Using Your Cellphone During a Movie? Have a Bullet.

I think Paladin was referring to how often "breaking" news turns out to be "broken" news after a day or two. As it stands, yeah...it looks like this was 2nd degree murder clear cut, (and I suspect that it is) but who knows what news will "break" tomorrow?

In other words, he's reserving judgement but leaning towards not justified.

Why are you arguing with those two? The guy could have been beating the old man with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and they would claim shooting wasn't justified.

I took the easier route - I'm never going to a theater again.

Oh, I agree. Before the advent of cell phones and big-screen hi-def televisions, I was at the movie theatre at least twice a week. No more.

I think I've been to a movie theatre twice in the last two years, and both times it was to see the JJ Abrams' masterpiece, Star Trek Into Darkness. And even then, it was a weekday matinee show to avoid the mouth-breathers as much as possible.

I have a 60" hi-def television with Blu Ray player. I see no reason whatsoever for me to go to the movie theatre anymore. The cost of a Blu Ray disc is less than two tickets to the show.

It's been almost ten years since I've set foot in a movie theater.

He must have forgotten that he was retired, no longer a cop, and thus no longer vested with the right to summarily execute citizens out of hand for any reason at all.

I don't like watching movies at home personally. There is something about the excitement and energy of a theatre.

Not full of people because you don't like to be jammed together but a threater at least half but no more than 75% full.

Though sometimes a jammed theater ramps up the experience. Like "Independence Day". The energy of the movie and the crowd seemed to feed off one another. I'll never forget many of the African Americans in the crowd when we first saw it falling out of their seats laughing from one line early in the movie. When a "news report" was on in the background saying "Officials are urging Los Angeles residents to stop firing their guns at the alien spacecraft........"

Er, not. The comments are based on what we do know. If other facts come to light, then things are different.

Once again you show how stupid you are.

If I carry a gun I'm not allowed to react to anything happening around me because that would be gratuitously initiating conflict according to you? Fuck you.

We weren't there so we don't know what the old man said. Maybe he said, "sir your phone is distracting me please stop". Yes it's possible he might also had said, "turn off that fucking cell phone idiot". Or maybe a middle ground, not to nice but not mean, "sir stop using your phone I'm trying to watch the movie".

If I am in a theater and you're doing something stupid I've got the right, like every other person in the theater, to say "stop doing that" even while I carry a gun. That's not initiating conflict.

It would be initiating conflict if I said, "turn off that fucking phone you fucking idiot"

So yes even while carrying a gun I can confront you if your doing something stupid and ask you to stop doing what you're doing. It's how I ask you that counts.

You can say the shooter in this case is wrong and I agree from what I've read that he's in the wrong but you can not say he started the conflict because you don't know. And I don't know either. None of us were there as witnesses. If he asked the guy to stop texting in a reasonable manner and the other guy started running his mouth then it's the other guy who started the conflict. Regardless of who started the conflict, this case doesn't appear to have risen to the point that a shooting was justified.

I agree but I find that it often warps my opinion of a movie. I've liked some movies when I saw them in a theater and, later, watching them at home on cable I realize that the movie wasn't really as good as I initially thought.


I'm lucky if I get to a theater once or maybe twice a year. Last year the only film I saw in a theater was the Star Trek movie. Prior to that I hadn't been to the movies in more than two years.

And the old man was stupid in this case. It was during previews. During the previews who cares? I don't. Now if the movie was running then yes it's rude to be texting.

Independence Day is a perfect example.

I still remember you could hear a pin drop when the aliens started attacking and blew up the White House. I also remember the energy in the theater when Pullman was giving his presidential speech. I think the whole theater would have run to the planes in the movie if they could have. We were ready to kick alien ass!!

But at home? Rather dull and boring.

That is why they call it a "movie experience".

I think one of the problems with cell phones is that they seem to take away from that experience.

Exactly.

To me the mark of a good movie is that it makes you think and feel like that even if you're watching it alone.

No one should be using their phone or any other electronic device during a movie.

Shit I'd almost rather a person talk on the phone then text because at least with talking the phone is at the ear and the glare from the phone is off. Texting means the light is on and the phone is like a beacon in a dark theater. It's especially bad in stadium seating setups and you can see everyone below you.

Now the one person who should be shot no matter what are the idiots who wear a blue-tooth headset and that headset has a flashing blue light that keeps flashing during the whole movie. That is a person who should be shot. Multiple times.

You're an idiot. I have yet to see ANYONE ever take such a position on this forum. If you're not careful you're going to out do Dayton as the king of strawman arguments.

I agree but it isn't something to go into a rage and start murdering people over either.

'Cause when some idiot with a gun starts a fight over nothing the last thing you want is for people to be able to call the police.

Cell phone jammers block 911 calls. That makes them a non-starter.

Sure. If you want to be bankrupted in fines, judgements, and attorney fees go right ahead. The FCC has determined that you can not prevent or block me from using a service I pay to use. Doubly so since some LEO, Fire, and EMS radios use very similar frequencies. Let some MeMaw die because FIRE can't call EMS and heads will roll.

There are certain legitimate reasons to have a communication device in a theater. I used to be on-call with a 10 minute response time. Does that mean I can never go to a theater? No. It means that I have to be an adult. You know, polite and responsible. If someone is trying to reach me the onus is on me to leave the theater and then reply to them. You're merely treating a symptom and not the cause.

Agree. You get the same thing at sports venues and comedy clubs. It's the very basis for what has become known as "mob mentality."

Now my take on it. Oulson was a snarky big mouth shit head who wasn't gonna take shit off of some old coot. I know where he lives and who his neighbors are. I mean come the fuck on, who texts their 3 year old? Now texting the babysitter I could get. So this old geezer is giving him shit and he can't take that in front of his pretty young wife. On the other hand you have a 71 year old retired founding member of Tampa's SWAT team. He comes from a day and age where a 43 year old "kid" won't back talk his elders. He comes from a time of more decorum and politeness in society. He is used to being obeyed.

Keep in mind that this geezer spent most of his career in the Tampa P.D. at a time when it was at best a cowboy outfit and at worst a tool of Jim Crow. I've met plenty of Tampa cops and as individuals they seem mostly like fine guys and women, but the fact is in the 60's 70's and 80's they got away with a lot of shit. It started turning around in the early 80's under Bob Smith, but Stephen Hogue and Jane Castor have really done a great job of turning that battleship around and making Tampa P.D. a professional law enforcement organization as opposed to an organized goon squad.

You're such a fucking tool.......

The man didn't go into a rage and pull out the gun and cap the other guy in the head multiple times while screaming "NO CELLPHONES DURING THE MOVIE!!!!"

The shooter complained to the victim about his cell phone use. What words he used we do not know at this point. We do know that the victim got mouthy and an argument started. The shooter then left the theater and went to get management who obviously didn't show up. When the shooter came back the victim started the argument again because he was upset the shooter left to go get a manager. An argument took place, popcorn flew and a single shot was fired and the victim died.

There is nothing in this situation that you can point at and say the shooter went into a rage and murdered someone or someones since you're referring to murdering people.

Is the shooter in the wrong? All signs point to yes and he will die in prison since it's an automatic sentence if he's found guilty.

But the shooter did not go into a state of rage.

Again:

Florida.

'nuff said.

You know the victims neighbors? At least that's how it reads.

^There's a country song title there ...

Dayton, you need to double check when you edit those quotes because you once again misattributed a quote to me when I never said such a thing.