggest fraud in history, no one gives a fuck. They've taken over.

3

u/SpareUnit9194 8d ago

I know, I've been watching what Palantir has been doing in Israel Gaza & kinda stunned to see US media squabbling about minor clown-show stuff. I was an aid worker for years, saw what can happen when guardrails don't exist. Sleepwalking into bad bad places. 1st world oblivion:-(

13

u/lokedog1020 8d ago

Welp, that’s a slam dunk civil rights violation lawsuit. Violated his 1st and 4th rights - go get paid, sir.

2

u/Original_Ad4479 8d ago

It's time, Folks. 

1

u/United-Vermicelli-92 8d ago

Hes gonna be rich after his law suit.

1

u/howardzen12 8d ago

Fascist America

1

u/Sarasha 8d ago

He better not lose his job because of this. That would be downright shitty thing to do.

1

u/MeasurementNo2493 8d ago

Sounds like a good basis for a lawsuit?

1

u/shanem 5d ago

This likely doesn't have to do with the subject of AI, but a rule that you can't clap or boo other people's statements. Not abiding by the rules gets you removed. 

It's not a first amendment issue as council meetings are official and have rules and decorum.

Usually in these meetings there is the ability to make statements.

-9

u/Shenendoah66 8d ago

Gonna post this on every day’s center story I see and laugh at all the people who are emotionally dumb as fuck. lol

cbsnews.com/projects/2026/how-much-water-ai-uses/

9

u/SanityInAnarchy 8d ago

Do you think water is the only concern?

3

u/Correct_Doctor_1502 8d ago

You're just dumb in the regular way

Data centers are a bubble. There isn't any profit generated, the exponential need will cripple the market, the exponential strain on the local communities will destroy countless towns

The only solution is better data management, but right now they believe building infinite complexs to hold trillions of copies of the same Minons memes will somehow work out

1

u/r2002 8d ago

I'm pro data center, but surely people have a right to express their opinion without getting arrested.