Fuck this guy, lock that fucking guy up before I kill him!
-- A New Yorker reacting to William Harvey's message
William Harvey stood near Ground Zero on October 4, 2001, less than a month since 9-11, with a simple explanation: Payback. His sign said that the attack was the result of American foreign policy toward Islamic nations.
The mob would hear none of it. Soon they swelled sixty thick around him and might soon have killed the messenger for their dislike of the message.
Just then, New York's Finest arrived on the scene in time to prevent a modern reinvention of drawing and quartering. Their solution? Arrest the victim. William Harvey was taken to jail and charged with disorderly conduct, and the mob cheered.
The prosecution claims that Mr. Harvey knew, or should have known, that he would get the crowd all riled up. He is therefore to blame, they say, for the incipient violence of his aggressors. I say bullshit: the heckler's veto would allow police to silence any unpopular opinion so that nobody's feelings would be hurt.
William Harvey's case is still pending.