If the phrase is used as an hypothetical in a case study of a problem, of course not. Oh, and your red herring of "are you going to report me" is relentlessly stupid.
No matter how many words you type, M, you cannot get away that the kid may very well have broken the law and that the police were completely right to get involved.
You are the one defending the arrest and apparently fairly long imprisonment of this person for what was clearly a joke, what he in fact said was a joke at the time. If that is not protected, why should anything I say here, even as a hypothetical, be exempt?
Do you know what the rules are to differentiate what is a 'terroristic threat' and what is protected speech? I hope you do, because otherwise your defense of this incident is more ridiculous than it already sounds.
If this kid broke the law, it is because the law is incredibly stupid. Perhaps more importantly, why is he still imprisoned? Has he been given a chance to make bail, has he been arraigned, what are the formal charges, is there a trial date set, etc.? How long should he remain imprisoned, even if his words broke the law?
It's not the technicalities of law that interest me here, it is your seemingly blind acceptance of them, Jake. Do you honestly believe that jokes of this nature should be illegal? That, say, a standup comedian should be jailed if he/she says something similar in a routine? Does the offense have something to do with the medium in which it was used? I cannot understand why you think the words used should be a crime, absent any evidence it is a real threat, other than slavish adherence to the state.
