From the "Black People Arrest Themselves" files

[Berkut]

Have you even bothered to try to look at the situation from Gates side and thought perhaps he felt threatened by this white police officer (given where he lives, I think it is an understandable fear).

It is easy to imagine myself in his shoes. What isn't easy is imagining myself throwing a tempter tantrum because someone asks me for ID - that I cannot understand. In fact, I think in his shoes I would thank the officer for responding, especially since my house had been burglarized in the past.

I certainly would not start right in with "I am being oppressed!"

[Berkut]

At least we have moved from "OMG THE COP IS TEH RACIST!!!!" to just bitching that he over-reacted to Gates being a complete dickwad.

That is progress.

[The Minsky Moment]

He is a Grade A asshole. The kind of guy who is probably a great friend to those he considers his peers, but treats anyone he thinks of as lower in the social structure like shit.

You know all that from this one incident?

[Savonarola]

Why is he "eminent"

He's been on PBS.   

[Berkut]

He is a Grade A asshole. The kind of guy who is probably a great friend to those he considers his peers, but treats anyone he thinks of as lower in the social structure like shit.

You know all that from this one incident?

I said probably!

But it does seem likely - of course, you were able to determine that the cop was a racist from a lot less information. Probably.

[CountDeMoney]

At least we have moved from "OMG THE COP IS TEH RACIST!!!!" to just bitching that he over-reacted to Gates being a complete dickwad.

That is progress.

No we haven't.  SuperJew and some of the others just haven't chimed in recently.

[The Minsky Moment]

Letting some douchebag treat you like shit when you are there to help him and running away when he threatens you might have been the smart move

it's not the "smart move," it is the only move for a public officer of the law in the line of duty.  The badge doesn't empower you to make arrests because your sense of dignity has been affronted. 

That's the key difference here - Gates is just an ordinary, and rather citizen, trying to relax in his own house.  The officer is a professional law enforcement officer on the clock in the line of duty.  A citizen has a constitutional right to be a dick and say mean things.  An officer does not have the right to deprive citizens of their liberty -- even temporarily - without sufficient lawful cause.

[Razgovory]

He is a Grade A asshole. The kind of guy who is probably a great friend to those he considers his peers, but treats anyone he thinks of as lower in the social structure like shit.

You know all that from this one incident?

Berkut also concluded he was "ultra liberal".  He seems to be operating from stereotypes again.

[The Minsky Moment]

I said probably!

But it does seem likely - of course, you were able to determine that the cop was a racist from a lot less information. Probably.

We both used the same hedges and we both extrapolated underlying behavior from a single incident.  I make no greater claim to accuracy.

[CountDeMoney]

A citizen has a constitutional right to be a dick and say mean things.

Not out in public within earshot of passersby.  Then that is a misdemeanor, and he was charged accordingly.

[derspiess]

This has been overdone yes, but I think Berkut tries too hard to come to the white cops aid. Do you have a white persecution complex or something?

But I am not coming to the white cops aid so much as I am attacking Gates for being a dick.

The cop did his job, and probably should have been a little more kiss ass to the "eminent" scholar. But Gates precipitated the entire confrontation.

Why is he "eminent"

Why, he's director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, that's how.

Now Du Bois, that guy was a dirtbag.

[Jaron]

How so?

[The Minsky Moment]

A citizen has a constitutional right to be a dick and say mean things.

Not out in public within earshot of passersby.  Then that is a misdemeanor, and he was charged accordingly.

Not under Mass law.  I don't know how they handle this in Maryland, but if shouting rudely in the earshot of others was sufficient to create criminal liability for disorderly conduct, the cops would have to arrest half the spectators at Camden Yards every game day.  And even more when the Yankees come to town.

[derspiess]

How so?

His admiration for Stalin, communism (IIRC he officially joined up), imperial Japan whilst it was raping China, not to mention his hatred for just about everything white and/or American. 

The fact that he happened to be on the right side of some civil rights issues doesn't negate all this, either.

[Malthus]

Well ... I suppose they could still have said "you don't know who you are dealing with". But I doubt many would express much sympathy for that particular comment. 

they certainly could have and once the officer realized who the person was, he wouldn't have arrested them.  period.

However, if they did slap the cuffs on him after such a statement, most people would applaud, or even laugh Nelson Muntz style.

"Do you know who I am?!"

"Yeah, you are the guy I'm putting under arrest [snap!]"

Even though, strictly speaking, the arrest would be no more valid than that of the Prof (whom I agree was not "making a public disturbance" according to the accounts).