Twitter user Douglass Mackey sentenced to 7 months in prison after being found guilty of election interference for making memes disparaging Hillary

[USincognito]

Speech isn't the same as building a bomb - speech has to be differentiated between comedy, joking, sarcasm - and a threat or a very real attempt to defraud

I cant look at these memes and in any way see anything but sarcasm... Especially since they were memes made in response to other very real memes left wingers were making.

And to be honest I'm questioning whether anyone above a 3rd grade education would take these seriously.

Your on very very shaky ground prosecuting Americans for simple humor.

Attempted crimes are still crimes. THAT is the point.

 

[Sif]

What? "Winter of death"? Is this some bizarre Game of Thrones reference?

Or maybe....

Fimbulwinter (Fimbulvetr). (Norse mythology) One of the signs of the onset of the end of this world, the final, three-year-long winter (with no intervening summers); it marks the coming of the Ragnarok, the battle that will end the world.

 

[USincognito]

That would be a good discussion in its own thread, probably take this one way off topic though.

Agreed. Just like this one.

All this and people that were burning buildings and rioting in the streets a little while back and nothing ever done.

Terrible

 

[Wings like Eagles]

Agreed. Just like this one.

No - different

 

[Hazelelponi]

Attempted crimes are still crimes. THAT is the point.

But is sarcasm a crime? Again pretty shaky ground...

When are we jailing the Babylon Bee people? The employees of the Onion?

Who's after that? Sarcasm is sarcasm... It's dark humor.

We've lost the ability to get a grip is what we've done, when we jail people for sarcasm.

 

[Hammster]

Indeed. When replies like these are posted, it is easy to recognize there is no defense for the criminal Mackey except 'freedom of speech' which the courts found to be a losing defense. Do you have anything else or should I expect the entire CF list of emoticons?

There’s no need for a defense because for reasonable folks, it should be self-evident that it’s nonsense.

 

[Hammster]

This is basically putting up a fake ballot drop box.

lol. No.

 

[Hammster]

Voter suppression is so funny. Hahahah!

It’s funny that so many think it’s voter suppression.

 

[JustOneWay]

It’s funny that so many think it’s voter suppression.

Really funny, right? I mean it is on the official documents and everything! Seven in months in prison for election interference!

 

[JustOneWay]

There’s no need for a defense because for reasonable folks, it should be self-evident that it’s nonsense.

Correction. It will be seven months of nonsense for the convicted meme man....

 

[Brihaha]

There’s no need for a defense because for reasonable folks, it should be self-evident that it’s nonsense.

America's plethora of unreasonable folks has been well established. Little is self-evident in America presently. Perceptions are quite skewed. Mirrors are not reflecting reality to many. This guy committed election fraud. Period. Obstinance is not a virtue my friend. Have a nice day.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

But is sarcasm a crime? Again pretty shaky ground...

Making and spreading a fake campaign ad (including a fraudulent endorsement), and even using a legitimate phone number so that people acting on that ad will have their messages go through goes beyond sarcasm. You could potentially make a case for it being sarcastic/satirical if the phone number was dead (i.e. anyone texting it would get a message that their message could not be delivered) or the ad was obviously fake, but that wasn't the case here.

 

[essentialsaltes]

You mean like taking classified documents or prostitution?

Or copying election data from sensitive election systems?

 

[YorkieGal]

What? "Winter of death"? Is this some bizarre Game of Thrones reference?

You got it!

 

[hislegacy]

Yes, I love the idea of memes putting people in prison! More of this, please! Chinese and Korean governments are no longer just for the Chinese and Korean

Sticks and stones can break your bone, but memes will get you prison time.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

But is sarcasm a crime? Again pretty shaky ground...

When are we jailing the Babylon Bee people? The employees of the Onion?

Who's after that? Sarcasm is sarcasm... It's dark humor.

We've lost the ability to get a grip is what we've done, when we jail people for sarcasm.

Lol. The ol “it was just a prank bro!” isn’t going to hold up in court.

 

[YorkieGal]

But is sarcasm a crime? Again pretty shaky ground...

When are we jailing the Babylon Bee people? The employees of the Onion?

Who's after that? Sarcasm is sarcasm... It's dark humor.

We've lost the ability to get a grip is what we've done, when we jail people for sarcasm.

If we were jailing the sarcastic, there are some people on this forum that would be jailed for their bad attempts at sarcasm haha

Maybe I do support this ruling after all...

 

[essentialsaltes]

I think it's worth pointing out that this was a jury trial. The jury was not (merely) shown memes. They heard testimony of how the guilty party conspired to influence the election. And convicted him.

 

[adrianmonk]

But is sarcasm a crime? Again pretty shaky ground...

When are we jailing the Babylon Bee people? The employees of the Onion?

Who's after that? Sarcasm is sarcasm... It's dark humor.

We've lost the ability to get a grip is what we've done, when we jail people for sarcasm.

What is the sarcasm in that tweet ? Or how exactly is it a meme ?

 

[keith99]

I think it's worth pointing out that this was a jury trial. The jury was not (merely) shown memes. They heard testimony of how the guilty party conspired to influence the election. And convicted him.

And it is worth reminding people that in a criminal jury trial the verdict has to be unanimous.

So each and every one of the 12 jurors who heard all the evidence voted to convict.

But some people would rather go with a right-wing news source that chose to omit that evidence and decide it was just a prank.