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Man Ordered To Apologize To Wife On Facebook
New submitter Marillion writes "Photographer Mark Byron was so bothered by his pending divorce and child visitation issues that he blasted his soon-to-be ex-wife on his personal Facebook page. That touched off a battle that resulted in a Hamilton County judge ordering Byron jailed for his Facebook rant — and to post on his page an apology to his wife and all of his Facebook friends, something free speech experts found troubling."
It's about how men are shit on in pretty much any divorce case.
Wife alleges you hit her? Off to jail, guilty until proven innocent buddy.
Wife alleges you molested the kids? Say goodbye to your kids forever, pal. Maybe if you're lucky we'll let you see them for a few hours once a month with a supervisor present.
Wife wants child support? We don't care that she's spending all the money on her new ex-con boyfriend's meth lab, you'll pay it or it's jail for you, sparky!
Wife is a drug addict who neglects the kids? Tough luck pal, she's still getting full custody over you. That's what you get for showing up to court with a penis.
Wife won't let YOU have the kids during your court-appointed custody days? File this paperwork. We'll look into it in about a year, if you're lucky.
You won't let HER have the kids during her court-appointed custody days? Freeze, motherfucker! Get you're hands on your head NOW! ON THE GROUND, ASSHOLE! DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU!
Welcome to the world of divorce court, Mark.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Don't they know men give up the first amendment right to free speech the second they get married, if not months or years ahead of time. Particularly when the mother-in-law is in town.
All I seem to read about is how governments/stalkers/employers/ex spouses/what-have-you use your profile against you.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
I was ordered to remove my outgoing message on my answering machine or risk "threatening civil negotiations... and be seen as adversarial...". I explained that it was in fact my phone line, my answering machine and people were calling me. If the ex didn't want to hear it, she in fact did not need to call. But, none-the-less, I had to take it down or all negotiations were off and she would be awarded everything by default.
The machine said that I was in a fugue since my ex had slept around with a number of people and was in fact a whore. Personally, I thought this was just stating fact.
That does not mean that the punishment is/was illegal - nay, unconstitutional. The guy could be a massive asshat for all I know or care, but that judge is the problem.
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
If she did not have access to his profile (being blocked) and he rants about her, isn't this the exact same as getting drunk down at the pub with some mates and doing the whole "I never liked her anyway, she was a bitch" rant? This order seems to say that you aren't allowed to rant or complain about anyone; under penalty of the law.
Anyone notice anything related to family often has female lawyers, female judges, female social workers etc?
Talk about gender discrimination. It's not okay for there to be plenty of men in a place where a lot of control is, but it's fine if it's all women? I think not. It's proven time and time again that both sides equally discriminate and it needs to stop.
I posted the above not having read the entire order, just scanning it, but it appears that he was under an order not to cause mental anguish, harass or annoy his wife, and the wall posts were found to violate that specific order. Especially as some of his facebook friends were adding fuel to the fire. I don't agree but that is spelled out in the order.
Silence is a state of mime.
Just make it as insincere as possible and write it in legalese ("Pursuant to court order 54522451A-L, requiring me to offer written apology...").
No one can force you to BE sorry, even if they force you to apologize.
Saw reference to Hamilton County, expected to read story about a clown operating as head of the court room.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Maybe just moved. Try this alternative link that works now. Article
... or perhaps "I'm sorry she's a bitch"?
We have a system that intrinsically thinks of women as sub-adults who can't possibly be responsible for their own actions. If a women gets knocked up out of wedlock, then she must've been seduced by some filthy man. So, any random guy getting any random woman pregnant is responsible for paying X% of his salary to her for 18 years. I have a friend-of-a-friend who hooked up with some random guy in a one-nighter and got pregnant. She was ~30, so should have been smarter about the situation. All she knew was his name and that he was from NY, so she got her lawyer's advice to start cold-calling and sending out letters to every same-named man they found (about 10) trying to get child support. If she was ever able to find the guy, I have no doubt he'd have had to pay her.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Ah yes, few things are more sincere than a forced apology, doubly so when it is a court that has mandated the apology. That's crazy, these people aren't children.
The story is missing (slashdotted?), so I can't read exactly what he said, but I can't imagine he could say anything jailworthy. What probably got him jailed was something he said to the judge, they've got a lot of leeway about when to apply Contempt of Court.
As my dad pointed out when he heard I was getting divorced, "50% of all marriages end in divorce", it makes me really wonder what the future of marriage is. For thousands of years marriage was an involuntary act for the majority of human society. Marriage and procreation were keys to successful survival for a human population, the majority of which was based in an agrarian society. Not so anymore. Marriage is a BIG gamble in so many ways, and when that gamble doesn't pay off, you're left with many "problems" to resolve, etc; that aren't easy to work out and affect you for the rest of your life. I have read about the benefits of marriage, whether they are financial, social, healthwise, etc;, But I really have to wonder, with the way the "First World" is going, technologically, socially, etc; how marriage will fare in the coming decades and centuries.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
You want men to treated as kids instead? Why exactly in your example is the man NOT responsible?
Double standards I guess in favor of your own gender.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
This is a more detailed view of divorce courts from a man who committed suicide outside of one:-
Last Statement by Tom Ball
A man walks up to the main door of the Keene N.H. County Courthouse, douses himself with gasoline and lights a match. And everyone wants to know why.
Apparently the old general was right. Death is not the worst of evil.
I am due in court the end of the month. The ex-wife lawyer wants me jailed for back child support. The amount ranges from $2,200. to $3,000. depending on who you ask. Not big money after being separated over ten years and unemployed for the last two. But I do owe it. If I show up for court without the money and the lawyer say jail, then the judge will have the bailiff take me into custody. There really are no surprises on how the system works once you know how it actually works. And it does not work anything like they taught you in high school history or civics class.
I could have made a phone call or two and borrowed the money. But I am done being bullied for being a man. I cannot believe these people in Washington are so stupid to think they can govern Americans with an iron fist. Twenty-five years ago, the federal government declared war on men. It is time now to see how committed they are to their cause. It is time, boys, to give them a taste of war.
There are two kinds of bureaucrats you need to know; the ones that say and the ones that do. The bridge between them is something I call The Second Set of Books. I have some figures of the success of their labors. You and I are in these numbers, as well as our spouses and children. But first let me tell you how I ended up in this rabbit hole.
My story starts with the infamous slapping incident of April 2001. While putting my four year old daughter to bed, she began licking my hand. After giving her three verbal warnings I slapped her. She got a cut lip. My wife asked me to leave to calm things down.
When I returned hours later, my wife said the police were by and said I could not stay there that night. The next day the police came by my work and arrested me, booked me, and then returned me to work. Later on Peter, the parts manager, asked me if I and the old lady would be able to work this out. I told him no. I could not figure out why she had called the police. And bail condition prevented me from asking her. So I no longer trusted her judgment.
After six months of me not lifting a finger to save this marriage, she filed for divorce. Almost two years after the incident, I was talking with her on the phone. She told me that night she had called a mental health provider we had for one of the kids. Wendy, the counselor told my then wife that if she did not call the police on me, then she too would be arrested.
Suddenly, everything made sense. She is the type that believes that people in authority actually know what they are talking about. If both she and I were arrested, what would happen to our three children, ages 7,4 and 1? They would end up in State custody. So my wife called the police on her husband to protect the children. And who was she protecting the kids from? Not her husband, the father of these children. She was protecting them from the State of New Hampshire.
This country is run by idiots.
The police sergeant Freyer screwed this up from the get go. When I got the Court Complaint form the box was checked that said Domestic Violence Related. I could not believe that slapping your child was domestic violence. So I looked up the law. Minor custodial children are exempted. Apparently, 93% of American parents still spank, slap or pinch their children. To this day I still wonder if Freyer would have made this arrest if it had been the mother that had slapped the child.
Labeling someone's action as domestic violence in American in the 21st century is akin to labeling someone a Jew in Germany in the 1930's. The entire legal weight of the state is coming down on him. But I consider myself lucky. My family was destroyed. But that poor bastard in Germany
Why is everything always different on the internet? If you rant somewhere else in public, do you then get dragged into *having* to apologize?
This is making me want to change my name to one of those Glyphs so that it screws with the data tracking software going everywhere.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
No, that is the formula for your wife constantly seeing you as being wrong; thus eventually developing a low or condescending feeling towards you.
If you want a happy marriage both partners need to admit when they're wrong- but also stick up for themselves when they're right. If you let your partner walk-over you- she won't respect you, and you won't be as happy as you could be.
All it takes is to be fair and honest with each other. Yes honey, your butt does look fat in those jeans- but I love you anyway.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
This sounds very familliar to another case a few months back. The thing to remember is that the guy has a restraining order in effect that he is restrained from doing anything to cause his wife “to suffer physical and/or mental abuse, harassment, annoyance, or bodily injury.” His wife does not have to directly read the posts on the site to be harrassed or annoyed. They probably have mutual friend who could forward the posts; indirect harassment and or annoyance.
As for requiring to post an apology, there are many cases where people and companies have been ordered to publically apologize for their conduct. Such apologies need to be done in the same venue as the damage. In this case the issue was caused on Facebook and needs to be addresses on Facebook.
"Freedom of speech" has never been completely free. There have always been limits including, as in this case, court orders. The main thing to remember is that when under a restraing order follow it and shut up.
I often lament the fact that I'm single.
This, along with the stories of all the bullshit my friends have to deal with in their relationships, makes me wonder why I lament it at all.
I should be happy I'm single and can direct my own life.
*brofist to all the other single Slashdotters*
Divorce sucks and the courts are SO biased against men/for women that it's pathetic
Wife apologize to Facebook.
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.