this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
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The video is typically titled "Aldrin punches conspiracy theorist" but it should include "Punches whiney, obnoxious, harassing moron" to help this guy find his place in history.
The cherry on top is that the court did not pursue assault charges citing that it was instigated. I read it as "deserved"
That's very much the expected outcome. In the US, at least, the law has long recognized that there are some things you just can't say without expecting a beatdown. This is called the "fighting words doctrine." Generally, it covers things like the OP example, which is very clearly a direct personal insult that a reasonable person would expect could lead to violence.
And this is a very good policy that maintains civility between people in public. There are States now that will allow absolutely anything to be said to anyone, without any recourse available to the person being harassed. As you can expect, those policies have led to people with much louder mouths, and a general lack of respect. People tend to hold their tongue a lot more when they can get punched in the face.
Fighting words haven't had legal standing for a long time as anything but a mitigating circumstance for sentencing.
What let Aldrin off was the previous personal and targeted harassment.
I always heard the harassing was very bad.
Yes, it's why he got off scot-free instead of with a slap on the wrist.
Apparently it reality checked the guy, though, iirc he ended up apologizing?
I've watched that video a dozen times and even in the heavily edited video you can tell the guy won't leave him alone. That was apparently the third interaction they had
Bart Sibrel is a conspiracy theorist, liar, and a grifter and wiki makes it sound like he had it coming. Say what you want about "patriotism" and "heros" and the military industrial complex; Buzz Aldrin climbed on top of a rocket and rode it into space and was only the second person to step foot on another celestial body. He was a fighter pilot before that and was the first astronaut with a PhD. He lost close personal friends in the space program, they all did. IMO he be allowed another jab if he wants.