Pubdate: Sun, 14 May 2006
Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO)
Copyright: 2006 The Star-Journal Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.chieftain.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POT PROTESTERS WANT TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

A year or so ago, writing about the proliferation of security video 
cameras in our society, I wrote that you should live your life as if 
were being videotaped - if you don't want to see it on the 10 o'clock 
news, then don't do it.

Since then more video cameras have been installed hourly at traffic 
intersections, in public parks, along busy sidewalks and overlooking 
parking lots. They record images of people speeding on residential 
streets, avoiding paying the fees on toll roads, robbing people at 
ATM machines, assaulting homeless people sleeping on sidewalks, 
dealing drugs in alleyways, assaulting coeds on campuses, being 
stopped by state troopers on lonely stretches of highway.

"Dateline NBC" has recently been airing a fascinating series of 
stories about on-line predators keeping their dates with adolescent 
girls, plying them with promises of booze, drugs and sex - all 
captured on videotape.

And now three University of Colorado students have sued the school 
for taking their pictures at a pro-marijuana rally on a portion of 
the campus that was posted as off-limits for the demonstration. They 
don't like the fact that their photos were distributed on a Web site 
that displayed 150 protesters, offering $50 rewards for their identifications.

People attending the rally passed signs that warned them they were 
trespassing and that police would be taking pictures of violators. 
Some demonstrators even posed for the police photographers working the site.

And then, a few weeks later, surprise!

Up pops a link to the police photo lineup on the popular Web site, 
facebook.com, directing viewers to the suspects' pictures and details 
of the rewards. And that, of course, is followed by the predictable 
press conference and threats of lawsuits.

Here's the irony: Three women and their defense attorney show up at a 
press conference last week to have their pictures taken and published 
in the newspapers.

Yes, they are looking for even more publicity, even more exposure, 
even wider distribution of their activities and their photos - all 
the time claiming that their reputations are being damaged by their 
participation in the demonstration.

Relatively few people would ever visit the website to see pictures of 
the demonstrators, of course. But hundreds of thousands of people 
would see coverage of the press conference on TV and in the newspapers.

You have to ask: Are these people trying to avoid publicity, or are 
they seeking it?

Their attorney, of course, ignoring the obvious evidence to the 
contrary, says his clients are just innocent citizens who want to 
live normal, discreet, law-abiding lives and whose reputations have 
unnecessarily been sullied by the nasty police. The police "knew 
there were innocent people being photographed" inside the posted 
no-trespassing area, he said.

Only a lawyer could argue that someone who is trespassing isn't trespassing.

The cops decided to take the novel approach to discourage the annual 
pro-pot rally rather than send a bunch of officers into the crowd of 
3,000 demonstrators to make arrests, a tactic that most likely would 
have ended with police dragging off handcuffed suspects and risking a 
full-blown riot.

What some might find disturbing is the fact that anyone would attend 
such a rally, arguing that it is a public protest in a public setting 
and protected by First Amendment rights of free expression, and then 
complain that it is embarrassing or humiliating or damaging to their 
reputation to be identified with the cause.

You might think that if a woman is so concerned about an issue, so 
dedicated to making a statement, so intent on supporting a political 
movement, that she wouldn't want to remain anonymous.

But if that is the case, she should stay home. Certainly she should 
not attend a public rally where news coverage is guaranteed, 
knowingly and willingly cross into a clearly marked no-trespassing 
area, and mill around in a crowd where people are openly smoking dope 
and challenging police to arrest them.

And if you believe that strongly in the cause, you shouldn't complain 
to be identified with it. Be proud, stand up, and have your picture taken.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman