Comments on: Odd Question Du Jour http://www.triskele.com/2007/03/23/odd-question-du-jour Political & actuarial musings and assorted roadgeek trivia Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:41:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ana http://www.triskele.com/2007/03/23/odd-question-du-jour/comment-page-1#comment-1936 Ana Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:29:12 +0000 http://www.triskele.com/2007/03/23/odd-question-du-jour/#comment-1936 <p>That's quite the generalization you've made there, and while it may be a hypocritical stance to take in some cases, it's not fair to lump all activists together. Going to any sort of activist gathering would clear up any mythical idea of absolute harmony among all activists that you might have.</p> <p>Personally, if the government wants to tape me when I'm in a public place, they're welcome to. Their punishment for that choice would be the immediate boredom that comes with watching how an ordinary activist lives. It's really not as romantic of an existence as the films and books make it out to be.</p> That’s quite the generalization you’ve made there, and while it may be a hypocritical stance to take in some cases, it’s not fair to lump all activists together. Going to any sort of activist gathering would clear up any mythical idea of absolute harmony among all activists that you might have.

Personally, if the government wants to tape me when I’m in a public place, they’re welcome to. Their punishment for that choice would be the immediate boredom that comes with watching how an ordinary activist lives. It’s really not as romantic of an existence as the films and books make it out to be.

]]> By: kevin http://www.triskele.com/2007/03/23/odd-question-du-jour/comment-page-1#comment-1906 kevin Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:26:40 +0000 http://www.triskele.com/2007/03/23/odd-question-du-jour/#comment-1906 <p>Well, I filmed and posted one of the aforementioned Hartford videos. The one I shot did not include the arrest. Arrest info is public knowledge that anyone can get, so filming arrests is not a big deal.</p> <p>We (Hartford Independent Media Center) are also a media organization, much the same as your local TV station, without the profit motive. So our job is to chronicle activities like this, especially since mainstream media often gloss over stories like this one.</p> <p>The problem really comes into play when police or feds use recordings secretly or use them routinely to target people. Here in Hartford, it was accidentally revealed that the governor has a list of known activists - people who have been targeted solely for their political beliefs. One of these activists was recently arrested for taking photographs of the governor. He had committed no crime, other than he was a known member of the Green party. His case was dismissed by the judge this week because his arrest had no legal leg to stand on. He had done nothing wrong.</p> <p>The government should not be policing or profiling people based on their political beliefs. That's anti-American, anti-civil liberties. It's against democracy. They can check out YouTube all they want, but as soon as they've started targeting, and arresting people based on political philosophy, they have gone too far.</p> <p>In actuality, the police are a more appropriate audience for your post. I've been told by police to stop filming them while they're filming demonstrations. Why should they be allowed to film protests, but order others to stop filming them? They are public employees after all.</p> Well, I filmed and posted one of the aforementioned Hartford videos. The one I shot did not include the arrest. Arrest info is public knowledge that anyone can get, so filming arrests is not a big deal.

We (Hartford Independent Media Center) are also a media organization, much the same as your local TV station, without the profit motive. So our job is to chronicle activities like this, especially since mainstream media often gloss over stories like this one.

The problem really comes into play when police or feds use recordings secretly or use them routinely to target people. Here in Hartford, it was accidentally revealed that the governor has a list of known activists – people who have been targeted solely for their political beliefs. One of these activists was recently arrested for taking photographs of the governor. He had committed no crime, other than he was a known member of the Green party. His case was dismissed by the judge this week because his arrest had no legal leg to stand on. He had done nothing wrong.

The government should not be policing or profiling people based on their political beliefs. That’s anti-American, anti-civil liberties. It’s against democracy. They can check out YouTube all they want, but as soon as they’ve started targeting, and arresting people based on political philosophy, they have gone too far.

In actuality, the police are a more appropriate audience for your post. I’ve been told by police to stop filming them while they’re filming demonstrations. Why should they be allowed to film protests, but order others to stop filming them? They are public employees after all.

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