Would you dance along or cry foul?

Slam Dance. Create a big assed Mosh pit and Pogo around. ;)

Untss unts unts unts unts unts unts unts. Even the founding fathers can’t ignore my techno. Get some glowsticks, drum and bass, Deadmau5, glow in the dark body paint and black lights, and turn that shit into a rave, man.
Untz Untz Untz Untz Untz Untz

This is sort of like the people who make a demonstration at soldier’s funerals.
I suppose you are allowed to do it.
The question is, why would you?
Only two reasons. You hate the well meaning dead, and/or you can get away with it, because a critical majority believes in your nihilism.
And the problem is, if I thought it was disrespectful, it would not make any difference.
The politicians won’t stop you.
The cops won’t stop you.
And if I tried to stop you, I would go to jail, not you.
I cry foul.
But who gives a shit?
Not many on this site to be sure. And not many any place else.
Oh well.

The gov’t can’t allow one kind of demonstration and then bar another. Either everybody has to behave, or the venue is also open to Nazis and the Klan. That’s how the first amendment works.

So the Jefferson Memorial is one of a handful of places where everybody is asked to be respectful and quiet.

The few “libertarians” and “civil liberties activists” who are throwing a tantrum over this are childish and lack any sense of history or proportion.

There is a time and place for everything. I suspect this is out of place for lack of respect.

It’s illegal as a result of a ruling by the Appeals Court. There was a prior demonstration where it appears the police may have been too harsh. This time they were a bit more circumspect.

I can see why they might want to ban demonstrations of any kind.Or performances. Everything is political. Still, it’s sad that the world has come to this.

It sounds like an irresponsible, half-witted, insensitive stunt to me. I would not have anything to do with such nonsense.

Here’s what I don’t really understand… how is dancing a ‘demonstration’, if it’s not for or against something? I understand why this particular dancing was a demonstration, but if people were dancing just to, you know, dance, how is that construed as a demonstration? Why would that be outlawed?

@augustlan The judges’ rulings delineate what law was applied. In January the dancers lawsuit was tossed and in May the appeals court upheld the decision.

1) January
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates agreed. He ruled that the interior of the memorial is not a public forum. In part of the 26-page opinion quoted in the Post, he wrote, “The purpose of the memorial is to publicize Thomas Jefferson’s legacy, so that critics and supporters alike may contemplate his place in history.”
Link

2) May
The defendants appealed, and the appeals court ruled against them last week.
It said that “expressive dancing falls within the spectrum of prohibited activities” and that “the Park Service has a substantial interest in promoting a tranquil environment at our national memorials.”

The judge added that prohibiting demonstrations is a reasonable means of ensuring a tranquil and contemplative mood at the Memorial.”
Link

More quotes below from the ruling.

Although silent, Oberwetter’s dancing was a conspicuous expressive act with a propensity to draw onlookers…

…But the conduct is nonetheless prohibited because it stands out as a type of performance, creating its own center of attention and distracting from the atmosphere of solemn commemoration that the Regulations are designed to preserve…

…In creating and maintaining the Jefferson Memorial in particular, the government has dedicated a space with a solemn commemorative purpose that is incompatible with the full range of free expression that is permitted in public forums.

The full document can be downloaded from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit here

Oberwetter can still take this to the Supreme Court.

This case, by the way, is about something which occurred in 2008, not the recent arrests. Unlike Oberwetter, the recent arrestees were not interested in dancing, their goal was to provoke the park police.

So the original guy was just dancing, not demonstrating for a cause, right? The problem is that it drew attention to him, and made him some kind of a spectacle.

So what happens if somebody walks in with an attention getting appearance, like little people, someone with Elephantiasis, or a burn victim? A celebrity? At what point is the line drawn? At something that is purposely drawing attention? Then what about a guy with a neon green mohawk, facial piercings, and tons of visible tattoos? Is he breaking the law? I know I’m getting all ‘slippery slope’, here. But I do wonder.

So the original guy was just dancing, not demonstrating for a cause, right?

It was a group, not one person.

Ok, so a group of any of those I mentioned above. Would they be arrested?

@augustlan I dunno. Organize them and give it a shot! :-)

@jaytkay Sounds like a plan. :p