Like, I probably sound paranoid af. But I’ve read news about apparant “illegal CCP ‘Police Stations’” operating out of NYC (and variojs places) and um… I’m Chinese-American, and I was born in mainland China, especially under current administration, I personally feel like its a very bad time to be like… flying a drone.
See, because drones are made in China, there’s basically a fear of “spying” from these drones throughout the country, and DJI is already on the path of being banned, and I’ve seen videos of karens harassing a Youtuber, even when they are white, so I can’t imagine the shit I have to face if I cross paths with a karen. I feel like they would straight up call the FBI and accuse me of “being a spy”.
Same with radios. I’ve heard of the story where someone visited India with a radio (because they were gonna do hiking or something and there were no signal), then they got arrested and held for a few hours and investigated for being a “terrorist”, so that kinda gets worrying because this fear of “terrorism” is also prevalent in the US. Someone is gonna see that radio is gonna think “this guy must be a terrorist” or “is that [the radio with antenna sticking out] a bomb?” I mean, I heard about some woman on a plane called airport security on a guys doing… algebra, like just imagine in a crowded area with a “weird device that ‘looks like a bomb’”.
Kinda feels anxiety-inducing to be playing around with these gadgets, don’t you think? Am I worrying too much?
drones (flying camera bots) are definitely more intrusive than walkie talkies. But I haven’t picked up on any terrorist associations among people in the US or heard any concerns like that from fellow hams/meshtastic users
I fly “drones” all the time, no one gives a shit.
The solution is simple: Take a Karen with you. You think I’m joking but I’m sure there’s some older white woman acquaintance who knows you’re not a spy. Ask her to come fly drones with you. Don’t mention Karens specifically, but it’s perfectly fine to say you’re a bit worried about being racially profiled, or accosted by ICE, even though you’re legal. And you’d feel safer if you had an American to vouch for you, or at least call your family if you got grabbed. And tell her it’s fun and you’ll teach her how to fly it. Maybe she could bring her dog along, unless it’s likely to try to eat the drone. Plenty of white Americans who don’t like what’s going on, maybe they’re not up for doing a protest but would be happy to extend their privilege while they do something fun with an immigrant they know.
No, I don’t think you are. These assholes are programmed to look for any excuse to attack anything that doesn’t fit their mental profile of White Christian Nationalists and their enablers. Since I’m assuming your ancestry is likely relatively obvious, you’ve already got a strike against you. Now, with Trump’s ICE raid fuck up at the Hyundai plant, and the subsequent refusal of the South Koreans to stay and continue their work under such an environment, I’ll bet MAGAts are gonna hate on those with Asian decent all the more for not being willing to kiss their collective asses.
Yeah, if you’re near any even vaguely significant quantity of MAGAts, then I’d lay as low as possible if I were you.
Normalize it! The best way is just to do your thing
When I fly a drone at parks I try to be as relaxed and obvious as possible. Sometimes there are curious people that talk to me about what I use, rules done pilots follow and how to get proper paperwork to fly. I see it as a good thing that I look approachable enough to talk to
If I were trying to be all low key and suspicious because I think flying a drone is weird people will pick up on that and start wondering why I’m acting strange. That’s when they jump to the wrong conclusions
Know the laws, play within them and be confident. Same goes with radios, meshtastic, gun stuff etc. In your case maybe avoid DJI drones though
I don’t think you have much to worry about yet, but the concern is not unreasonable. I think radios are likely to remain fairly safe. If nothing else, they can be pretty inconspicuous.
Drones are more likely to be a problem. They can be used to observe and record the results. When the government is routinely lying about situations, having video that directly contradicts them could become very dangerous. And while it hasn’t happened yet, sooner or later people will begin using drones as offensive weapons to commit political violence.
It’s a good idea to be aware of the potential risks of whatever you do. That doesn’t mean you should stop, just make sure you aren’t caught unprepared by changes. We are at a point where the law matters a lot less than it should, so changes can happen overnight and without any formal announcement.
