I am a very loud person, and am not always aware of how loud. I'm sure that I have said such a thing in a situation, probably in a busy street at one point, where many people have heard me.
If you heard someone saying something in a joking manner to their friend in public, however many people hear, you might think they were dumb for being so loud, but not so much that they deserved any more punishment than being told to quieten down/move along.
In fact I said what has happened to him was unacceptable (several times in this thread!). The problem here is yourself and a few others are looking at this in a very black and white way so applying the same good vs evil logic to my argument. What I actually said was that I think the teenager was in the wrong, but less so than those who jailed him. He definitely doesn't deserve this and I would never imply otherwise.
Sorry I wasn't trying to suggest that you were saying he deserved any punishment. I was just trying to say that I think that people, or at least I, act more similarly on Facebook and in real life than you were suggesting.
If you heard someone saying something in a joking manner to their friend in public, however many people hear, you might think they were dumb for being so loud, but not so much that they deserved any more punishment than being told to quieten down/move along.