I see this question a lot. I think we as a community can decide that by way of votes. The moderation team can also offer second judgement, which it seems to have passed. Liberty and actions of the police seems like a topic many hackers are interested in. The consistent votes on such issues lend credence to this.
Quite aside from the fact that hackers are people too and care about all sorts of issues, this article is specifically about the video tape being doctored, so has a technical aspect that could lead off into discussions in several directions.
And if don't express certain viewpoints, you're downvoted to oblivion. I wouldn't mind a filter for these types of articles (every other website on the world is already discussing the police+victim story of the month), and you can't ever side with the police here.
I see that. I guess I should send all my political friends to HN to post more such articles and comments cause where else but a place called "Hacker News" would one do that? I mean, I know I came here for just such topics.
"Here is a video that shows apparent tampering. What are the chances these anomalies are result of faulty equipment or software? How likely is it that these anomalies are the result of deliberate human edits?"
Several HN readers are involved (professionally or as a hobby) in "film stuff" - editing software; cameras; etc. there's probably someone here who could point to known bugs in software / hardware if these exist.
Many people on HN are involved in selling stuff, which means they have an interest in manipulating people. Seeing examples of failed human interactions is instructive. Although it's tempting to say "you'd have to be a fucking idiot to think the cop's attitude would work" there are enough of these videos to show that people get caught up by something that cause poor interaction. There are probably examples of founders making similar mistakes leading to PR disasters.
