Dept. Of We Have No Fuckin' Clue And Black Kids Scare Us

[filkertom]

Some cities are enforcing brand new laws against -- wait for it -- saggy pants.

Comments

[voiceofkiki.livejournal.com]

I think you got the title right.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I know that somewhere was going to do the same thing for visible bra straps. It's always nice to know that I have the possibility of breaking the law and getting a hefty fine by accident. (In the duel between tanktop straps and bra straps, sadly the bra straps usually win. I'm guessing you didn't really need this insight into my life, but there you have it.)

[rook543.livejournal.com]

Now it could just be a law against looking like a friggen idiot!

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

"The penalty is stiffer in Delcambre, La., where in June the town council passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months."

How much you wanna make a bet that doesn't include my plumber - that's been disgusting me for years.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

At least one place included an "occupational exception" in that law.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

My first thought about the law against "exposing underwear" was how many women would get caught by that.

The next one was how many people would just stop wearing underwear; the distance pants have to ride down to show underwear is a lot less than for illegal exposure.

Or people will start wearing bathing suits instead of underwear. (If something is legal by itself, it has to remain legal if more clothing is put on top of it, right?)

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

Saw this. Some places are doing JAIL TIME for saggy pants? WTF? Oh yeah, THAT'LL help put kids on the straight and narrow. Let them get jailed for their clothes.

Honestly, its obviously racist, very stupid.

[hvideo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how widespread it is, and if it's determined county by county or city by city or just what, but in quite a number of places in California it is not against the law to be nude in public. There are still laws in these places against obscene behavior (such as both being nude AND acting in a manner to call attention to the genital area) but nudity BY ITSELF is not unlawful in these places.

There was a recent case just a week or two ago - a carpenter was working in the nude, got arrested, and either the case was dismissed or he was found not guilty, I forget which. If memory serves he was working inside an existing house but was visible through the front window and someone lodged a complaint. But since he was not doing anything to draw the attention of others to his genitals there was no violation of the law for that locality.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

This is only racial profiling to the extent that wearing saggy pants is part of being black.

[que-sara-sara.livejournal.com]

Well, they really are a fashion crime but if they were that big an issue they should have started doing something about it five years ago when it started.

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

I don't think you have the title right on this one - where I used to recruit for the Army, wearing saggy pants was something that everybody seemed to do (cept tightwads like me).

Butt, is usually the only thing I don't like seeing when anyone wears them. So, indecent exposure should cover that just fine. Besides that though, we could use fewer laws, not more.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I think an official mayoral proclamation that "people who wear pants with the crotches down to their knees look comically stupid" would be adequate.

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

Nice. Way to dump more "criminals" into a prison system that's already overcrowded. (Where arguably they come out more criminal than they went in. . .but that's another rant. So is the one about people thrown in jail for smoking pot.)

[realtegan.livejournal.com]

Huh. The last time I saw saggy pants was last week at the State Fair. And it was a white kid. I *almost* made a comment about his nice boxers, but I decided to ignore him instead.

I've always seen more white folks wearing saggy pants than black folks. Is that just a Seattle thing?

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of the rhetoric and idiocies I used to hear about kids wearing (gasp) jeans to school in the mid to late '60s. And it was even more virulent against girls wearing pants! I had to get special dispensation to wear pants (not jeans) when I was in 8th grade and on crutches. That would have been 1970. And yes, some places did actually try to legislate the matter.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

The purpose of such a law is, if the police want to stop someone who looks suspiciously urban black and search his baggy pants for drugs, but they don't have any actual grounds to suspect him of illegal activity, this gives them the excuse.

Hey, tough on crime, right? Nothing to complain about if you got nothing to hide, right?

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

If they're going to arrest people for baggy pants, then I'd like to start a grass roots movement to outlaw business suits. I mean, look at embezzlers, wire fraudsters, and white collar criminals, they all wear suits! Call up any news story videos about Enron and you'll see that every single one of those convicted were wearing business suits! The crooked politicians who have been convicted or are under investigation, and the people who bribe them, all wear the same gang uniforms! What was senator Craig wearing when he broke the law in that men's room? What were Cheney and Rove's minions wearing when they outed Plame?

If we outlaw the business suit, then only outlaws will wear Armani.

Notice Atlanta is on the list...

[bobmage.livejournal.com]

that would end Dragoncon as we know it.

[warinbear.livejournal.com]

I have been told -- and I do not know whether or to what extent this is accurate -- that the 'fashion' of saggy pants started in prison anyway. It was, according to my source, a way for the in-prison pimps to show off their boys' wares. I told that to a guy once . . . never saw him in saggy pants again. :)

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

It's worked for Superman all these years!

[omimouse.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's the fact that prison pants are baggy and they don't let 'em have belts. (weapon or suicide potential)

Would this guy be Squawky form your workplace?

And as for the laws themselves . . . good grief. Oh yeah, I can just *see* the poor local prosecuter. 'Yes your Honor, we wish to imprison this young man for 6 months . . . because the top band of his underwear was showing.'

[dbcooper.livejournal.com]

*sigh* Having solved all our other problems, local governments have decided to commission fashion police.

They should ban neckties--the lawmakers wearing them clearly have tied them too tight and cut off oxygen to their brains.

[goth-twiglet.livejournal.com]

Wait!
They're going to throw them in jail for "wearing a loud shirt in a buil-up area"?
See, when the Not-the NIne-O'Clock-News team did that it was supposed to be funny. D'oh.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

"Your Honor, if it is your intent to uphold this law, may I go on record for Contempt of Court, please?"

[shannachie.livejournal.com]

The issue made the German news. In this country there seems to be some broadgrinning bewilderment at the fact that on there are countries where everyone has the right to bear arms but not the right to bare ass... ahm... I mean trousers of choice.