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The "auditors" are jackasses, no doubt. But you need to protect the freedom of jackasses to be jackasses. My wife was a municipal employee who had to deal with
by Spooky23 3y ago
The "auditors" are jackasses, no doubt. But you need to protect the freedom of jackasses to be jackasses. My wife was a municipal employee who had to deal with one of the particularly noxious ones that was big during the peak MAGA hype cycle. It was awful and personally embarassing to be chastised in public for doing a job required by law to be done, but that's the reality of public service.
My uncle was a senior official for a municipality. His home was picketed during a tense labor negotiation. Also noxious and difficult for the family, but a necessary part of the democratic process to allow.
At the end of the day, the shocking revelations that NYPD desk sergeants give zero fucks isn't very compelling video. It's a fad, and it will fade. But the need to hold the government accountable remains, and allowing trolls to damage that serves nobody well, including the police. No different than my uncle. It sucks my cousins had to deal with that as kids, but it would equally suck if some goon squad prevented the union members from having their grievances addressed.
- conductr 3y ago> His home was picketed during a tense labor negotiation. Also noxious and difficult for the family, but a necessary part of the democratic process to allow. No, that is not necessary for democracy to work. Going to a public official's home is never necessary. Please enlighten me to what I'm missing that requires this invasion of privacy and security.
- ceejayoz 3y ago> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. A peaceful protest on a public sidewalk outside a public official's home falls pretty squarely within those protections.
- conductr 3y agoI didn't argue it was illegal/unconstitutional. But voicing that it's certainly not an essential part of a functional democracy
- autoexec 3y ago"the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" seems like pretty essential part of a functional democracy to me.
- conductr 3y agoThere are a lot of places to do this that aren't in front of the politician's personal residence
- autoexec 3y agoThere certainly are a lot of less effective places for protesting. If protesting in front of a politician's personal residence is what it takes to be heard that's where people are going to do it.
- conductr 3y agoMy kid is 4. He's learning the rules to soccer. If I wanted to teach him the most optimal way to steal the ball, I'd teach him to run up and scream in the other kids face until he got annoyed enough and handed the ball over. Efficiency and effectiveness by annoyance may be within the rules, but are shitty sportsmanship IMO
- epakai 3y agoOfficials aren't in a position to recognize the impact of their policy choices until it affects them personally. That's what requires this, and it's neither an invasion of their privacy nor their security, but a notice that they're stepping on people with their own actions.
- conductr 3y agoThen why do politician's with the means to do so, buy property that increases their privacy and security? Applying pressure and voicing discontent is a great part of democracy and should be protected. It's tone deaf to pretend these things aren't related to privacy and security. Despite best intentions, protesters are already agitated [that's why they're protesting] and it doesn't take much to turn to a security issue and if they can't check their mail or mow their lawn without being heckled, that's a privacy issue. I think we in America set ridiculous norms/boundaries on some things (things like this topic disrespecting the politician's personal life for something that is occurring in their professional/public life; also, feel that we care too much about their personal lives in general, sex/marriage/family stuff but that's another topic)
- autoexec 3y ago> The "auditors" are jackasses, no doubt. But you need to protect the freedom of jackasses to be jackasses. Even the article couldn't help calling out auditors for being confrontational assholes, but for what it's worth, Reyes doesn't act like typical auditors. He's polite and cool headed. He's assertive while still attempting to deescalate situations. He's the least confrontational auditor I've ever seen. What's compelling about Reyes's work isn't the video showing that the police in the NYDP were acting like assholes and breaking the law, but that he then follows up with formal complaints, lawsuits, and revisits to see what's changed. I love that there are people willing to risk their safety and freedom and invest the kind of time and money it takes to follow through using the legal system. It'll either change things for the better or at least let us know how bad things really are and where more reforms are needed.
- JohnFen 3y ago> But you need to protect the freedom of jackasses to be jackasses. You do, but their presence is also denying others their right to obtain services without being endangered. Some balance is needed here.