Protest Humor

The Sacramento Bee reports that a man carrying a parody protest sign at the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology was arrested for violating an ordinance "that prohibits people in parades from carrying dangerous items or wearing a gas mask or other 'filters' over the face."

Paul Choate's crime? Carrying a sign posted on 4-inch wide lumber, rather than the allowable 2 inches. His message?:

"We were just goofing off," the Curtis Park resident said Wednesday. "My buddy and I thought it would be fun to make some parody signs and go out and march with protesters. Mine was about freeing Naboo from the Imperial Federation. He was protesting the incorrect spelling of vegetables, like KORN."

About 60 protestors have been arrested at the conference so far and civil libertarians rightly fear that Sacramento's ordinance will be used selectively to punish unpopular speech.

Choate will go to court later in July.

[link via Free-Market.Net]

Comments

[Madog]

I blame the Emperor. There's no way he'll free Naboo.

[Sean]

Since these guys were making fun of the protesters, and they were among those arrested, isn't this story an indication that the police weren't selectively punishing unpopular speech, but just enforcing the law? I'm not saying it doesn't ever happen, but this doesn't seem to be an example of it. Now, if everyone one had illegal sign posts, and the police only arrested those with certain messages, that would be selective enforcement.
As for the law itself, most cities have similar limits. A friend of mine got a sign post broken over his head at a KKK/antiKKK brouhaha in Pittsburgh several years back. Had it been a 2X4, it probably would have been his head doing the breaking instead of the board.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

Here's a more likely alternative: none of the cops got the jokes.

[Jon H]

The cops forgot to arrest the 3,000 protestors that will be added digitally in post-production.

[Ghost of Joe Friday]

How dare you accuse our finest men in blue of being humorless? You Communist cop-basher, you! Why just the other day, Bull Connor told me a great joke:

Two black men are driving through the Deep South when they get pulled over by a policeman. The cop walks up and taps on the window with his stick.
The driver rolls down the window and whack, the officer smacks him in the head with the stick. The driver asks, "What the hell was that for?"

The officer answers, "You're in the South, boy. When we pull you over, you better have your license ready when we get to your car." The driver says, "I'm sorry, officer, I'm not from around here."

The officer does a check on the driver's license, and it's okay.

He gives the man his license back, walks around to the passenger side and taps on the window. The passenger rolls down the window and whack, the officer smacks him on the head with the stick.

The passenger asks, "What'd you do that for?"

The officer says, "Just making your wish come true."

The passenger asks, "Making what wish come true?"

The officer says, "I know that two miles down the road you're gonna say to your friend here, 'I wish that cracker would've tried that crap on me!'"

Now...THAT'S funny!

[Ghost of Joe Friday]

How dare you accuse our finest men in blue of being humorless? You Communist cop-basher, you! Why just the other day, Bull Connor told me a great joke:

Two black men are driving through the Deep South when they get pulled over by a policeman. The cop walks up and taps on the window with his stick.
The driver rolls down the window and whack, the officer smacks him in the head with the stick. The driver asks, "What the hell was that for?"

The officer answers, "You're in the South, boy. When we pull you over, you better have your license ready when we get to your car." The driver says, "I'm sorry, officer, I'm not from around here."

The officer does a check on the driver's license, and it's okay.

He gives the man his license back, walks around to the passenger side and taps on the window. The passenger rolls down the window and whack, the officer smacks him on the head with the stick.

The passenger asks, "What'd you do that for?"

The officer says, "Just making your wish come true."

The passenger asks, "Making what wish come true?"

The officer says, "I know that two miles down the road you're gonna say to your friend here, 'I wish that cracker would've tried that crap on me!'"

Now...THAT'S funny!

[J. Goard]

Just across the causeway from the big show, it recently took me five or six attempts to convey to a keeper of the peace that the open container in my hand contained not beer but soda. Perhaps my linguistics training had biased me too heavily towards using words for communication.

[Tron]

Jon H, right on! You're on the ball.

"3,000 digital protestors"
(Ha-ha! What a riot!)

[Kathy]

Actually, Tron, that's NOT a riot. Riots are loud and boisterous. Can't hear a thing here, can you? (Except my hard drive spinning.)

[Plutarck]

I'm begining to think that, given the state of many other threads lately, that there was some big Libertarian Heavy Drug Convention that no one told me about, or something.

[Anonymous]

(Don't mind Pluto, folks. He just got back from the bar.)

The wet bar, that is.

[david f]

but it was for the children. for our morality. for anti terror measures.

great.

so which ordeal should these two undergo? i think taking them beyond the dune sea might work. or, switching movies, the pit of dispair might be better (don't even think of trying to escape).

drf

[Curt Warner]

Talk about selective enforcement! You can't tell me none of those 2,000 nursing-home advocates were packing heat.

[Paul]

My board was a 30 year old 1/4x4" that could hardly hold the sign I was carrying.

The next day was a large nursing rally that had many "illegal" signs yet the police made no arrests.

The police were suppressing all protest, as instructed by the city. In 3 days they spent 2 million on arresting 58 kids who's worst threat was not bathing for a few months, and my friend and me for having a little fun.

This country is totally paranoid.

[Paul]

My board was a 30 year old 1/4x4" that could hardly hold the sign I was carrying.

The next day was a large nursing rally that had many "illegal" signs yet the police made no arrests.

The police were suppressing all protest, as instructed by the city. In 3 days they spent 2 million on arresting 58 kids who's worst threat was not bathing for a few months, and my friend and me for having a little fun.

This country is totally paranoid.

[Paul]

My board was a 30 year old 1/4x4" that could hardly hold the sign I was carrying.

The next day was a large nursing rally that had many "illegal" signs yet the police made no arrests.

The police were suppressing all protest, as instructed by the city. In 3 days they spent 2 million on arresting 58 kids who's worst threat was not bathing for a few months, and my friend and me for having a little fun.

This country is totally paranoid.

[Ahmed Saif]

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DATE: 01/20/2004 08:20:49
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