Recently, police in New York arrested a man for making terrorists threats. The 47-year-old Wayne County resident was found sleeping on a couch in the lobby of the Del Lago casino. When casino security discovered him sleeping, they called the police. He had been previously banned from the casino for fraudulent gaming. In all probability, the man had been claiming jackpots or pressing bets and was more of an annoyance than a real threat to the integrity of the games. However, when the casino caught him, it eighty-sixed him which is a legal fiction all casinos use; they ban players for any one of dozens of offenses and in the process read a statement stating that if the person returns they will be guilty of trespassing and subject to arrest. He apparently either did not remember the ban or chose to ignore it.
Whatever the cause, when the police were called, he began yelling threats including his intent to destroy the casino. Now he is sitting in jail and is being treated as a terrorist just as if he belonged to a jihadist organization bent on destroying western civilization. I am certain that he is very confused and feels he is the victim of a vicious plot. He has probably done the same thing many times before. Certainly casino security officers have heard those same threats many times as they banned someone. The process of banning misbehaving gamblers and threatening them with trespassing has been used by casinos for more than fifty years. This old method of dealing with disruptive customers is undergoing changes as society reinterprets disruptive behaviors of all kinds. What was once just naughty has become more serious, sometimes even criminal.
The new way of viewing of bad boy behaviors is confusing for many more people than the misbehaving gambler. It is especially confusing for my demographic – old white men. The world we knew, that we understood and our comfortable place in the universe is disappearing before our eyes. In our era we could flirt at any time we chose, we could hire whomever we wanted and turn down others for reasons that are unacceptable today. We could make jokes about race, gender, gender preference, body image, dress or anything else that tickled our fancy. We could also get drunk in public and act the fool. Among other ways that some of us acted out our perceived entitlement was to press bets in casinos, give the dealer a hard time and say whatever came to our deluded minds. When a casino had had enough of the bad behavior, it sent the miscreant home with a warning. He could stand out on the street and scream any kind of threat and use all manner of obscenities, but no one listened or cared. Later when the gambler had sobered up, red-faced, he apologized to everyone for everything. In most cases, he was forgiven or at least he thought he had been forgiven. He returned to the casino and behaved until the next time and then the process was repeated. Those days are gone and it seems all of those people hurt by those boys behaving badly did not forgive or forget.
The gambler in New York is discovering just how drastically interpretations of misbehavior have changed. An act that was once just a blustering rant is now a criminal threat. As a nation, we are in the process of creating a new definition of terrorism. One thing has become clear; it is no longer possible to threaten other people without being outside of the law and accepted social behavior. Those empty, bravado-driven threats that were once considered annoying but tolerable are now felonies. It is a necessary transition. As a nation we need to rethink many things, especially behaviors both public and private that we once thought harmless – or just boys being boys – and treat them as unacceptable. Some people are going to be forced to change their behavior and attitudes. For those people it will be very uncomfortable. However, for the people who have suffered and endured those unpleasant behaviors it will be a most welcome change.
