Gregory Pflugfelder had just finished the final class of his career at Columbia. In 28 years at the university, he achieved many accolades as a professor of history who taught a popular course on Japanese monsters – mostly focused on Godzilla and “the role of the monstrous in the cultural imagination.”
He didn’t know it, but a cultural monster of sorts would soon be at his door.
The next night, on Tuesday, the 64-year-old silver-haired scholar stepped outside his apartment building, located off campus across the street from Columbia. He wanted to record iPhone video of hundreds of police responding to historic student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Fifteen minutes later, the NYPD arrested him.
Welcome to fascist US
“Generally speaking, there is still a First Amendment right to record in public as long as they’re not interfering with police,” Wong told USA TODAY. “To me, this sounds like a devious arrest.”
Ah, but who defines “interfering?” Is it “what a reasonable person would consider to be interference” or “whatever the police consider to be interference?”
Because under the second definition, police could arrest a judge that refused to issue them a warrant and get away with it.
The police like to use the argument “are you near any police in any fashion? Then you’re interfering”.
