This is a really great story. Not a news story, but from someone's LJ:
Linky
Quote:
GRRR!
Last night, on a whim, I looked up the NJ and NY phone numbers for the ACLU and put them in my phone.
This morning, they're doing bag searches again to get on the ferry. And the guy doing the searches pulls me aside and says, "Sir, I feel that I need to confiscate this book."
I pause and say, in that tone of voice that most people would recognize as meaning, "have you lost your grip completely, chuckles?": "You need to confiscate... a book."
"Yes. I feel it's inappropriate for the other people on the ferry to be exposed to it."
Now, I had the book IN MY BAG. It was not open. And while the Maiden of the Mirthless Smile is displayed as improbably proportioned, well, this is not, as far as I know, illegal to have. I mean, there was a guy carrying a copy of Maxim, and some of the women in THAT are improbably proportion. (All right, I admit: they're not wielding a huge sword and dressed in a bustier studded with human finger bones. But really.)
My response: "Well, let me call the ACLU and have them come down here, and see what they think about your attempt to confiscate a book that was not in the plain sight of others due to your feeling it's not appropriate." And I pull out my cell and start scrolling down the list - ACLU-NJ is at the top, actually, before 'Amanda' and 'ardaniel' since it sorts alphabetically.
He gets all pissy at me and says, "Don't you understand this is for your safety?"
"Confiscating someone's gun or bomb is for my safety. PErhaps confiscating someone's pocketknife or nailfile may be for my safety. What's so damn dangerous about my book?"
"It's INAPPROPRIATE!"
"That's NOT YOUR DECISION! I could be carrying a copy of Hustler in here, and it's STILL not your decision! You're looking for bombs and knifes and guns and things that hurt people, and a book that is IN MY BAG is not going to leap out of its own damn accord and HIT SOMEONE!"
The rest of the people waiting for the ferry are watching our exchange. He realizes that they're all looking at him, and that I'm winning this one in their eyes.
He lets me go on the boat.
I'm pretty sure he made notes about me, and I'll probably get more hassling later, and if I run into him again he'll probably be more of an asshole.
But I don't care. I won this one. I'll win the next one if I have to fight it.
Today I print out the Fourth Amendment and keep a copy of it in my bag.
(edit: as part of today's dedication to freedom, I'm turning off screening on this post. Which I should have done earlier, but anger adds to my dumb-ass quotient.)
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I expected this story to be one of those stories where our protagonist gets his book taken, and very quietly gets on the boat. Instead, I thought this person handled this situation perfectly. He fought for his rights, conveyed them in an extremely intelligent manner, and didn't back down.
Personally, I love reading Playboy. (For the articles. I'm serious.) But I'm a wimp, and I purposely don't bring it with me on my commutes via subway or bus, because I don't want to deal with the looks/trouble that people might give me.
As a result, a lot of unread Playboys are stacking up in my room. *sigh*
Have you ever been in a ridiculous situation like this? Where an overeager security guard infringes on your rights and attempts to confiscate something that isn't doing any harm to anyone? And if you were in a situation like this...how did you handle it?
(note: I apologize if this has been covered in a previous thread. I feel like the topic might have been discussed here before, but for the life of me, I can't think of proper search terms other than "security guard" which didn't turn up much.)