Joe, I\'ve never met you, but have to agree with freddie and duane on the whole. My reasoning:
1. Unfortunately the scene has always been the subject of police bullying, right back to the early days of the Dead. Those poor sods being arrested and missing the boat for a bit of **** is ridiculous. The narcs could have confiscated it if they must and let them go with a warning, even been waiting for them to dock at the end if they wanted to be real assholes, but to cart them away is going too far - it\'s not as if they were dealing with the paltry amounts mentioned - yeah, if it was a couple of pounds or a few hundred tabs, as freddie says, let \'em have it. Yes, you can argue, they knew the law, but how many people do any of us know who don\'t use the odd bit of recreational chemistry, or do 5 mph over the limit, overtake or park where they shouldn\'t etc etc. I think we all have done at least one of those things - do people laugh at us if we\'re busted for the latter examples, and they\'re potentially far more serious than relaxing with a bunch of like-minded folks in the middle of an ocean?
2. You should know as purportedly a member of the scene that most of us will be more than sympathetic to those busted in such a way, so why come out with what you said and not expect repercussions? Yes, dave does a great job of moderating this board, allowing people to voice their opinions without fear of censorship, but we are careful what we say; most of us would self-moderate what we say so as not to upset others. This is an open board, which can be read by the public aka members of the scene trying to pick up on new bands. No-one wants to know about a band whose hard-core fans laugh at the misfortunes of others. In short, whatever you may have felt, it was suicide to voice it out loud, so you can\'t expect there to be no consequences.
3. Anyone who posts regularly to the board will know that a lot of ball-busting goes on here, most of it friendly and none of it malicious. Don\'t take it to heart, joe; far better to use humour to reply, rather than to petulantly tell people to grow up.
On the other hand, however, and this is a message to everyone, I think the point has been made - yes, Joe definitely acted like a jackass, consciously or not - but then haven\'t we all? I think it\'s time to move on and draw a line under this.
Poll
