Theatergoer praised as hero for smashing woman's cellphone

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

The adult thing to do would be to bring it to someone's attention and have her thrown out.

I guess you missed the line in the article where he did.

I'll even quote it for you:

He said his date spoke with theater management during intermission, but the situation wasn't remedied when the play resumed

It helps to read the article, and not just the headline.

[seta-san]

It's only the natural reaction to disrespect.

[FloatingFatMan]

What about the legal right to have the presentation delivered to you in front of your eyes without anyone disturbing you?

Essentially, this is the contract the ticket-holders have with the theatre. And, unfortunately, the management failed to resolve the issue.

Upon which the proper action would be to demand a refund because of the management's failure to act.

Also, Zhiv... You keep pointing out that she was disrupting the entire performance. I doubt she was. Only those within earshot of her would have been disturbed.

[ramesees]

Upon which the proper action would be to demand a refund because of the management's failure to act.

Also, Zhiv... You keep pointing out that she was disrupting the entire performance. I doubt she was. Only those within earshot of her would have been disturbed.

So you have paid $125 for a ticket to the theatre

Someone disrupts your evening and you complain to Management about this

Nothing is done

You tolerate this no longer and so demand a refund

Therefore you lose out on your evening's entertainment because of someone else's attitude and complete disrespect for others.

Why should you be the one to lose out in this case (not monetarily but on the theatre show) and not the other person ?

What unwritten rule states that your rights get trumped by theirs to behave as they wish ?

[DocM]

Respect does not trump legal rights, Zhiv. Doesn't matter how much you cry about it. What this guy did was illegal, fact.

Legal or not - in the US we have Jury Nullification in the vast majority of jurisdictions. This means a jury can give him a pass regardless of the law or what the prosecutor thinks. In a case likr this a jury may well figure she got what she deserved. This also means prosecutors will figure it's a lost cause and not even bother.

[mps69]

So you have paid $125 for a ticket to the theatre

Someone disrupts your evening and you complain to Management about this

Nothing is done

You tolerate this no longer and so demand a refund

Therefore you lose out on your evening's entertainment because of someone else's attitude and complete disrespect for others.

Why should you be the one to lose out in this case (not monetarily but on the theatre show) and not the other person ?

What unwritten rule states that your rights get trumped by theirs to behave as they wish ?

i think you're maybe missing the point slightly, your right in everything you say, however what the FloatingFatMans point is what is legal, and what not legal, and where the law stands on these situations.

Yes it's good to take things into your own hands and deal with these rude people, but as soon as you break the law you're no better than them, and you have to be prepared to deal with the outcome of your actions.

[ramesees]

i think you're maybe missing the point slightly, your right in everything you say, however what the FloatingFatMans point is what is legal, and what not legal, and where the law stands on these situations.

Yes it's good to take things into your own hands and deal with these rude people, but as soon as you break the law you're no better than them, and you have to be prepared to deal with the outcome of your actions.

But of course that is the very problem right there - something being legal does not make it right.

Our societies are not set up to handle this simple fact, in actual fact its the absolute opposite in many many cases.

It allows awful "crimes" to be committed and the trump card of "Its legal, I can do it, so go and cry elsewhere" is the first response.

Crimes in this case vary from using a cell phone in a theatre which disrupts other peoples enjoyment, to outright tax evasion and even invading other countries.

We are so concerned with things being legal, we have no interest in things being right.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Vulgar behaviour in public cannot be tolerated. Vulgarians thrive on the indulgence of society's understanding.

Cheers, all!

[FloatingFatMan]

We are so concerned with things being legal, we have no interest in things being right.

What he did may have been morally right, but will that help when the cops come knocking on his door? Will he think his actions right when he gets a criminal record and possibly loses his job, all because he decided to play they "hero" and correct this womans' actions?

What if she'd pulled a gun and blown his head off? Technically, he assaulted her by taking her phone. Your own laws give her every right to shoot him dead if she feared for her life, and she could easily have claimed that.

Legal or not - in the US we have Jury Nullification in the vast majority of jurisdictions. This means a jury can give him a pass regardless of the law or what the prosecutor thinks. In a case likr this a jury may well figure she got what she deserved. This also means prosecutors will figure it's a lost cause and not even bother.

I'm sure that would have been a great consolation to his family, had the woman seen his actions as an attack and blown his head off. :p

[The Laughing Man]

What he did may have been morally right, but will that help when the cops come knocking on his door? Will he think his actions right when he gets a criminal record and possibly loses his job, all because he decided to play they "hero" and correct this womans' actions?

What if she'd pulled a gun and blown his head off? Technically, he assaulted her by taking her phone. Your own laws give her every right to shoot him dead if she feared for her life, and she could easily have claimed that.

I'm sure that would have been a great consolation to his family, had the woman seen his actions as an attack and blown his head off. :p

Did you really have to go that far into assumptions... What if she was an alien from an alien race attempting to contact her home world!

[FloatingFatMan]

Did you really have to go that far into assumptions... What if she was an alien from an alien race attempting to contact her home world!

It's really no further than people assuming this guy is a hero because he stole and destroyed someone's property.

Also, given gun prevalency in the US, it could quite easily have gotten his damn fool head blown off.

[Coagulated]

Smashing her phone is going a little too far, he/his wife should have dragged the staff over to her table. Failing that, I'd have just stood up in the theatre and made a public spectacle out of her. There's few people in this world that can shrug off the attention of an entire theatre - especially if their behaviour is out of order and they know it.

[ramesees]

Smashing her phone is going a little too far, he/his wife should have dragged the staff over to her table. Failing that, I'd have just stood up in the theatre and made a public spectacle out of her. There's few people in this world that can shrug off the attention of an entire theatre - especially if their behaviour is out of order and they know it.

In theory yes, of course the next course of action no doubt would be for her to call her lawyer and sue the guy for "sustained emotional trauma" or whatever nonsense BS she comes up with and he ends up paying out huge sums of compensation - more than the cost of the phone is I'm sure.

At that point the same underlying issue of her causing a disturbance is swept under the rug and princess is still able to get away with it and not be made to see the fault of her actions.

Its the system that is broken and needs fixing - people need to be brought up to realise that their actions have consequences and if that's the end of it - no pandering, no crying to "mummy and daddy" (in this case the courts) when you are in the wrong and someone calls you on it - man up / woman up and realise you are at fault and not to do it again.

[Original Poster]

Jammers are illegal in the US per the FCC

http://transition.fc...DA-12-347A1.pdf

not american :D

Well that doesn't really stop people using their phones.

I just like people still defend the girl when the girl clearly didn't follow the theater rules. I wonder what are those people's motive in defending her. Maybe if we switch gender that a girl threw a guy's cellphone across the theater, those people would've given the girl a medal?

hell no she would have gotten the exact same reaction from me if a guy threw it. A heavy "self defense" punch to the face. I treat men and women equally.

[Original Poster]

What does your size have to do with anything? I would expect the same action just because you're bigger doesn't make you any less of a **** and he didn't attack her he put a stop to her being a complete ******* and ruining the experience that they paid good money for she is stealing his experience

Oh so it's not ok when he combats some ignorant child with a "criminal act" (which was justified btw) yet you are keen on the concept of phone jammers which is so much more illegaly than what this guy did

If anything what she did should have been illegal like attacking someone in the street this man came to the victims rescue (the other theater goers and himself) and put a stop to it

ok the first paragraph, yes the guy would not have touched my phone IF I WAS LIKE THAT my phone is turned to silent and i dont touch it in a production, but if I was like that as i said he would not have touched it.... and if he wasnt afraid ... he would soon be.

second paragraph has nothing to do with this actual situation .... I just like gadgets and weapons as I collect them... night vision googles.. spy cams, micro computers... along with my weapons collection

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Right. Now we all degenerate to all about legality. Where's moral? Where's manners? Where's etiquette?

Guess we can all put our feet on restaurant tables, too.

The law is the law. You can't break it when you think it's okay to do so. People shouldn't let their emotions get in the way of their decision-making. As FloatingFatMan said, what the guy did was illegal even if it was convenient for him and those near him.

[Hum]

Walk up behind her with a rag soaked in chloroform ... :shifty:

[briangw]

And miss another 20-30 minutes of a performance that was already half ruined. OTOH, tossing the phone took 10 seconds and SHE left. Win-Win.

Compared to a potential lawsuit and possibly something on your record? Yeah, I'd say it would be worth it to go back to mgmt. At least you could leave, complain about it and probably get back in for free at another showing.

[Noir Angel]

Irrational hostility above common sense and reason... apparently it's simply the American way. If someone reacted in this way every time they were confronted with an annoying individual pretty soon hardly anyone would have any property left.

[Richteralan]

The law is the law. You can't break it when you think it's okay to do so. People shouldn't let their emotions get in the way of their decision-making. As FloatingFatMan said, what the guy did was illegal even if it was convenient for him and those near him.

It's exactly this mentality that drives out common-sense, and makes the government comes up a law for EVERYTHING.

No wonder people nowadays have no manner, since there's no law for it.

[astropheed Veteran]

I discussed this with some other intelligent people...

Their consensus was that if he was daring enough to take and throw a phone he'd also have no issue with taking the phone, removing the battery, pocketing it, and saying she can have it [the battery] back at the end of the show; you need to treat children like children.

[SirEvan]

Great idea! But technically illegal depending on your country...

And rightly pointed out by another user - what about an emergency?

Imagine that...it has a power button. Need to make a call? turn the thing off. Yes, Technically it's illegal in most states/countries, but so is smoking weed, and yet tons of people do it. AFAIC, a 15-20 foot bubble of silence is my personal right...akin to personal space. I hate when people are screwing with 5 inch phones in a theater. Plus, you get the added benefit of the hillarious looks from people when their phone stops working mid call.

Where to get one? I'm not going to post specifics, but you can find them on aliexpress, various websites, and if you're adventurous enough, you can build your own programmable one here: http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/

[compl3x]

"In a civilized world, I would have received a commendation of some sort. To the theater-going public of New York ? nay, the world ? I say: "You?re welcome."

lol @ the idea of this guy talking about being a civilised world after acting like a vigilante. We all want to abuse, insult, and even sometimes hit people who are being jerks, but we don't.

[DDStriker]

ok the first paragraph, yes the guy would not have touched my phone IF I WAS LIKE THAT my phone is turned to silent and i dont touch it in a production, but if I was like that as i said he would not have touched it.... and if he wasnt afraid ... he would soon be.

second paragraph has nothing to do with this actual situation .... I just like gadgets and weapons as I collect them... night vision googles.. spy cams, micro computers... along with my weapons collection

It doesn't matter how tough you are or you think you are if he did that to you because you're being a prick and then you have the nerve to want to fight him I and i'm sure others will glad stand up and put you in your place there is no space in this world for people to be inconsiderate *******s and ruin other peoples experience

You've even said you wouldn't do something like that so if you then did it you would understand how much of an ass you're being and deserved anything you get after refusing to put it away when asked

Surely you would do the same you're sitting next to someone who is disrupting you and then when you ask them nicely they give you this ridiculous attitude and have this ego complexity that makes you just want to smash them in their face I'm surprised he just threw the phone

Yeah fair enough I do enjoy those myself

[Shiranui]

So, you condemn the man for smashing the phone, but then you say you don't know if you could control yourself not to punch her? You're talking about actually applying a physical force to a woman! How could such a thought even cross the mind of a man? It's pathetic.

Well, obviously, that was a throwaway comment, exagerating the amount of anger I would feel towards her, or anyone else in that situation, regardless of gender, and the inability to control myself, for comedic effect. I could have said, "I would have punched her".

(.... ooh, now you are back-tracking, you violent crypto-misogynist scumbag, you...)

Then you say he had no right to do it and caused a scene, but you are perfectly fine if the management did precisely the same. So I wonder, on whose authority would the management be acting when destroying their patrons' private property.

Who said anything about management destroying someone's phone? What possible justification could there be for that....?