[dischord]

If you say certain things, you'll get checked out. Is this right?

This is nothing new. It's been this way long before the "War on Terrorism." If you joke about having a bomb in line at the airport, you'll get pulled aside into a little room. If you publicly state tongue-in-cheek that you wished the president would get shot, you'll get a visit.

P.S. I don't want this to become a rehashing of the threads about David Codrea's current situation. Please keep it to the general ideas and not about Codrea.

[geekWithA.45]

There are two external factors that, when added to the mix, result in the current turd stew:

1) Zero tolerance policies/elimination of human judgement from the system
and
2) Preposterous ideas concerning liability.

The "reasoning" goes something like this: "Since our human judgement is flawed, we must therefore investigate everything and anything that could distantly be construed as a "threat". Failure to do so would invite civil lawsuits of gargantuan proportion. Since anything you say can and will be used against you, speech is chilled. Live with it, citizen, it's for your own safety. "

:fire: :fire: :fire:

[dischord]

btt

[mrapathy2000]

Unless they investigate the person, the authorities do not have the ability to discern which "jokes and satire" mask real intent and which are simply just jokes and satire. It is unfortunate, and I don't like it, but I understand why they treat any mention of certain activities as serious until checked out.

when it comes to stuff like bomb,threats to 911 or directed to police,fire department or anyone else it creates a problem. dont know if they are joking about something or not. its not something you should joke about.

how many calls did they get after September 11th and then start cracking down on people with serious time. powder jokes and other stuff is still costing tax payers money.

its one thing to have 1 boy that cries wolf in one town. its another to have a million boys in thousand of different towns crying wolf.

because this stuff has to be investigated cause of the possibility it could be real or a hoax that means we could be missusing are resources so when the real deal comes along we are too busy with a hoax to fight the real deal.

free speech is one thing. responcibility is another. if we had more responcible people in this country we might have less problems. but because people are not responcible we will not find out.

how many people knowingly commit crimes and turn themselves in regardless of the fact of publicity?

[Samurai Penguin]

The authorities should take the time to figure out which comments are satires and jokes and which represent real threats before investigating the speaker.

I understand that there are certain things that should definitely be treated as a serious threat. For example, if someone, hypothetically, were to say, "When (insert politician) comes to town on (insert date), I'm gonna be there with my .30-'06 and take his head off," that would be cause for investigation.

If someone says, "I wish that (insert diety) would strike down (insert politician) with a horrendous mutant AIDS virus in which certain parts of his body turn black, shrivel up or cement shut," well, there's a world of difference between a wish and a statement of intent.

Unfortunately, a sense of humor and an appreciation of satire seem to be qualities that assure you will never be hired for any government position. (Don't believe me? Try joking with Customs, DMV, FBI or any gov agency and watch the S hit the F.) So that's how I voted, but it ain't what I expect to ever see happen.

[Hedger]

I think authorities should "take time to figure out" what the writer really meant.

There are, of course, several different ways to "figure". One is sitting an a meeting room with a group of other bureaucrats and guess what the author might have meant. Take a vote, majority rules.

Another way might be the direct approach. What simpleton could think that the writer himself might be the best source on information what he meant. So you might have someone call him up and ask what he meant. Or go to his house and knock on his door and ask him. Ya think?

But then BOOM, by trying to "figure it out" you now are undertaking an "investigation" and you end up being bombarded with flak on firearms forums. :banghead: