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Post by The Curmudgeon on Oct 10, 2012 12:41:34 GMT 2
Sometimes, Hot Topic doesn't really cut it. The major, enormous topic in the UK right now is about the disappearance of a 5 year old girl. It was over a week ago, they caught who they think did it but they still can't find a body.
Anyway, a few days into her disappearance and amongst the countless "appeals" on Facebook ("LIKE" if you want little April Jones back home!" - that'll do a power of good) some little shit wrote a sick joke about the missing girl. And it made headline news.
More than 50 people went to his house to string up the guy, and he was arrested, charged and sentenced to 12 weeks in prison. For a joke. On Facebook.
Now, keep in mind that, in the UK, our soft touch law system is often the cause of much anguish and grief. People who get mugged, assaulted or robbed often have to see their attackers walk away with little conviction, or some tawdry community service order. Yet some guy who wrote a horrible thing on a website gets 12 weeks in prison?
Fucking MADNESS. And yet when you DO bring up the fact it's lunacy you're instantly shot down by the "wot wud U do if it was ur kid" idiots.
So where do we go from here? Can we make light comments about 9/11? The starving children in Ethiopia? The Holocaust? All terrible things that affected millions of people, yet there are countless gags online about them. Do we round everyone up who makes those jokes too? What about race? Go on a Youtube clip featuring a black singer and try to find someone who doesn't call them a nigger. Good luck with that. Going to arrest them, too?
This situation is fucking frightening.
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lemex
All Messed Up
Posts: 110
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Post by lemex on Oct 10, 2012 16:40:18 GMT 2
It is frightening because it's telling me Free Speech is no longer a sacred right. Free Speech is unconditional to me, and I pretty much live by the thing of: I don't agree with you, but I will defend your right to say it to the death.
I mean, the British historian David Irvine was arrested in Austria a few years ago for only potentially denying the holocaust happened in public. What is this other than thoughtcrime? I don't understand how David Irvine came to his conclusion, but you know what, his ideas are not taking on physical forms and actually hurting people, so who actually gives a fuck? The best remedy for stupidity is laughter not censorship.
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Oct 10, 2012 17:37:11 GMT 2
Well, see, that's one thing. For right or wrong, Holocaust denial in certain countries IS a crime. It's set down there in stone. You cannot deny the Holocaust, if you do you go to jail. I don't personally agree with that, but there you go. It's like shoplifting - if you do it, you know you're breaking the law. Pretty sure David Irvine knew what he was going into there.
But this. A nasty joke on the internet? We're - literally - locking people up for that now? And the amount of people who agree with it is staggering. Someone even said the sentence was too light! Fuck, you think 12 weeks for a joke is too light? What would you do to under-age drinkers?
The guy who wrote the joke obviously did it to create a bit of "butt-hurt" lols. Hey, I do it all the time. There is no way he went in thinking it would go even a fraction as far as it did.
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lemex
All Messed Up
Posts: 110
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Post by lemex on Oct 10, 2012 19:02:18 GMT 2
I agree with you, but my point about David Irvine is that Free Speech apparently has it's limits, limits which to me at least seem unnecessary. In the end, it's the same thing, people are being arrested for thoughtcrime. Arrested for saying what they think, even if it's not serious.
I know I can't change the law, but I would if I could.
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Post by trashcanman on Oct 10, 2012 20:34:26 GMT 2
I've researched the notion that the Holocaust was a crock a little bit and found jack fucking shit. I saw some moron take a deep cut out of a gasroom wall, grind the whole thing up, and have it tested for cyanide traces without noting that there only would have been half a century old traces on scrapings of the very outside of the wall (seeing that gas doesn't exactly seep a foot deep into a solid surface) and that taking a deep portion of the wall and grinding it up would dilute the trace amounts present to almost nothing. Since there were no significant traces in his sample he declared it proof positive that the entire Holocaust was a myth. It didn't take long to realize that these people are fucking idiots and almost certainly racists with a bullshit agenda. I do, however, believe that outlawing that train of thought and discussion only fuels the fire that there is something to hide and is itself a crime against humanity.
Anyways, topic at hand. You know what my opinion is on "thought crimes" and prosecuting bad humor is. It's pathetic and the fact that people support the notion is a clear sign of a fascist dystopian nightmare in our future. The UK actually seems to be ahead of us on that count, probably because we are too busy shooting each other in America.
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lemex
All Messed Up
Posts: 110
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Post by lemex on Oct 10, 2012 23:25:35 GMT 2
I've researched the notion that the Holocaust was a crock a little bit and found jack fucking shit. I saw some moron take a deep cut out of a gasroom wall, grind the whole thing up, and have it tested for cyanide traces without noting that there only would have been half a century old traces on scrapings of the very outside of the wall (seeing that gas doesn't exactly seep a foot deep into a solid surface) and that taking a deep portion of the wall and grinding it up would dilute the trace amounts present to almost nothing. Since there were no significant traces in his sample he declared it proof positive that the entire Holocaust was a myth. It didn't take long to realize that these people are fucking idiots and almost certainly racists with a bullshit agenda. I do, however, believe that outlawing that train of thought and discussion only fuels the fire that there is something to hide and is itself a crime against humanity. Anyways, topic at hand. You know what my opinion is on "thought crimes" and prosecuting bad humor is. It's pathetic and the fact that people support the notion is a clear sign of a fascist dystopian nightmare in our future. The UK actually seems to be ahead of us on that count, probably because we are too busy shooting each other in America. I love you man.  This is 100% my sentiments, aside from maybe the last 11 words. |
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Post by trashcanman on Oct 11, 2012 20:17:29 GMT 2
 We like shooting people over here. Maybe if we had less work for the cops, they'd have more time to throw people in jail for rude remarks, but that isn't the case at present. |
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