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It's illegal to dance.
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
The place is irrelevant. :eek:
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They were arrested because they were staging a protest at a federal monument without obtaining a permit.
The annotations on the video have been updated since I posted this to state a protest on the 4th, that is only in response to the arrests.
http://dcist.com/2011/05/silent_dancing_protesters_arrested.php
The fact that it was a protest does make the location important (at least in a legal sense). I'm not certain how I feel on the issue of whether or not these types of small unintrusive protests should be required to obtain a permit; however, they were not just a couple out for a nice afternoon who decided to slow dance with no ulterior motive.
So do I think the judge's ruling was stupid? Yes. Does it have some sort of far reaching implications regarding freedom of speech? Potentially, we'll have to see whether the judge presiding over this most recent case will establish a different precedent for interpreting the statutes.
Most definately I'd say.
How? (ignoring the obvious point its freedom to dance, not speech)
It's a bit like saying because if I decide to hold a conversation in a cinema and refuse to stop and the police then arrest me my right to free speech has been infringed... except it hasn't, really has it?
Well, they actually say I should be arrested. But I choose to see the positive
I hate you. I JUST got that out of my head from yesterday. :yeees:
Thought this might be of some use.
It depends if the dance is a form of protest - if so then it'd say US Bill Of Rights covers this. The better similie to use would be flag burning which is, of course, protected under the First Amendment.
However to take the wider point and transfer it to the UK (being British on a British board)
As it happens I'm very cynical about this type of 'look at me protest' because it's often a cover by people who want the state to have more power (for example to run our lumber industry ).
If we really want to protest about state power we should perhaps be asking different questions, around for example fox hunting or the rising share of GDP taken by the state and not fall for the propoganda of those who pro-state and anti-liberal (in the British sense of the word liberal)
I don't think that's really a point. Walking in the monument must also be inappropriate if that's the case, dancing is just moving your legs in a rhythm, like walking. The dancing they were doing wasn't exactly 'out there'.
http://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/anti1906.htm
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/reports/monuments/1913e.htm