• YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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    5 days ago

    I think we owe a ton of those first amendment auditors an apology. Or at least I would offer them one if I saw videos of them out here now.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        Oh, most definitely. And honestly I still think anyone who calls themselves a first amendment auditor is more likely than not a little out of whack with regards to the norms of society and the law.

        I believe every example I’ve seen roughly boils down to:
        “I’m going to stand here and film this elementary school to see if anyone oppresses me by saying I can’t”
        Cop: “everything okay here sir?”.
        "This is public property and I can film here if I want. You have no right to tell me not to!”.
        Cop: “that’s alright, I only asked if everything was okay. We got some reports about strange behavior and that you were making people uncomfortable so I came to check up on things”.
        “Well now you know that everything’s fine, no one has anything to be concerned about because it’s perfectly legal, and you can run along now. Good bye.”.
        Cop: “alright, well it might be nice if you considered moving along, since you’re making people uncomfortable. Just a thought. Bye.”.
        Title: “1st amendment patriot schools cop on meaning of the law”.

        Cops are assholes, but those guys invariably share videos of the least objectionable behavior to illustrate that.

      • SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml
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        5 days ago

        The first amendment auditor types tend to lean Libertarian, which hasn’t exactly been a been a hip ideology for a long time now. A number of them tended to be lacking in practical knowledge of the law or the constitution, and some seemed to be in it more for attention than for an actual dedication to ideas of free speech and civil liberties

        Not all of them were like this of course, and there are folks out there dong good 1st amendment auditing type work, but there’s a reason that, on the whole, these types got made fun of.