06-06-2011, 08:06 PM
It does seem a little ridiculous to arrest people for dancing, but there is more to understand besides that simple concept.
Within the memorial, they don't allow demonstration for various reasons, good or bad. This includes ranting and raving, playing music, giving unauthorized speeches, and as we see here, dancing. From what I saw, the police officer was very cordial and polite to them at first. The couple who claimed to not have heard the officer obviously heard him give them a warning (you can see her clearly look at him, smiling, and go behind him and start dancing), and chose to start dancing simply to provoke. The police didn't just come in and start arresting people, they informed them that it was illegal to demonstrate within the memorial. These people, either in an innocent knee-jerk reaction to being controlled or out of plain old awnry spite, made the choice to provoke the officers and get arrested.
Do you think those people really wanted to dance that bad, or do you think that they wanted to annoy the officers and cause a big scene? If it really was the former, they could have taken a few steps away from the memorial and danced their hearts out.
Like I said, I do think it's silly to arrest people for dancing. But what I saw here wasn't a terrifying example of a police state, it was some misguided souls who knew they didn't like being controlled so they lashed out in a ineffective way.
On the other hand, the story of the SWAT team killing the ex-marine in a drug raid, along with the thousands of other stories like this, ARE an example of unjust and terrifying police work. The dancers got a fair warning...the poor victims of drug raids don't.
Within the memorial, they don't allow demonstration for various reasons, good or bad. This includes ranting and raving, playing music, giving unauthorized speeches, and as we see here, dancing. From what I saw, the police officer was very cordial and polite to them at first. The couple who claimed to not have heard the officer obviously heard him give them a warning (you can see her clearly look at him, smiling, and go behind him and start dancing), and chose to start dancing simply to provoke. The police didn't just come in and start arresting people, they informed them that it was illegal to demonstrate within the memorial. These people, either in an innocent knee-jerk reaction to being controlled or out of plain old awnry spite, made the choice to provoke the officers and get arrested.
Do you think those people really wanted to dance that bad, or do you think that they wanted to annoy the officers and cause a big scene? If it really was the former, they could have taken a few steps away from the memorial and danced their hearts out.
Like I said, I do think it's silly to arrest people for dancing. But what I saw here wasn't a terrifying example of a police state, it was some misguided souls who knew they didn't like being controlled so they lashed out in a ineffective way.
On the other hand, the story of the SWAT team killing the ex-marine in a drug raid, along with the thousands of other stories like this, ARE an example of unjust and terrifying police work. The dancers got a fair warning...the poor victims of drug raids don't.
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The only frontier that has ever existed is the self.
The only frontier that has ever existed is the self.
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