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Canadian SF writer needs help.
Dec. 11th, 2009 07:33 pmDr. Peter Watts was assaulted by border guards while crossing the US-Canada border. Charlie Stross, John Scalzi, and Cory Doctorow give details, as does Dr. Watts himself.
Having had an unpleasant encounter with a border guard myself, this is disgusting but completely plausible.
The kicker is, after assaulting him, pepper-spraying him and holding overnight without access to a lawyer, and finally throwing him out into the first winter storm without his coat or his car after all the buses had quit running for the night, they charged him with assault.
He's a writer folks. He's a good writer, but a writer doesn't make enough money to defend himself against these trumped up charges--and he could go to jail for two years for the offense of asking what was going on when they pulled him over.
People are trying to work up some more formal way of donating, but as a stopgap you can drop money in his "feed the cat" fund at his website. It's the "Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund."
Some readers may feel like blaming the victim. I understand; it gives them some sense of control--they don't do the bad thing they accuse the victim of having done, so something like this could never happen to them. A feeling of control is so important that some people are willing to take refuge in a false one. However, I respectfully request that no one do it here. I've dealt with border guards, and I'm not in the mood.
Having had an unpleasant encounter with a border guard myself, this is disgusting but completely plausible.
The kicker is, after assaulting him, pepper-spraying him and holding overnight without access to a lawyer, and finally throwing him out into the first winter storm without his coat or his car after all the buses had quit running for the night, they charged him with assault.
He's a writer folks. He's a good writer, but a writer doesn't make enough money to defend himself against these trumped up charges--and he could go to jail for two years for the offense of asking what was going on when they pulled him over.
People are trying to work up some more formal way of donating, but as a stopgap you can drop money in his "feed the cat" fund at his website. It's the "Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund."
Some readers may feel like blaming the victim. I understand; it gives them some sense of control--they don't do the bad thing they accuse the victim of having done, so something like this could never happen to them. A feeling of control is so important that some people are willing to take refuge in a false one. However, I respectfully request that no one do it here. I've dealt with border guards, and I'm not in the mood.
