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neuroticnews25 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I can understand there are acceptable reasons other than intimidation to check on people sending letters like this, but this absolutely is non-violent criticism.

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OutOfHere 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There is no acceptable reason to "check on" him for it. It is political criticism written in an attention gathering way is all. Odds are that a standard critical message would never gain the mind's attention, so people have to get creative.

Also, for better or worse, the "check" these days allegedly happens more commonly by hacking into the person's devices to monitor them for a while.

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cucumber3732842 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>There is no acceptable reason to...

You know that. I know that. But that sort of identify and harass anyone who is a thorn in your side or otherwise noteworthy for a bad reason workflow is absolutely the status quo in government from the highest and mightiest federal agencies down to your local permitting office. These people are living in a filter bubble running organizations staffed by people from the same filter bubble. They don't understand what they're doing is even wrong.

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phendrenad2 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

People are consistently surprised when the government doesn't operate exactly according to the letter of the law. There are ample opportunities to learn this before you get to this point. Jaywalking may be illegal but people do it right in front of a cop and get away with it. Likewise plenty of things that are perfectly legal attract law enforcement attention. If you asked 100 people on the street if that letter constitutes a threat, I believe that 5-10% would say yes, so sending something like that is definitely asking for trouble. And yes, I'm victim-blaming, because the victim is partially to blame.

	▲	OutOfHere an hour ago \| parent [-]
		That may be so, but it's unlikely that a jury would find him guilty. Moreover, those 5-10% would probably not be able to narrow or support their allegation if probed.

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gordian-mind 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

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goatlover 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Where's the threat that would necessitate a visit? It's not like he had a pizza delivered to the official's home.

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OutOfHere 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It is not a threat. All else is legally allowed.

The man's right to petition his government was harmed. And did he have to petition in this way? Yes, he absolutely did, for they listen to nothing else.