Zack Polanski and the guillotine

[Everanewbie]

AIBU to be sceptical that much will be done about Zack Polanski's tweet of an image of man wearing a t-shirt depicting a guillotine and the words "making plans for Nigel"?

Now I am not in favour of prosecuting people for words, and I don't want ZP sent to prison. But I would like to see this level of hate stop.

And I am finding the left to be extremely hypocritical with the violent rhetoric while simultaneously celebrating the arrest of Lucy Connelly and Graham Linehan?

Well, he got suspended from his party. Do you think Polanski should be?

I'm not a fan of either of them, but this pales into insignificance (and isn't something Polanski posted himself anyway) compared to the way Farage creates division and incites people.

I thought Reform championed free speech?

Oh right,only when one of their lot is calling for asylum seekers to be attacked.

Posters on here were really rude about the CEO of the pharmaceutical company shot dead in San Fran which surprised me.

I don’t disagree that he should have been more careful, but it’s an entirely different infraction than actively choosing and sharing the specific image

yep

So he says now.

@Cairngormwildfire ok, so you do believe he did it deliberately and meant to threaten Farage, and then decided almost immediately to backtrack.

Thank you for saying that and I totally respect your stance on this.

Seems a pattern with him?

Championing free speech means changing the law, not selectively applying that law.

I think he was quite happy with the picture until there was a public outcry.

I mean come on?! You’re either in favour of everyone who posts this stuff (whether in error or not seemingly) being prosecuted or you’re not. When people point to similar or worse examples from others you can’t pick and choose if you want to hold the moral line here.

Considering poor Anne Widdecombe was murdered in her own home , then yes i do think this slogan is too far, .i have no time for Nigel Farage or his politics but we have to not stop hating this much that it incites violence.

I think there are people on both the left and right guilty of dehumanising and inciting violence against their opponents.

In this specific case, Polanski was clearly incredibly stupid not to have checked what was being posted - and should potentially be invesitigated for that stupid, but I do believe his explanation and highly doubt he personally would incite violence against Farage.

I also think the misreporting of this whole thing is also fuelling division though - as is some of the 'well, he would say that now' commentary.

If we want a less divisive, less angry, less fractious politics, that also includes taking apologies and explanations in good faith.

This is the same country that sent "ding dong the witch is dead" to number 1/2 in the charts when Thatcher died? So much hypocrisy.

Exactly. I don’t buy it. Greens and certain sections of the left including fans and members of Labour, SNP etc are often making these type of comments about people they disapprove of, particularly Jewish people and gender critical feminist women. There was a (white) female Green councillor who shared a post saying “ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism, it’s revenge.” It’s possible to recognise that this rhetoric is wrong and should be sanctioned whichever side it comes from. Even if you agree with them on everything else.

It wasn't a random image though. It was part of images from a Green Party event. And he did have to accept it before it was posted.
Maybe he didn't look properly but he still needs to deal with the fact it was something that happened at a Green Party event. Just shrugging his shoulders and saying he was tagged isn't good enough.
As an ex Green who left when Polanski took over, this doesn't surprise me at all. He needs to deal with extremists within his own party.
And yes, Reform should also have threats by their people taken seriously too.
Neither side should be able to just say 'Well, they're doing it too'. I don't know if Farage condemned that Reform councillor, but he should have.
Party leaders need to take responsibility for stopping violent rhetoric within their own parties. They shouldn't be waving it off and pointing at the other guy.

Several talking heads were brought on to discuss Ann Widecombe’s “disgusting record” in a the aftermath of her death for “balance” Can you imagine far right talking heads being brought on to discuss how disgusting a prominent left wing recently deceased politician were in life?

What a shocking think re synagogue. Their hate for the Jews is insane.

Of course the violent rhetoric is wrong, whoever it comes from and whoever it’s aimed at.

I saw !i don't think there is "balance " for murder is there .

There are levels here. Both are were wrong, but one is a common figure of speech, the other was quite deliberate.

Whatever your views on the Lucy Connelly case, it is totally different to this one. Firstly, she called for hotels to be set on fire, and hotels were set on fire: she incited racist violence, and racist violence occurred. Significantly, she also wrote those words herself. Zach Polanski didn't create this post. There is a valid argument that the originator of the image should be prosecuted - and maybe they will be. But arguing that Zack Polanski should be prosecuted for being tagged in the image (I don't think he even re-shared it) is not equivalent to Lucy Connelly being prosecuted: it's equivalent to everyone who was tagged in or shared her posts being prosecuted.

Polanski should be more careful about what he "likes" on social media, or at least have someone filtering posts for him.
Perhaps Kate Osborne should heed that advice as well. Once its out there its out there forever