I'd agree that his timing was a bit off, and he didn't land his punchline. But being a failed comedian and telling off-color jokes is, luckily, not a crime. Look at all of those dead baby jokes.
So yeah, making a joke about a bomb or something might ruffle some feathers. But how many terrorists tell a plane full of people that they have a bomb BEFORE the people actually get on the plane? None of them. Because that's a stupid thing to do.
I don't even know how to respond if you don't understand the difference between making a joking threat while on stage at a comedy club, and making one when stepping onto a plane. Again given his previous comments and the picture of his personality given from his profile, it sounds like it might have been believable. It's at least not as clear cut as you're making it seem.
I mean, otherwise we can extend this just joking defense to anything. Mail baking powder to your congress man in an envelope with a note saying "this is antrax" -- what will you tell the FBI when they come for you? "What kind of idiot thinks I'd really be sending anthrax? Can't you guys take a joke?"
At what point can people make reasoned, defensive assumptions about the intentions of people who express threats?
There's a difference between a guy who went through a body scanner and a fleet of sniffer dogs and a guy who sends a package that goes through essentially no security (though you would think these guys would employ better security simply as they are higher profile people who get lots of threats).
And I'm not saying that threats shouldn't be investigated, or even that exercising your freedom of speech doesn't have consequences (it does and should).
But after they looked into his home life. Spoke to his friends. Tossed his room and spoke with teachers. And still found no actual evidence of a plan to commit a crime. The next step is get into contact with Facebook and get that thread. It wouldn't be hard and I'd assume FB gets this sort of request all the time. They probably have a protocol in place.
I'm saying that just saying that you're going to commit a crime is not the same as doing it. And that an idiot kid who says something on Facebook is not and should not be considered, the same as a billionaire-backed, militarily trained terrorist.
Do some disturbed people make threats on Facebook and then carry them out? Yes they do. And so yes, these things should be investigated thoroughly. But the case here was not investigated, it was rushed and sloppy.
Did the police go get the thread themselves? No.
Did the police get the kid a psych eval? Not that I've seen here anyway.
Did the police do any real investigation? No.
Innocent until proven guilty. That's the way it's supposed to be.
I don't even know how to respond if you don't understand the difference between making a joking threat while on stage at a comedy club, and making one when stepping onto a plane.
While there are obviously differences, I think the joke is fine in both contexts. I think part of the problem is that you are talking about a "joking threat". The point is, the way most people express those jokes, they are clearly not a threat.
Joking about terrorists at airports should be a common thing because it's a natural human reaction to the excesses of airport security. They treat you like a terrorist, so many people joke that they really are terrorists. There's always a big wink-wink that is implied. It is really very sad that so many people feel threatened into restricting their totally harmless and healthy human instincts.
Perhaps part of the reason we're having this discussion at all is that the original story is about a comment on the internet, and it is well known that subtle communicative clues do not convey well over the internet.
So when we evaluate jokes like "Hey, I'm packing a bomb into my suitcase now", I would argue that there is (or should be) no difference between doing that on stage vs. doing that in real life, but there may be a difference when you post it online. Putting a ;-) might be a good idea...
You're right. School spree killers do have a habit to make crazy threats on FB on forehand, though. But yes, fortunately having a deviant sense of humor isn't a crime!
So yeah, making a joke about a bomb or something might ruffle some feathers. But how many terrorists tell a plane full of people that they have a bomb BEFORE the people actually get on the plane? None of them. Because that's a stupid thing to do.