Exodus fan jailed for posting lyrics on Facebook

http://www.14news.com/story/26431395/lyrics-posted-on-facebook-lead-to-arrest-of-muhlenberg-co-man

I've got nothing to say. Utterly speechless, I am. And it fits cause I'm listening to "P.C." by Testament right now. How fitting.

Maybe he should have added something like - from the song "..." by Exodus to cover his ass.

That a person should even need to cover their ass is pretty absurd, but we also live in a society where people have been shot by the police for looking like they were up to something.

Things are getting a little adversarial between the average person and the folks who (nominally) are there to either serve or protect them. Cops, politicians, etc. That should be troubling to everyone.

Seriously before anyone gets up in arms and starts down the "how absurd is this" road just take a look at what he actually posted. Unless he added 'lyrics by band exodus' then how on earth would anyone know they were harmless lyrics. Theirs been massive high profile incidents in the US over the last few years with high school shooting so this guy must be an utter gimp if he didn't think anyone would take offence by posting these words on a public forum.

Also he's only been arrested he's not actually been convicted of anything yet. Once the authorities are satisfied the words he posted were just lyrics and the guy can provide a reasonable explanation as to why he posted them then I'm sure the matter will be dropped.

Even if the words he posted were someone elses lyrics you have to question why out of the millions of songs he could have chosen why post those lyrics that are obviously about a very touchy subject. What was going through his mind.

Free speech should never be illegal regardless of how stupid the words are or if they are taken out of context. Just another example of how our freedoms are being slowly stripped from us daily in the fear-based name of "public safety".

In a justice system that's supposed to be "innocent until proven guilty," a Facebook post from someone who nominally has no criminal record does not equal 8 days in prison. I'm sorry, but no amount of paranoia allows that to make sense.

Hell, the guy was released after 8 days. If he was so dangerous, that would have provided him ample time and WARNING to go off and do whatever evil he was planning to do (knowing full well that time was limited). I mean, going off of the incidents that allegedly feed into this kind of treatment, if you were trying to prevent one of them, this is not the way to do it. It violates ANY precept of equal protection under law and not in any kind of way that actually addresses the problem.

I'm also at a bit of a loss as to why law enforcement or whoever flagged this guy is casting around social media looking for dirt on people. Again, nothing in US law allows for it - on the Constitutional level.

So yeah, while posting lyrics like that without actually saying they're lyrics could be a bit dodgy, there are other things about this story that stink to high hell.

There is only 2 reasons he posted what he did.

1. He's a lunatic and this is his way of warning others of bad things to come
2. He's a moron that wants the attention he never got from mommy and daddy as a child

Either way, he got what he deserves. Hopefully he also got a few reminders over the head from the cops to never pull this sh*t again.

Freedom doesn't mean very much if we aren't free to be stupid and/or do things not everyone may agree with. Say what you like about shocking lyrics and their reposting, but that activity doesn't hurt anybody.

Correct me if I'm way off-base here, but not ONE of the perpetrators behind any of the big public or school shootings announced their intentions via major social media well in advance of their rampages.

Stupid, yes. Then again, to everyone's chagrin, stupid has never been illegal or an offense worthy of imprisonment.

This kind of digs back into the idea of the PMRC types, except they're not passing laws about the kinds of music you can make, just making it very uncomfortable to be a visible fan.

In my mind, what he did was the equivalent of yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater. He wanted a reaction and he got one.

This is complete and utter bullshit. Post something on FB that comes up in a "national security" data mining exercise? Expect a visit from the authorities.....

This stuff has gotten so much worse over the past 5 1/2 years. There is no such thing as free speech in the US anymore - even the press is being prosecuted at record pace never seen before for not revealing "leaks" to those currently in power. Total abuse of power and political correctness run amok. Total disregard for the 4th amendment - which has been seriously weakened over the past 5 1/2 years. Post something someone doesn't like - look out, you are going to jail for 8 days... then you can try and fight the system. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Our justice system is supposed to have a foundation that we would rather let a guilty person go free than wrongfully imprison an innocent person. Not any more - now we can throw your ass in the slammer for a FB post.

I'm not pissed as a Metal fan, I am pissed as an American.

Eight days in jail? Good lord.

This is why Facebook has that "what are you doing?" feature underneath your status bar... so if you're gonna quote Exodus, you can add "Listening to: EXODUS."

thejokeriv wrote:

I'm not pissed as a Metal fan, I am pissed as an American.

Going to second this.

What would probably piss people off even more is if this guy did go on some shooting rampage at a school, and then it was discovered he posted something like those lyrics on Facebook and no one did anything to prevent it.

MetalGuy pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding this. Crazy or attention-starved.

It's pretty pointless to post lyrics in general on Facebook anyway (I'm sure your Aunt, your sister-in-law and your old manager from your Gap job in 2003 do not care about what Exodus or Slayer have to say). But posting something like this...yeah, it's just beyond stupid.

Weather or no it was stupid to post the lyrics isn't the issue, the issue is the fact that authorities came down to his house and then hauled him off to jail for a FACEBOOK post.

thejokeriv wrote:

Weather or no it was stupid to post the lyrics isn't the issue, the issue is the fact that authorities came down to his house and then hauled him off to jail for a FACEBOOK post.

A Facebook post that reads as a threat of violence against school children. I'd rather them proactively protect school children then ignore the threat because of where it was presented.

I'd also be much less bothered knowing some psychopath posted weird @#$# on his Facebook before going on a rampage than I am knowing that someone had to be MINING for this crap and locked up someone who, on the surface of it, had no intention of doing anything other than reposting lyrics.

Bad stuff happens. By the same logic, anyone who drinks should be legally barred from leaving home or just arrested if they do because, hey they MIGHT drink and then try to drive.

I mean, who on this board doesn't have at least one CD with lyrics that might, if taken out of context, make them look like a sociopath? Hell, Alice Cooper's got at least a few albums about serial killers. Everyone who bought Along Came a Spider better get in the van...

Runicen wrote:

I'd also be much less bothered knowing some psychopath posted weird @#$# on his Facebook before going on a rampage than I am knowing that someone had to be MINING for this crap and locked up someone who, on the surface of it, had no intention of doing anything other than reposting lyrics.  

The article, to me, doesn't indicate that anyone was mining for it. The authorities received several reports about it, according to that article. So, either people who knew him and saw it reported it, or you know, if you comment on something, then other people who know you see it, and all that weird stuff, so eventually some people who saw, who might not even know him, reported it.

You can trace the beginnings of this back to the "Patriot Act", which should have been called "The Big Brother can bend you over the table and stick it to you act".

Had there been any mention in the article that a concerned family member reported it, it'd still be a little dubious, but at least tipping off the police would make sense and I could respect it.

Locking someone up on a tip (or even multiple tips) on a Facebook post that nobody verified, the source of which we can't verify, etc. just smacks of overreach of the worst kind.  It didn't take them 8 days to ascertain that the guy was or was not a threat.  Even holding the dude overnight would have at least been a sensible precaution, even if I STILL would have felt that his rights were violated, I could have agreed with the method.  

There's a big disconnect between the methods being applied here and the stated reason for violating this guy's rights.  Also, as his rights were violated in such a BIG way, it makes the entire enterprise inexcusable - at the last, it's unprofessional on the part of law enforcement and a pretty poor showing for something that could have lasting ramifications on the guy's life.  Try calling in to work and say you'll be out for an indeterminate span of time that ends up being a week because you are in jail and tell me how employed you are when you get out.  "Whoops, our mistake!" won't be paying this guy's rent.

UGH.. The P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act... I would love it if we could bring back the stockade for everyone who helped draft or voted for that abomination... We could balance the budget selling rotten produce for folks to throw at them too. And think of how happy the farmers would be to offload that stuff!

ZombieHavoc wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Weather or no it was stupid to post the lyrics isn't the issue, the issue is the fact that authorities came down to his house and then hauled him off to jail for a FACEBOOK post.

A Facebook post that reads as a threat of violence against school children. I'd rather them proactively protect school children then ignore the threat because of where it was presented.

He spent 8 days in jail and is now out. How is that "proactively protecting children"? If any person wants to do something, they are going to get it done. But, "preemptively violating constitutional rights" affects everyone.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Weather or no it was stupid to post the lyrics isn't the issue, the issue is the fact that authorities came down to his house and then hauled him off to jail for a FACEBOOK post.

A Facebook post that reads as a threat of violence against school children. I'd rather them proactively protect school children then ignore the threat because of where it was presented.

He spent 8 days in jail and is now out.  How is that "proactively protecting children"?  If any person wants to do something, they are going to get it done.  But, "preemptively violating constitutional rights" affects everyone.

My assumption is that during those 8 days it was determined he was not a threat. Proactive.

Why am I even arguing? I'm not mad about what happened. I'll leave this space for those who are to complain.

Hmmm...I'm with Metalguy and Zombiehavoc.

It's already happened that we (society) have seen signs of something coming (blogs, videos, facebook stuff) and done nothing, and then people are surprised when the nut-job does his thing.

Here we have what looks like a threat of an impending school attack. Something needed to be done. Maybe they could have been more efficient (an arrest and 8 days does seem too long to figure out that it was just lyrics) but an initial enquiry and/or a visit to station for questioning seems warranted.

My question is motivation. He's 31 years old...why those lyrics? He was being provocative on purpose. He was stirring things up and looking for trouble. He was free to type what he typed, and then he was free to be questioned for it.

He was a 31 yr old man who liked to post lyrics from bands. We are so quick to arrest people than actually investigate before an arrest. Rights were violated.... If people don't see that then......

As someone mentioned above, at what point do you stop? The drinking and driving example was a very good one.

There are already phone towers that the govt. uses for their Stingray Program.

This country has turned into a Nixonian Paradise!

I posted the intro to White Zombie's "Black Sunshine" (which mentions "a slug from a. 45") on my FB a couple of days ago....so if I disappear tomorrow, I guess that means that the NSA has dragged me off to a detention center... at least you guys will know why.

8 days, huh?

When did this happen, last week? Labor Day weekend. Nothing gets done for those 3 days, so now we are down to 5. Figure a day or 2 just to interrogate and question this guy, then another day or 2 to go through the proper channels and gather any background info on the guy, get search warrants and whatnot and finally give him the "not a threat, all clear" sign.

8 days sounds like a pretty quick turn-around if you ask me. Which noone did.