Freedom of Speech - Man convicted for telling 'offensive' joke

[Winewinewinegin]

Ricky Gervais just tweeted it.

Apparently in Scotland. More on his twitter feed.

WTF? Seriously concerning on many levels.

Anyone know anything about this?

They already have Sunset. So clearly: nothing.

Fair enough. I do see your point.

And yes I'm aware of the current police investigation on the woman regarding mermaids.

I read something earlier where the police have said that they will prosecute if they or someone else believes that what you said is motivated by hate, even if the comment itself isn't not actually hate based or even offensive. Sounds like thought crime to me and this will be used against "TERFS"

What law did he break (Scottish I believe)?

I assume The Communications Act 2003. That is a UK statute.

Thats so scary Notwellbitch.

Theres nothing wrong with "hate"
HateCRIMES yes, but being motivated by hate....thought polics indees

This is the text which they have since changed

“If someone does something that isn’t a criminal offence but the victim, or anyone else, believes it was motivated by prejudice or hate, we would class this as a ‘hate incident’. Though what the perpetrator has done may not be against the law, their reasons for doing it are. This means it may be possible to charge them with an offence"

Firstly we don’t have freedom of speech in the UK - we have freedom of expression which is regulated and conditional.

How can you prove motivation?

Or more importantly, how can you DISprove it if you are accused of being hatefully motivated?? You cant! You cant PROVE that you arw innocent of hate. Noone can

Er, it still is very much illegal to display Nazi symbols or do the Hitler salute in Germany

Exactly, anyone could claim that something a person has done or said was "motivated by hate" and there is no way for the person to prove it wasn't. I'm sure the TRAs are already coming up with a plan to silence more women.

Free speech is all well and good but not when it mocks stuff like this

That is an excellent summary of the views of totalitarianism. Free speech is fine, provided it's the right free speech that the majority agree with. This bloke was not a Nazi, trying to promote Nazism, he was an idiot trying (and failing, and being crass about it) to be funny. We should be very careful about criminalising this.

So should all the women on gender critical threads be prosecuted, because we offend trans activists, soubriquet?

MN has a small number of very active "feminists" telling people what they can and can't say on everything. Every idiom people use and every belief people have which isn't fashionable is now offensive. Everyone who doesn't agree with a position is an oppressor or a handmaiden.

I hope some of the ridiculous doublethink and censorship by TRAs has convinced everyone that we should defend people's right to hold unpopular views.

The thing is the Nazis themselves were big into thought policing.

So anyone who agrees with this needs to have a real good think: this sort of thing is used BY the likes of Nazis not against them..

"Truscum

Free speech ‘unless it is offensive’ is not free speech.

This ‘joke’ was very offensive and I think he’s a twat, but him getting taken to court for saying it makes me go cold all over.

What is happening?!"

It's been an interesting couple of years watching the progressive left turning into the regressive right.
I wonder where it will all end.

Why was Tommy Robinson lending his support at court today?

It was an offensive video to me but this is disproportionate reaction from the police. I read no one actually made a complaint.

This is terrifying.

People in the UK should have the right to say stuff that other people find grossly offensive.

We have the right to find this video grossly offensive. But I really don't think the state should have the right to criminalise this man for making it.

This all started with no-platforming and then the concept of hate-crime, which I've never believed in, because I believe people have the right to hate each other. The state should only get involved in what you do, not what you think.

The problem is that the left supports this censorship as enthusiastically (possibly more enthusiastically than the right. Because they're all fucking stupid - they never learn from history. Every single time censorship has been introduced, under the guise of protecting someone or other, it has eventually always been turned against the left. They never learn.

“If someone does something that isn’t a criminal offence but the victim, or anyone else, believes it was motivated by prejudice or hate, we would class this as a ‘hate incident’. Though what the perpetrator has done may not be against the law, their reasons for doing it are. This means it may be possible to charge them with an offence"

It is absolutely gob-smacking that the police needed a barrister to tell them this was wrong.

Olennas those are actions not thoughts/motivations so quite different in terms of proving in court and objective law.

You really can't joke on social media, everything that can be put out of context will be put out of context. This goes for Mumsnet too.

How do you mean, mixture?

Well at the risk of being in poor taste:

First they came for the shit comedians, and I said nothing, because I am not a shit comedian.

Ah yes, Mumsnet woke me up to how we were going. Now I find using it has explained a lot of this new way of engaging and the sinister etiquette enforcers I see in the rest of the media.

I initially found it perplexing but laughable how pernickety and "Reported!" some posters were.

(The only place I get it is where we are talking about our kids and twits come on saying "but it's bad behaviour not SN." As a parenting advice website and especially on the particular supportive boards I agree with enforcing thoughtful, respectful speech. Basically the old rule don't diss people's kids.

But deletions on Brexit debates and the like?!

A little bit of verbal sparring is what I grew up with and it can make for stronger bonds in groups. Who wants to spend time with those who demand we dont tread on their particular eggshells or they'll kick off? They tend to be shunned.

I've digressed from this bloke, whom I can't stand by the way. (To avert any accusations that by defending him I am in fact supporting his views..)

I am far more concerned about anti semitism lurking in the Labour Party than this unfunny guy showing off on YT.