Should loud-talking cell phone users be arrested?

[pippin]

Cell phone talker's arrest stirs etiquette debate

"Can we talk about talking on cell phones?

The matter has been simmering for years as wireless gabbing takes place in more and more settings. For one woman in the Washington, D.C., area, it came to a head recently when she was arrested, reportedly for speaking too loudly near a bus stop.


According to a story in Tuesday's Washington Post, a transit police officer thought that the woman was disturbing the peace with loud cell-phone talk and eventually wrestled her to the ground. Police said the woman was cursing into her phone, but she said she cursed after she'd been grabbed, according to the newspaper."

http://news.com.com/%3Ehttp://news.com.com/Cell+phone+talkers+arrest+stirs+etiquette+debate/2100-1039_3-5387652.html

Has it come to the point where these conversations may be considered "disturing the peace?" :think:

[skylarmae]

1. only if there is someone on the other end of the line-cause if he's

just talking and swearing at nothing, let him. Better that he
talk and yell and thin air than to bother those around him on
any mass transit system. Just kidding...........

[yankeeinlouisiana]

2. Can this same tactic be used

on "Street Corner Preachers"? They disturb the peace much more than someone on a cell phone.

Actually, I don't think either should be arrested. The Preachers are sometimes scary, but I don't think these are arrestable offenses.

[cap]

3. no... someone complained about me on the train

when I was complaining about Bush.

[Blaze Diem]

4. Its a matter of general polite-ness isn't it?

...for instance:
last week I stopped for a fast food burger..the lady ahead of me, at the counter was in the middle of ordering when her cell phone rang.
She answered and proceeded to talk, holding up the kid waiting on her behind the counter..as well as the line of people forming behind her.

Her conversation was by no means urgent..she talked about her "garage sale" finds that day..laughing and taking her time..geez, all we wanted was to get our food and get back to our jobs.

I believe in the case of the bus stop arrest, things got a bit out of hand, but I've seen some extremely rude cell users.

Its different when you're at home, having a heated discussion on the phone, than when your private dirty-laundry conversations take place in public.

[Sporadicus]

5. Another Example of Encroachment of the Police State

pushing the boundaries of what the public will accept before a backlash occurs.

I may end up in jail, but I intend to stand my ground if I get caught up in a police "security check" and asked to open my trunk or some such intrusive BS.

[chaska]

6. Arrested and flogged. And if at sea, keelhauled.

[Liberal Classic]

7. Let's build some stocks while we're at it

I've got these tomatoes in my fridge just rotting away.

:eyes:

[chaska]

9. It is a sin to let tomatoes rot. YOU, TOO, MUST BE FLOGGED!!!

[hobbit709]

8. Arrested? No!

But they should be given a sound thrashing.

[HEyHEY]

10. Then shot and pissed on at daybreak

[Johnny 99]

11. No, don't arrest them

I'm not averse to, say, someone "accidentally" shoving into them and making them drop their phone. And preferably the loud idiot as well.

[JohnKleeb]

12. thats why whenever I am on mine

that I go to a corner, cover my other ear so I dont have to hear the surrounding noise.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Cell phone users in general should be arrested.

They tend to be either rude and inconsiderate (having conversations in inappropriate public places, such as the checkout like at the grocery, in theatres, etc) or just fucking STUPID (talking on the phone and driving at the same time). Oh, and they should also be sterilised so they can't breed.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. No; but icy glares should abound.

I think this falls along the same lines as the upstairs neighbor who's having a rip-snorting party while you're trying to sleep.

What's wrong with first asking them politely to tone it down, then offering one's most disapproving look?

I really think that police have enough to deal with without having to measure people's voices on the decibel meter.

[pippin]

17. Icy glares don't work

These people are generally impervious to what's going on around them which is what the whole problem is about. In some ways cell phones have encouragerd a funny kind of narcissism. No matter where you are there's only you in your own bubble nattering away.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. In most cases, you're probably right...

Having a sister with mental constipation and verbal diarrhea, I understand the condition of which you speak.

But there's always the chance that it will get through to someone at some point in time.

As embarrassing as it might be to hear about Aunt Mavis' gyno exam in the grocery checkout, I can't help but think that in time, cell phone etiquette will catch on, and violaters will be the exception rather than the rule.

[KT2000]

15. Cell Phone Retort!

True story:
A middle aged man, of the artist persuasion, was sitting in the doctor's waiting room, reading a magazine. There was also a woman waiting. The woman received a call on her cell phone and started talking loudly.
The man then started reading aloud from the magazine for as long as the woman was talking on the phone.

Ha! Ha!

[mrbassman03]

16. In restaurants or coffee-houses!

of course...

[jdonaldball]

18. I don't mind them if they don't mind my shouting in their ears

[lazarus]

19. prepare yourself

They're about to let cell phones be used on airplanes.

[bleedingheart]

20. I am always embarrased to use mine in public

I hate when it rings...

I use it when I am parked in my car or at work to reach my hubby since we have two phones on the same plan...it's cheaper that way.

However when I am watching my daughter's soccer game and my husband calls me to chat about what is on NPR ...I cringe..normally I rush him off the phone and hang up...it embarrases me..

I guess it is because I like to have a conversation privately. I don't need to have an audience.

[DS1]

21. Curb-bite

:nuke: