The new felony: A bad attitude

During my morning browse-fest, I am stumbling more and more over news stories in which people are charged with felonies, repeatedly tased by police or otherwise brutalized for the crime of having a bad attitude. No act of violence, no damage to property, no threat of violence is alleged; the person is arrested pure and simply for a bad attitude. In this context, the definition of bad is that the person spoke back to authority, said 'no' to a request or did not comply quickly enough, asked a question or tried to argue...in short, the person did not immediately and with subservience obey.

The story that caught my eye this morning comes from Politico and concerns a D.C. mover-and-shaker named David Bass and a recent flight on Continental airlines. Politico explains,

An FBI agent and a couple of flight attendants say in court documents that Bass seemed drunk on the flight, disobeying instructions from the crew, climbing over another passenger to get to the overhead luggage bin, making “mean faces” and generally “upsetting everyone in first class.” Bass says he was tired, “out of it” on allergy medication and doesn’t even know what a “mean face” is.

Frankly, I don't believe Bass was as disruptive as the 'authorities' allege -- and, yes, as absurd as it seems, flight attendants have now become 'agents of the state' who can dish out prison sentences along with diet coke; all it takes is for an attendant to complain about you. My skepticism is not merely because I know how casually and automatically authorities lie, it is also based on a few aspects of the story. For one thing, Bass "said he offered to take a blood-alcohol test when he got off the plane, but...the officers declined."

Nevertheless, I'll assume Bass was every bit as obnoxious as the complaint alleges. What is the sane response? Refuse to serve him alcohol, certainly. And, then, to bar him from travelling on future Continental flights.

Nope. Instead, the police met the plane upon landing. Instead, he was charged under section of the PATRIOT act that prohibits “assaulting or intimidating a flight crew member or flight attendant of the aircraft, interferes with the performance of the duties of the member or attendant or lessens the ability of the member or attendant to perform those duties, or attempts or conspires to do such an act.” He is facing a possible 20-year jail term essentially for making a "mean face" at an attendant who refused to continue serving him.

Sadly, I think the most unusual aspect of this story is the attention it has received due to Bass' high political profile. For every David Bass brutalized by airline authorities, I expect there are dozens of Joe Averages whose story is never heard. Indeed, a recent story in the Los Angeles Times said there had been 200-some convictions on that particular charge since it went on the books...and that's convictions, not just charges.

So...now that a high profile case has shone a bright light on the absurdity and injustice of someone facing 20-years in jail for pulling a "mean face" on an authority figure, the outrage will be pouring. Right? Wrong. Comments made in the popular Gawker blog are typical: Washington, DC PR man David Bass has a perfectly good explanation for why he was charged with a felony for disrupting a flight: He was all hopped up on Benadryl! He was awake for five days straight! He wanted wine! Or the blogger Lindsay Beyerstein who shrugged the incident off as Bass' "bad luck."

I must admit to a bit of shameful joy at the harassment of a D.C. insider; it couldn't happen to a 'nicer' guy -- that is, short of it happening to an actual politician responsible for such laws. But, overwhelmingly, my reaction is to feel a chill run through my blood. The potential punishment for pulling a "mean face" on an attendant and being rude is now more than the punishments for attacking people and destroying property. That's the value the state puts on the demand for your 'respect.' And the state can get away with it precisely because people snicker at the fool who doesn't obey (like the Gawker did) or shrugs it off (like other bloggers)

America has not only become a police state; Americans are now accustomed to and so part of the "police culture.".

Original report here



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts on Wicked Thoughts Archive