Ridicule on account of race, creed, or color

[musher]

Is it just me, or have we collectively gone nuts? When did it become illegal to insult people? My mom always told me that cursing and racial slurs reflected more on the person saying them than the person to whom they were addressed. Nonetheless, I'm taken aback that this is actually a crime.

Breach of the peace, I do understand, it's the 'illegal ridicule' that's got me wide eyed. Heinlein got it right, when folks are armed they're more polite to each other. They respect themselves, they respect others. The consequences otherwise are unpalatable (and immediate). What kind of society needs laws like 'illegal ridicule' to salve the self respect of it's citizens?

link

WOMAN ARRESTED AFTER 'RACIST LANGUAGE' AT TACO BELL
Fri Feb 03 2006 09:24:48 ET

A woman accused of using racial epithets while waiting for food at a Connecticut Taco Bell drive-through window was arrested Wednesday.

Jennifer Farrelly, 19, of East Windsor, has been charged with ridicule on account of race, creed or color and second-degree breach of peace. Farrelly's boyfriend, Eric Satterlee, 22, of Ashford, was charged with breach of peace in the incident.

On Dec. 18, Farrelly and Satterlee became frustrated by the slow service at the Taco Bell restaurant on Brookside Place, according to an arrest warrant. Farrelly banged on the drive-through window and called the Taco Bell attendant, Jamelle Byrd, a racial epithet, according to the warrant. Satterlee allegedly cursed and banged on the window.

Farrelly denied using racial epithets when she was interviewed by police, saying Byrd caused the dispute by ridiculing her for parking her car far away from the drive-through window, the warrant states. Byrd's supervisor told police that Byrd should not have been working the drive-through because he had gotten into a similar incident with another customer, the warrant states.

Developing...

 

[longeyes]

Part of the rad feminist legacy.

 

[Fly320s]

1. It's not too smart to insult the person preparing your food.

2. Racist remarks and being a butthead aren't illegal, nor should they be with regards to individuals.

 

[Kodiaz]

I don't see why they called the police wizzing in her taco would have been much more appropiate.

 

[Lupinus]

What a bunch of bull.

Sure using racial slurs is bad practice and rude and you have every right to be offended if its used agianst you, but I call total BS on it being able to get you arested.

Funny how in the case of black people I hear them using it a lot more then white people

And if you are a white male and a derogatory term is used agianst you try getting the same treatment from the law.

 

[musher]

It's not too smart to insult the person preparing your food.

There ya go, the cops should have let nature take its course...

 

[Art Eatman]

East Windsor? As in Windsor, Ontario, Canada?

Canada has no First Amendment. Further, to drift a bit, it is not a defense against libel that what you said about somebody is TRUE! (Court case; Vancouver, IIRc)

 

[Old Dog]

Art,

while waiting for food at a Connecticut Taco Bell

Every fast-food connoiseur knows that Taco Bell has by far the slowest drive-through service of any fast-food joint ...

Not just "racist" languange everywhere either -- one can be arrested for profane or obscene language in many jurisdications as well.

Country's gettin' a bit sensitive to anything that might possibly be construed as a hate crime, too, so it's apparent that racial epithets may be safely used only in rap lyrics or among people of color to each other ...

 

[Art Eatman]

Okay. Missed that.

That might fly at the local court level, but I doubt it would get by a federal court. The problem is the legal cost of getting to federal court.

Sounds like a good one for the ACLU.

Art

 

[Monkeyleg]

Man, if that were the case years ago, my father-in-law would be serving a life sentence.

My wife works in a department of a bank, and it's pretty hard to get fired. People don't work, goof off, etc. About the only thing that can get a person fired is calling someone a racial slur.

 

[Waitone]

So many problems in life are self correcting.

--Don't play in the traffic
--Don't touch the hot stove
--Don't spout off racists comments to the person preparing your meal

Any and all of the aforementioned stunts are self correcting given sufficient time.

 

[Standing Wolf]

What kind of society needs laws like 'illegal ridicule' to salve the self respect of it's citizens?

I doubt it has much, if anything to do with salving self-respect. I think it's all about controlling commoners' behavior for the sake of controlling commoners' behavior.

 

[XLMiguel]

PC run amuk

As noted, there are certain people you really shouldn't mess with, and while one is entitle to one's own opinion, most of the time you are better served to keep it to yourself.

 

[McCall911]

Ridicule on account of race, creed, or color

All this IMO: Fear of differences is at the root of this ridicule. It just seems to be a very immature part of human nature. Some have it more, some have it less. It doesn't have to be a big deal unless we make it one. And certainly passing laws isn't going to help. Just pity the ridiculers for their childishness, defend yourself if you need to, and then move on. But it's probably never going to go away completely within what's left of human history.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Ridicule on account of race, creed or color?

"Geek's such a white guy.... Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.
Organized churches threw him out...Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.
He gets sunburn.....Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah."

There. That oughta do.

 

[gc70]

Using racial epithets is nearly as silly as getting arrested for using them. Poor Jennifer Farrelly was probably just too inarticulate to properly describe the Taco Bell employee's slow or inept service, so she blurted out an all-purpose word or phrase, meant to be derogatory, as a way to vent her frustration.

 

[Art Eatman]

Regardless of our judgement of the character of the one using a racial epithet, I odn't see it as the business of the State to force people to be inoffensive. I don't see how a law making rude speech to be a crime is Constitutional.

Art

 

[DRZinn]

Maybe they forgot to put the beans in her burrito. Then to get the attention of the Person Who Puts Beans on Burritos, she called out, "HEY, BEANER!"

After all, she couldn't know the official title of the Person Who Puts Beans on Burritos.

 

[musher]

I don't see how a law making rude speech to be a crime is Constitutional

Yeah, there's a lot of ignoring that detail going around lately.

 

[musher]

Geek's such a white guy

Hey, I'd go to that trial. It'd be fun to see geek's lawyer cross examine geek for calling geek a white guy while geek's other lawyer sweated bullets and kept shaking his head at geek trying to get him to shut up his big honky mouth

.....oops, sorry bout that. Please don't sue me.

oh, wait...I'm in alaska. Neener neener neener!

 

[50caliber123]

East Windsor? As in Windsor, Ontario, Canada?

Canada has no First Amendment. Further, to drift a bit, it is not a defense against libel that what you said about somebody is TRUE! (Court case; Vancouver, IIRc)

Canada doesn't have a second amenmdent either. And look what you can't own there. I think its morally wrong to use racial slurs but not legally wrong. How anyone can legislate free speech is beyond me. First they lost their guns, no they're losing their free speech. I bet the next speech law passed will state that you can't say anything bad about the government. Socialism is in and of itself a slippery slope. As for the racial slurs, the manager of Taco Bell should have said something along the lines of "we won't serve you folks if you use offensive language to our employees." That could be taken offensively, but that's free speech too.

 

[PCGS65]

We have all heard this one STIX AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES BUT NAMES WILL NEVER HARM ME!!!!!!!!!! The first amendment is gone unless you say what they want you to say or talk like they want you to talk.
Try political protesting. :banghead:

 

[HankB]

I don't see how a law making rude speech to be a crime is Constitutional.

A big "+1" to that.

But I wouldn't dream of being rude to anyone at a restaurant before I got my food . . . and once I decided rudeness on my part was called for, I'd never go back, lest they remember me and "enhance" my food.

 

[BenW]

"Double bacon cheesburger. It's for a COP."

On the serious side, both the Darwinian stupidness and rudeness of the racial slur have been covered, but I wonder what the rest of the story is re:

"Byrd's supervisor told police that Byrd should not have been working the drive-through because he had gotten into a similar incident with another customer, the warrant states."

 

[ball3006]

When I have the opportunity.....

to fill out some kind of form that wants to know what race I am, I check "other" and write in European American............When told I have to check the "white" box, I reply "there is no "black" box for African Americans to check? The only form I don't question this practice is the yellow form I fill out when buying a gun.......chris3