One day on my junior high school bus, a wave of excitement began going through the bus as we neared school.
Even at that age, the bus was rather quiet in the morning, but everyone seemed to now be a buzz. Some kids knew what was happening but I did not. I soon found out that a police car with two patrolmen was following close behind.
It seems a few blocks back, one of the boys in the back window seat flipped the middle finger to the policemen. As we were stepping off the bus, the two policemen were waiting at the bus door but the only kid left aboard was the guilty party.
He was not about to get off. The policemen went on, escorted him off to their patrol car, gave him a talking to, and let him
go.
There was none of us who thought this kid did right and none who thought the policemen were acting incorrectly. At the time, this was one of the most obscene actions that any kid could do. And we all thought the kid was wrong, the patrolmen were right, and the kid was going to jail or was going to be grounded by his parents for six months or so.
Fast forward to May 2011 and a Colorado Highway Patrolman stops a speeder. As he is finishing with a ticket, a motorist comes by and flips off the patrolman and takes off. After calling in air and ground support, the patrolman finds the man at his place of employment. He leaves the man a summons for speeding and police harassment after the man explained he did it because police were thieves who did their own harassment of people.
The ALCU stepped in to defend the man free of charge. The police dropped the speeding charge and dropped the harassment charge. All agree that flipping someone off is freedom of expression.
IMHO freedom of speech and freedom of expression has gone too far. There is no respect for any kind of authority anymore. I don't understand this way of thinking.
When bad, self serving behavior and lack of respect hides behind freedom of "anything" then we are in serious trouble.
We are in serious shape.