Justin Carter: Jailed For FB Comment

**Bridge** · 07-07-2013, 12:08 PM

So, does anybody still want to pretend like Obama is the proverbial knight in shining armor here to save the world? His signature is all over this. He personally approved the bill that more-or-less states that a person's constitutional rights are completely void if they are even allegedly suspected of terrorism. And people are actually writing the White House? You'd have better luck getting Hitler to release your wrongly imprisoned Jew friend during WWII.

**7heDubz** · 07-07-2013, 12:44 PM

Im sorry, i believe that in america there is this thing called "Freedom of speech" sosorry, if i feel like saying what he said it wouldnt matter. They could do nothing, i could swear at any police officer i wanted to, call them whatever names i wanted to, sure they could arrest me but under what charge? exactly. This is america bitch let the kid go.

**Kman** · 07-07-2013, 01:04 PM

(07-07-2013, 12:48 PM)Robosprog Wrote:
(07-07-2013, 12:44 PM)WIWWM Wrote: Im sorry, i believe that in america there is this thing called "Freedom of speech" sosorry, if i feel like saying what he said it wouldnt matter. They could do nothing, i could swear at any police officer i wanted to, call them whatever names i wanted to, sure they could arrest me but under what charge? exactly. This is america bitch let the kid go.

Whilst you have freedom of speech, you are still held responsible for what you say. Freedom of speech is not Freedom of Speech without consequence.

that^^

with that said 8 years sentence for something like that is ridiculous

**Bridge** · 07-07-2013, 01:59 PM

(07-07-2013, 12:44 PM)WIWWM Wrote: Im sorry, i believe that in america there is this thing called "Freedom of speech" sosorry, if i feel like saying what he said it wouldnt matter. They could do nothing, i could swear at any police officer i wanted to, call them whatever names i wanted to, sure they could arrest me but under what charge? exactly. This is america bitch let the kid go.

If you threaten him that's trespassing, and calling random people names in public is generally construed as disturbing the peace. You have the right to free speech, but other people have the right not to be harassed too. Generally speaking if other people are negatively affected by your actions (involuntarily) then you are no longer free to do it.

**Juby** · 07-07-2013, 02:04 PM

This story gets me so angry, I probably received cancer from hearing about it. Where to begin on how outright stupid this entire deal is?

I'll start with what happened and how good old America is an idiot. So somebody in his League of Legends game, after the game on Facebook, said, "Oh you're insane. You're crazy. You're messed up in the head," to which Justin replied, "I'm fucked in the head alright. I think I'ma shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them." That is all he ever did, he showed no intent of doing this and everybody believed this was a joke, if a little bit unfunny. But, let's talk about this one bitch.

This one 'woman from Canada' noticed this comment and reported it to the authorities. This resulted in Justin's arrest, a week later, on Valentines day. The only reason this guy is in jail is because of ONE person that got offended. Police even noticed that he showed no signs or intent of ever doing what he said. He had no access to weapons and no desire for violence. They also lacked any form of common sense to know that this was a joke. I'm willing to place enough faith into human beings to say that if you were going to shoot up a school, you wouldn't talk about it in Facebook, over a public League of Legends match.

They said he was arrested for a 'terroristic threat', which this is simply NOT anywhere close to that. They are giving him a bond of $500,000 (meaning that $50,000 would have to be posted to get him out of jail while he awaits trial). Justin's lawyer, Donald H. Flanary, says, "It's outrageous... I've represented murderers and their bond was $150,000." This means that he is essentially being treated as if he was at least 3 murderers. He is being jailed because he made a bad joke. There is nothing more to that, anything anybody ever adds to that is bullshit. This is exactly what it is, it's not terrorism, and there is plenty worse everywhere. However, just because this is called 'terrosim', America freaks the hell out and wants none of that, I can totally see why this kid is in jail.

What about the effects on Justin? Well, he is one of the few people who can say that he went to jail for making a bad joke. It's almost like if I said to you, "I used to have a fear of hurdles, but then I got over it," and you didn't laugh, I'd get arrested and jailed and basically treated as if I murdered 3 people. Before you nitpick, I know this example does not translate to what happened in this case well, but the idea does. Could you imagine ever going to prison, being taken away from your parents, because of saying something on the internet? Justin already spent his birthday behind bars, I assume here that he would of looked for a job soon or went to college (because he is 19), and now this will be on his record. Does anybody want to hire a kid who has something that says terrorism in his record?

Before I go away and continue bashing my head against the wall, I'll say a few more things. A lot of people are under the opinion that Justin made an offensive joke that he should not have said. This is because of the recent school shootings that nobody has gotten over, and they really should. This is shaky ground, so I'll go ahead and explain myself before I got yelled at for disrespecting families. If you lost your child due to a school shooting, it's terrible. It's something I can't ever imagine, but should somebody go to jail for ever cracking a joke about that? All he said was that he'd shoot up a school, he did not say anything past that. He did not do anything past that. Does anybody honestly think that somebody should lose 8-10 years of their life, spending them in confinement away from friends and family for the most part and always risking getting jumped or really just picked on, because he made a joke in bad taste? Personally, I really don't care what Justin said. Words are words unless followed up by action and no action was there. My stance is, the joke was not funny, not that it was offensive.

Because people were offended, Justin's life is effectively ruined. Past the emotional toll, and probably physical, he has to live with the fact that he has 'terrorism' on his record. It is utterly and totally absurd. Want to know the best part? THIS IS NOT TERRORISM. Terrorism is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. If Justin really hated America and shot up a school to show his resistance, maybe to change some of the laws, then it would be terrorism. What he threatened to do, but purposely failed on doing so would actually be classified as something like a mass-killing. And before anybody asks, terrorism and a terrorist are two different things. We are directly talking about terrorism here. What this all boils down to is that, Justin made a joke, and is going to jail because he hurt peoples' feelings... awww.

Well, I guess it's good to be back. I just had to let out my pure frustration upon the topic, apologies. Smile

**Kreekakon** · 07-07-2013, 02:12 PM

I think the consensus here is that while what Justin said was insensitive (Depending on the person reading it) it was a joke, and he is being massively over-punished.

Seriously, I think the highest form of "justified" punishment for what he did is apologizing for the comment. I can't think of anything more harsh than that without is seeming like over-punishment.

**Yuhaney** · 07-07-2013, 02:35 PM

(07-07-2013, 06:50 AM)Your Computer Wrote: If not jail, then what? A slap on the wrist? Not interested in helping deliberately stupid people.

(07-07-2013, 12:48 PM)Robosprog Wrote: Whilst you have freedom of speech, you are still held responsible for what you say. Freedom of speech is not Freedom of Speech without consequence.

These.

**Bridge** · 07-07-2013, 02:56 PM

(07-07-2013, 02:35 PM)Scraper Wrote:
(07-07-2013, 06:50 AM)Your Computer Wrote: If not jail, then what? A slap on the wrist? Not interested in helping deliberately stupid people.

(07-07-2013, 12:48 PM)Robosprog Wrote: Whilst you have freedom of speech, you are still held responsible for what you say. Freedom of speech is not Freedom of Speech without consequence.

These.

Stupid people have constitutional rights too, which are being unjustly violated here. He doesn't even deserve a slap on the wrist. How can you guys not care about other people's rights? In case you weren't aware, they are your rights too. If you let shit like this go by unchallenged, sooner or later you will be the ones whose rights are being violated.

And freedom of speech does in fact mean freedom of speech without consequence. When you start talking about speech that is not protected by free speech (rare and justifiable instances) it's not a freedom anymore. In the United States you are basically allowed to say anything in an ironic way for the sake of satire or comedy and it can be clearly demonstrated by examining the context that it was said in an ironic way. Ergo, free speech.

**PutraenusAlivius** · 07-07-2013, 02:57 PM

Look, this is quite outrageous. The best we can do for Justin and his life is to just sign the petition. I would if I can.

**Kreekakon** · 07-07-2013, 03:06 PM

(07-07-2013, 02:56 PM)Bridge Wrote: And freedom of speech does in fact mean freedom of speech without consequence. When you start talking about speech that is not protected by free speech (rare and justifiable instances) it's not a freedom anymore. In the United States you are basically allowed to say anything in an ironic way for the sake of satire or comedy and it can be clearly demonstrated by examining the context that it was said in an ironic way. Ergo, free speech.

I think what Robo was talking about was about freedom of speech in general, and not limited to this one incident.

I don't think it's possible for there to be no limitations/consequence in freedom of speech at all. People have free rights, but those rights only stand under the circumstance that you do not harm other people, or their proper rights. If what you say does so, then you should not be allowed to say it.

This is talking in general, and not at all regarding the incident we have here.

EDIT: I still do think that it's VERY debatable to where we draw the line defining something that's offensive enough to be refrained from saying by law.