Image by nolifebeforecoffee via Flickr Creative Commons https://www.flickr.com/photos/nolifebeforecoffee/

Just a couple of months ago, this video acquired viral status.

https://youtu.be/oorltEKfOuE

In it, a hooded man leaves a car and administers an ass-whipping to that mindless servant of totalitarianism, the speed camera. I can’t speak for anywhere else, but in DC they are despised. Not because DC residents are in favor of freedom (the city motto is “One party rule for 40 years and counting”), but because the devices are soulless revenue generators that are placed to target those least able to contest the ticket in court.

This anonymous hero was cheered by the population.

Not one citizen is angry or searching for this person. Not. One.

— STAY HOME! 💛ColoredSpirit❤️ (@ColoredSpirit) February 25, 2018

Fixed: "Video of the alleged suspect destroying an evil revenue generating machine."

— joe warner (@jwarner180) February 26, 2018

https://twitter.com/kjw_25/status/967818246496890880

This Is The Most Noble Thing Ever pic.twitter.com/EzPjsJrtXe

— LaSha 🐘💙 (@iamluhhshayy) February 25, 2018

I low key have a new hero 😂

— Laurie Ligon (@NaturalCutie79) February 25, 2018

Based on these replies this guy, if arrested, should most definitely demand a jury trial.

— Atticus Finch (@Atticus59914029) February 26, 2018

https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/967907696757432321

so, we have Black Panther…& this guy lol! https://t.co/wqP5BomPeE

— Jeffrey V Robinson (@Kingjeffishere) February 26, 2018

Whoever narcs on the DC speed camera smasher will be the worst narc in the long history of narcs

— Eric Boehm (@EricBoehm87) February 26, 2018

Britain is festooned with cameras of all types. There are some 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain, about 500,000 of them are in London. This is what happens in Britain when you get pissy with the wrong camera (this is not a parody):

Top tip: If you want to stay out of trouble, don't do what this driver did and swear at our mobile safety cameras while driving past in a car fitted with a laser jammer. Today he's beginning 8 months in jail for perverting the course of justice. https://t.co/Y5jpeOlt96 pic.twitter.com/rKQRVgNkB1

— North Yorkshire Police (@NYorksPolice) April 23, 2018

This underscores a great difference between us and the UK…so far. There is a thread of vigilantism that runs deep in America. There is a dash of contrariness that lets most of us sense…at least for now…when government is being unjust and a willingness…in the past…to confront injustice. As Jay Cost noted:

https://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/988579847835410433