UK going mad?

[Jayy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19911943

https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/09/matthew-woods-joking-april-jones-facebook-sickipedia?newsfeed=true

Just referring to these two latest cases, not to mention all the others that have happened as well. I remember the guy who wrote something on his Twitter page about blowing up an airport and got arrested over it.

Set aside the idiotic nature of their comments / actions, don't you think we're going a bit too far with all this stuff?

Then just recently, that muslim guy who wrote loads of anti war / terrible things about soldiers gets off with community service?

How long before we end up like China and the great firewall?

[N cee thirty]

And my grandad fought it WW2 for freedom, for this to occur.
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Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Jayy]

It's ok for comedians like Jimmy Carr or Frankie Boyle to make jokes about it though because they're celebrities innit?

[Joncrete Cungle]

Apologies for invoking Godwin early doors. But it does remind me of

[Alpha-9]

Freedom of speech right?

It's fucking wrong, it really boils my blood.
So you can't post something on your facebook, to your friends groups, to people who are above a certian age and voluntarily reading your page.

Makes me wonder, be careful what you write on facebook folks.
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[P.addy]

I personally...find nothing wrong with the first guy... so what, its a tshirt. Big woop...

The April Jones one, 50/50 but definitely no crime really. Just a sad kid who gets his kicks from that.

Its like me posting, Maddie is in the boot of my car...

*waits for po po*

[supZ]

[The Artist]

Yeh, total bullshit. Freedom of speech my ass.

If I got arrested for expressing my opinion online, I would make a big deal out of it because it is totally against what democracy is supposedly about.

[bikertomm]

Grey area, just a bunch of cunts really, whoever offends the most gets some made up charge from the magistrates..


Either set something in place or don't in my opinion, they cant just willy nilly about all the time.


The muslims burning poppy's thing fucked me right off though.
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[Alpha-9]

[MCW]

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire

This should never change.

[Flatbadger]

Can anyone see the irony - in prosecuting those responsible for such 'hurtful' remarks and acts, the authorities have effectively publicised them and made sure everybody has had the chance to be offended.

Weird.
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[Rogerborg]

Freedom of what?

I can't think why anyone would believe that exists in the UK, or for that matter the EU.

Here's what UK, English/Welsh or Scotch law has to say in defence of freedom of speech:

[Joncrete Cungle]

Everytime some delicate flower opens up their browser a big fuck off reminder should flash up on the screen. Warning them they are about to visit the internetz and that they should MTFU or stick solely to the web sites of the BBC & Guardian.

The things some prissy wannabe Whitehouses get 'offended' by never ceases to amaze me. If I found something offensive I would not set out to deliberately look at it. If I did see it, I would not look at it again and again. I guess grief junkies constantly need to search out the next thing to be upset / offended or saddened by in order to get their next hit of grief or offence.

[stinkwheel]

In fairness, the first guy was on a suspended sentence so he was technically just returned to jail to carry out the balance of his sentence. Which is what he gets for apparently being unable to take the getout he's been given and keep out from up plods nose for 12 months.

Must've been a big lump of hash to get 12 months, suspended or otherwise, for posession mind.

I don't think there is much they could do legally if an ordinary citizen who's not on probation wore such a t-shirt (although I'm pretty sure it would result in a drive round the block in the back of a police van accompanied by two big sergeants, a length of rubber hose and a telephone directory).
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[covent.gardens]

Woods' punishment should've involved using free speech against him, with the media naming and shaming him, and it should've ended there. Telling a bad joke isn't a crime.

[The Artist]

[angryjonny]

Tricky one really. If there were total unquestioned free-speech then I would be allowed to walk into a bank and say "I have a gun, fill the bag with money or I start popping off your customers". But I can't, legally, because the intent is robbery, not statement of opinion (even though all I have done is spoken, there is no gun).

So we get into a grey area where we have to question what was intended, rather than what was said. Was the intent to state one's political opinion, to make a joke, to have your say? Or was the intent to intimidate someone, rob someone, blackmail or threaten someone? It's murky, but there is a line where stating one's thoughts or opinions ends and breaking the law begins even if all you have done is spoken, but it's a fuzzy and wiggly line and we all know what happens when governments try to paint solid straight lines over wiggly fuzzy ones.

[barrkel]

The sad truth is a lot of people really like fascism. I don't know what can be done about it.

It's a fairly common mistake. Too many people don't know the difference between their ideal world, and the way the world would need to be to enforce their ideas of an ideal world.

Ideal world: no insults or idiots, everybody sings Kumbayah.

Necessary to enforce this ideal world: totalitarian government with complete control of all communication media, automated spying everywhere, instant punishment of all transgressions. Such a world hands far too much power to anyone in control of the machinery.

But when someone tries to teach them about this mistake, they interpret it as an attack on their ideal world, not a criticism of the only practical implementation of it.

And these people, with memories of totalitarian government (i.e. almost all government up until the 20th century) fading, will vote for it once again.

I'm not sure liberty is a stable state for civilizations. People get lulled into complacency, and treat government as a parental figure who's supposed to swoop in and fix things, not remembering that government is just the guy with the biggest gun, they're people like any other, strangers to you, and do not necessarily mean you well.
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[Joenitro]

That's why I don't use facebook anymore as I always manage to offend someone.

[smegballs]

[Knightsy]

It's just a matter of time before we'll see laws dedicated to political correctness. Load of bullshit in my opinion.
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[Timbo Foggins]

[smegballs]

I'd like to know where the lines lie, in theory there must be a theoretical line somewhere.

eg

"I have a mild dislike for black people"

-->

"I dislike black people"

-->

"I really fucking hate black people"

etc etc

At what point does it become "crime" worthy of sending someone to prison? I amused myself with the thought of doing something similar on facebook, slowly ramping up the abuse with the caveat "should I be put in jail now?" at the end of each post.

For comparison could you be busted for this in the states? Or would 1st Amendment protect you?

[Rogerborg]