Ron Schenone

Twitter Joke Not So Funny After Arrest And Being Banned From Airport For Life

Posted by on Jan 18, 2010 | 14 Comments

The frustration of it all. We have all been there, stranded in an airport for what seems like an eternity, and uncertainty of when we would get to our destinations. We have also suffered delays because of weather related problems. But one Twitter user thought he was funny when he posted a comment about blowing up the local airport.

The suspect wrote on Twitter:

“You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!”

The authorities didn’t see the humor and arrested him as a terrorist. Next he lost his job pending an investigation and came to find out he had been banned from his local airport for life.

Though the suspect claims that his comment was meant as a joke, he isn’t laughing any longer.

I believe in an age where everyone is on edge from the threats by terrorists, joking about blowing something up is no longer funny. No matter how you look at it, this guy deserved to be arrested.

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • Lars Volla

    This guy sure had i coming, but he really didn’t see it! Nowadays a foul tweet-out could really have it’s consequenses. It doesn’t even need to be about Airports and threats such-alike. On the other hand.. I’m not really shure if the punishment equals the offence beeing made. Arrested? Absolutely!! Punishment? Yes! Lots of!! But a “life sentence”?
    Well, life is tough. I only wonder what his next move is going to be. Is he tipped over the edge now? Probably best thing to do is to lock him up good for a while!

  • Fred Duff

    Lighten up.

    When I was a kid I used to watch those old 1930′s movies about life in Germany under the Nazis. I watched, smug in the notion that it could never happen here. Now I believe the Dept of Homeland Security watches those films as training films.

  • leftystrat

    I don’t disagree that he’s an idiot, but arrested? They had better hurry up with those thought analyzers so people can be arrested for what they’re thinking.

    Anybody with two ounces of brain matter could figure out he was agitated.

    Remember when the worst we had to endure was the long lines?
    Now it’s `normal’ to take off clothing.

    We are a nation of morons for letting this happen.

  • Dave

    Chap is a bit of a nit (as we say in the UK) for what he said but it all seems taken entirely out of context. Arrest and all the rest seems, to me, to be a tad OTT

  • carls

    Anyone dumb enough to use Twitter ought to be arrested and banned from all public buildings.

    How’s that, sports fans?

  • Zach

    Oi i really messed that last comment up. I meant to say:
    He got what he deserved. You do not joke about things like that.

  • http://mugnatto.blogspot.com Marco Mugnatto

    To me things like this are like the terrorists are winning. USA is recognized by it’s liberty but now you can’t make jokes anymore.

  • http://www.facebook.com/MISTERAMD MISTERAMD

    Today we can’t laugh about a joke about blowing things up, even if the man wasn’t a terrorist at all. On the website Youtube there are many people that are filming jokes and doing stupid things. Even on one of the episodes from Jackass there was a part that a guy went by taxi to an airport telling to the taxi chauffeur that he was going to blow it up. It was all a joke. Today the government doesn’t laugh about such things. This has become the new way of living. Jokes or part of jokes are no longer meant for just entertainment or humor, but are taken serious. So if we, normal people, would think twice before posting stuff on the Internet, we are save from getting caught by the cops. Even though, it was only meant for fun or entertainment. I hope that the government sees this quickly, or people that earn money to tell jokes or make humor videos are not caught. People like Jeff Dunham, Mr Bean,… are such people that made humor for entertainment. So government don’t arrest those 2 guys and all the others.

  • lyontamer73

    OTT. We ought to be spending our money on going after the real terrorists. You know, the ones who never tweet a word about their intentions and successfully sneak onto planes with explosives in their underpants.

  • http://@mattturk Matt Turk

    Wow! Where has the first amendment gone? Sure this guys joke was in bad taste, and definitely not appropriate, but to be arrested for that? Just because the government doesn’t like us saying something, and the majority of the populace for that matter, doesn’t mean it’s grounds for destroying ones life and sacrificing the common right to freedom of speech.

  • http://indie69.wordpress.com/ indie69

    Yeah, that was a BIG mistake. But basically they took a guy with bad judgment and took almost everything away from him. I’m not sure the job of Homeland Security is to CREATE desperate people with nothing to lose. Really think about that for a sec.

  • http://www.blogable.eu André

    First off: I’m German. What does it matter? Well, I think we aren’t that afraid of terrorists. Maybe it’s a political thing as well, as our own privacy seems to count more than security (which I partly appreciate) and secondly-and most likely-because we didn’t get anything blown up. (Don’t get me wrong here, that really was a catastrophe to say the least, but so far we are all good. Luckily I may add.)

    All that said, I think it’s an overreaction. Just an angry person waiting for the plane. How often does one say something when one is angry. Still. I don’t get arrested when I’m like: I have to wait, I’d like to beat someone up.

    As far as I’m concerned-joke or not-a crime isn’t done by saying it but by doing.

  • kimzzz

    Oh they are watching you…

  • http://habibalamin.com Habib Alamin

    That is so OTT. First of all, he wasn’t personally attacking any one entity and it was not meant to bully. It was a joke. Second of all, he was annoyed. We all do stupid things when we are annoyed, but to be arrested for making a joke? Finally, I don’t see them arresting anyone when jokes in the media are made about Islam and terrorism. They just let it happen. And America is supposed to be equal.
    IMO, it’s the claim of freedom of speech that is the joke here. Give him a warning by all means. But banned from the passport for life and arrested? Too OTT.