Should racist speech be controlled by the law?

I reported your post Desiderata because of the racist content. If you don't like it or disagree, then take it up with MN.

You posts are show distorted thinking and are quite vile.

No. X speech should never be criminal. We MUST have freedom of speech (and the freedom to take the consequences of said speech)

it hurts me when people use the word Autistic as an insult, but I would never dream of having them arrested for it.

Ok, if that was aimed at me....I'm just goingj to back away slowly, smiling....

Oh, for goodness sakes!

It is cold in the northern hemisphere, hence the lack of dark skin.

The indiginous race in the UK has white skin. I can trace my family back to the Normans, and I'm proud of it.

Should I not be?

Should a black African be ashamed of his skin colour and his culture?

What part of that statement do you have a problem with?

Bless you Desiderata. Calm down. Try and read it again, and this time really try to concentrate. You might even understand it this time.
As for insults, sweetie, you are WAY ahead of me.

Oh! I don't think I'm embarrassing myself at all.

You haven't given a reply to my posts, beyond the yawningly boring insult. That would suggest that you've hit a golden duck.

Dear oh dear.

You must be an Aussie.

Desiderata - If your original post was "white people have not been victims of racial abuse in the UK is because this is where we belong" then that's not accurate.

"white people have not been victims of racial abuse in the UK is because there are more of them"

would be more accurate.

But still wrong as some have.

Everyone comes from Africa - Mitochondrial Eve lived in East Africa.

Yes, dear, you can read but clearly you don't understand. It's a bit sad. Stop embarrassing yourself.

Hmmm, not good enough, Nickie. I can read pretty well.

'I am not sure that being hit in the face hurts more if you're black or white ....'

What difference would it make? A slap in the gob is a slab in the gob, surely?

If you're prepared to differentiate, it would imply that you think the two races are separate species.

And I note that one of my posts has been deleted by Mumsnet because I dared to point out the fucking obvious.

That white people tend to come from the Northern Hemisphere ....

So let's make an amendment.

Black people don't come from Africa.

Desiderata, I don't think you can read very well. Either that or you have trouble understanding. Take your pick.

Have you any idea how patronizing your post is, Nicky?

You are implying that by being black, you are vulnerable.

That's what I don't get about people like you. You are so racist, it's fucking unbelievable, but you just can't see it. You think that people with a different coloured skin, or a different God, need your protection. Well let me tell you, kid. They don't.

They really don't.

We're all just folk, and it's our lot in life to fight our own battles. The very moment that you suggest someone's ethnicity gives them a special status, is where you lose the argument.

Wherever you live, and whatever you do.

As it happens, I agree with Blu. I think it is very important that we realise that certain groups are subject to disproportionate about of discrimination and abuse. I am not sure that being hit in the face hurts less if you are white than black. I do think hurting people who are particularly vulnerable should carry a heavy penalty though. So the effect of punching a child, a person with a disability that causes physical weakness or emotional vulnerability or someone significantly smaller than the the attacker should be reflected in sentencing. I do not agree with laws about religious hatred. I think there is a huge difference between the things you are and are inherent(race, colour, disability, sexuality) and the things you choose (religion, politics). One is fair game for criticism, the other isn't.

I thought I just did.

Explain

I would have thought it was fairly obvious, Scurry.

Jeeze ..

"white people have not been victims of racial abuse in the UK is because this is where we belong"

wtf does that mean?

I think that the law recognises that racial offences are particularly vile but agree any hate crime should have a heavy penalty.

Thanks for the explanation, Scurry.

I don't think that there should be different categories of penalty. It's useful to have 'hate crime' acknowledged and recognised, partly to stop it being marginalised as unimportant, and it's useful to know, be reminded and given evidence for the fact that some groups of people endure it in disproportionate aounts, just because of who they are and the continuation of racism etc. But that's different from creating specific criminal categories.

• assault without a battery, meant to say.

Blu, the Public Order Act does apply to everyone if there is harassment, alarm or distress. There are also racially aggravated offences covering much the same but with the motive being racial. The penalties for racially aggravated offences are higher. You can have an assault with a battery but public order offences deal with it better.

NewWave - I have left notes on people's cars when they did that, but you went wrong when you included the 'fucking moron' bit in the note - you could have stopped after your tin opener line. If you want to won an argument make sure your own moral status is robust. And as for claiming provocation - that's pathetic. People who punch women in the face often claim provocation - how does provocation make anything OK?

There is a difference between 'racist speech' and racist abuse.

Abuse that amounts to harrassment, or causes fear or threat, or a public order offence should rightly be controlled by law - but I do believe that it should refer to all personal abuse, equally. Disablist, ageist, fattist, homophobic - anything used as an insult, even the non-specific or universal 'twat'! Either it's wrong to abuse or harrass people verbally or it isn't. It can't be OK to abuse and harrass some people verbally but not others. I had thought that 'assault' covered verbal attacks, (with assault and battery' referring to physical assault) but I'm not sure.

Newwave I would have pressed charges against you.

Your reaction was dispicable, oh I bet you went away feeling very proud of yourself for having racially abused a lady who made a mistake in her parking!

What a wanker!