Free Speech in the UK Gets Worse

Free Speech in the UK Gets Worse

When YouTuber “Count Dankula” uploaded an offensive video of his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha, whom he filmed responding to phrases such as “gas the jews” and “Sieg Heil” while images of Hitler and goose-stepping Nazis appeared on a TV in the background, I bet he never expected the police to come knocking on his door. But, as we’ve come to expect from certain progressive bastions of the free world such as the UK, he was promptly arrested for it.

According to the Count Dankula, the video was a silly joke to annoy his girlfriend, which he makes evident in the offending video. But according to prosecutors, the video had communicated material that stirs up “hatred and fear”. He was being charged with posting something on social media that was “grossly offensive”, a “clear threat of incitement”, an “odious criminal act” which was “anti-semitic and racist in nature”, all of it “aggravated by religious hatred”…a “hate crime”.

A prime indicator of creeping authoritarianism is when the status quo prefers to be fickle about imaginary offences rather than real ones. And cases such as this is a reminder that the shells of formerly great empires often find themselves replete with humourless and namby-pamby pantywaists as soon as the voices of freedom have retreated into reticence, or decadence, one or the other.

To make matters worse, it appears that only certain “alt-right vloggers” have rushed to his defence, and that Count Dankula holds certain views and approaches to humour that aren’t in complete lockstep with the cultural orthodoxy, all of which is completely irrelevant, but nonetheless enough of a reason convince your average relativist to turn away.

No, Count Dankula’s joke wasn’t funny, but then again it wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to be offensive. What is funny, but ultimately tragic, lies in the resultant couch-fainting and pearl-clutching of those who would see this video as more than what it is: a bloody joke. That was, according to the filmmaker, the proverbial point: to portray the cute little dog in the “least cute” way he could think of—as Hitler-loving, Nazi pug who responds to “gas the jews”—a brute attempt at irony in order to annoy his girlfriend and to make his friends giggle. Again, this intent was made explicit at the beginning of the video.

Meanwhile, are the police and government scouring social media for speech and thought crimes? Because that’s exactly what this looks like. There seems a draconian overreach of state power. Then again, they already have one CCTV camera for every eleven British citizens, so what's a little more overreach?

It makes sense, though, as this is the same censorial environment that produced Labour MP Paul Flynn, the politician who recently suggested that Donald Trump—president of the USA, the UK’s mightiest ally—should be arrested for inciting racial hatred because he retweeted videos of Muslims behaving badly.

Such censorial, politically correct nonsense is to be expected in a country where more than 3,300 people were detained and questioned for trolling on social media in 2017, a rise of nearly 50 per cent in two years. That's 9 a day.

But when a man living in the free world tries to make a video of his dog giving nazi salutes, posts it to YouTube, the police will eventually show up to give everyone their best impression of the Gestapo. Did anyone ask if the Jewish community was offended by the abject implementation of state censorship and thought police? And this from the land that gave us Mill, Milton, Orwell and...Mr. Bean.

Yes, Mr. Bean. Remember when a young Oxford student was arrested for asking a police officer if he knew his horse was gay? Or what about the arrest of a young man who wore a sign saying "Scientology is a dangerous cult", which seems to me a express a point of fact? It wasn’t too long ago that Rowan Atkinson was sticking up for people like this, successfully demolishing Section 5 of the Public Order Act, helping to erase the dubious word “insulting” from the government’s authoritarian prohibitions, simply by speaking up.

Good god, what has happened since? Mr. Bean is indeed a great champion of freedom, but is he your last? What sort of bureaucratic piffle has overtaken this once great empire, and has weakened the souls of its men and women, to the extent that the post-war generations would forget the very freedoms their forefathers fought for?

The only victim of this supposed “hate crime” is it’s alleged perpetrator. But the greater crime is the indifference and reticence of the British masses, the proverbial frogs in boiling water, who get to sit and watch as authoritarianism boils around them, and their freedoms evaporate.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Well this is a first....oh wait.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

phrases such as “gas the jews” and “Sieg Heil” while images of Hitler and goose-stepping Nazis

Read my last thread and you will have a more detailed answer as to why.

I would never say that about your culture would I?

If you had been through the Hitler meat grinder you would know why.

I don't buy any of this "freedom"; "Freedom" to murder? No, we are not free. We all have certain civilized responsbilities. Not spreading hate about vulnerable minorities is one of them.

Surely you know what is happening in the UK:

www.theguardian.com...

Antisemitic incidents in UK at all-time high

Charity logs 1,382 hate incidents and 34% rise in violent assaults against Jewish people in 2017

Not so much a joke is it. You seem to think that all Jews are billionaires:

www.haaretz.com...

One Third of American Holocaust Survivors Live in Poverty, Aid Group Says

'For senior citizens that survived the atrocities of the Holocaust, many are struggling to make ends meet in the face of medical issues and the rising cost of living,' Blue Card director says

It is the same in the UK. My Gran and dad came to the UK as refugees. I have struggled with the Hitler complex all my life. It is something all Jews worry about. It is a real threat. There is that much hate against this group.

The Devil himself hates Jews particularly. He singles them out for torture. It has been the same all through history. There is no resting place. It is an old score that will eventuallly be settled.

It is up to each individual how they approach this. Know that if you go too far now you will be in trouble. Look how I have been treated on here. I did it to expose it. I have given all my ATS commentary for others to read so they have a clear angle of what anti Semitism is.

There is too much to lose now. Too many people squashed together. It has to be policed to prevent descent into mayhem and even carnage. Surely you understand this? If it is left unchecked it would become something monstrous again, 100% sure of that.

I told you yesterday what the ex CIA Director said. I will tell you again:

Everything is now weaponized.

People are dangerous weapons as they are not wholly able to think for themselves. They get hijacked and used rotten as ideological weapons. Even little pug dogs get used as weapons.

Tool up, people. It is going to be a bumpy ride.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Great thread and video.

One's joke is another's offense. It does seem as though some think that being offended should be held higher than another's freedom of expression, unless it is them that wants to express themselves. Hypocrisy in all it's glory.

a reply to: Revolution9

The Nazi regime were some of the worst censors of all time, so I find it a little ironic that those who fought Nazis would use the same tactics.

originally posted by: 3daysgone
a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Great thread and video.

One's joke is another's offense. It does seem as though some think that being offended should be held higher than another's freedom of expression, unless it is them that wants to express themselves. Hypocrisy in all it's glory.

Would you torture a woman who had been raped with jokes about her rapist in front of her day after day, year after year? That is what anti Semitism is. It is a unique form of persecution and a very ancient one.

You can ridicule me all you want. I will take it as I am a clown, but do not torment me with my abuser; you will be arrested for that and rightfully so.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Have we ever lived in a free world?

We are free to do as we are told, that freedom is relative to the enforcer.

I'm fairly certain that western countries that have the rule of law are not even close to being free, offensive speech is simply the next target .

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I have just explained to you. Do not torture people with their abusers. It is evil and wrong. It is monstrous and immoral. If you do it to a woman it is wrong. If you do it to a child it is wrong. If you torture a black person with slavery it is wrong. If you torture a Jewish person with the monster it is wrong.

It is psychological torture to do this. That is a criminal offense. It is not censorship. It is law and order.

a reply to: Revolution9

Antisemitic incidents in UK at all-time high Charity logs 1,382 hate incidents and 34% rise in violent assaults against Jewish people in 2017

Who are the one's that are committing these hate crimes. Is it just talking or is it physical abuse?

There is that much hate against this group.

I don't know if I can actually find a group that isn't hated by somebody. Can you?

originally posted by: Revolution9
a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I have just explained to you. Do not torture people with their abusers. It is evil and wrong. It is monstrous and immoral. If you do it to a woman it is wrong. If you do it to a child it is wrong. If you torture a black person with slavery it is wrong. If you torture a Jewish person with the monster it is wrong.

It is psychological torture to do this. That is a criminal offense. It is not censorship. It is law and order.

You have confused expression with violence. They’re words.

a reply to: Revolution9

Would you torture a woman who had been raped with jokes about her rapist in front of her day after day, year after year? That is what anti Semitism is. It is a unique form of persecution and a very ancient one.

I am a firm believer in say what you want, as long as you can handle the consequences. I personally would not tell rape jokes to a rape victim, but I don't believe someone should be arrested for making a video just to get his girlfriend all riled up either, as long as he doesn't physically harm someone.

Anti Simitism. Did God not give Nebuchadnezzar the power to enslave the Hebrews? Does that make God Anti Semitic?

You can ridicule me all you want. I will take it as I am a clown, but do not torment me with my abuser; you will be arrested for that and rightfully so.

I am not ridiculing you, and I do understand what it like to feel offended. Everyone does, and if you think that people who offend you should be put in prison, then almost everyone would be in prison, because everyone is offended by something.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope

originally posted by: Revolution9
a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I have just explained to you. Do not torture people with their abusers. It is evil and wrong. It is monstrous and immoral. If you do it to a woman it is wrong. If you do it to a child it is wrong. If you torture a black person with slavery it is wrong. If you torture a Jewish person with the monster it is wrong.

It is psychological torture to do this. That is a criminal offense. It is not censorship. It is law and order.

You have confused expression with violence. They’re words.

So did he break the law or not. Looks to me he has.

a reply to: Revolution9

It's not freaking torture, it's a joke in poor taste (at the worst).

I was reminded of a South Park episode I saw where Cartman says something about sending his Jewish friend Kyle to a concentration camp. Family guy has one about cows in a slaughterhouse calling the place Da-cow. No one is inciting violence, they're being dicks at the worst. I think it's funny, and I've never had any sort of problem with Jews. I like Jews.

This candyass make everything sunshine and rainbows thing is never going to work. It's annoying. I guarantee you have made a joke at some point someone somewhere would think is offensive.

Many people have a macabre sense of humor. It doesn't mean they're actually supporting Hitler, genocide, rape, running over babies or anything of the sort. It's offensiveness is part of the humor.

You don't have to like it, but you should very much respect the right of people saying what they want. As long as it isn't actually harming people like yelling fire in a theatre, let it stand. Don't be such an intellectual wuss. I don't like what you're saying, I think it's an affront to human rights, but you keep it up if you want. You should be able to speak your mind, even if other people find what you say vile. Otherwise it's mob rule and popular opinion wins out every time, which would leave us in the middle ages. Actually probably worse. Allow yourself the privilege of being offended.

I would say that the UK policy spreads “hatred and fear”

I guess it’s ok when the UK government does it

originally posted by: Robbo2006

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope

originally posted by: Revolution9
a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I have just explained to you. Do not torture people with their abusers. It is evil and wrong. It is monstrous and immoral. If you do it to a woman it is wrong. If you do it to a child it is wrong. If you torture a black person with slavery it is wrong. If you torture a Jewish person with the monster it is wrong.

It is psychological torture to do this. That is a criminal offense. It is not censorship. It is law and order.

You have confused expression with violence. They’re words.

So did he break the law or not. Looks to me he has.

A draconian and tyrannical law, perhaps.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

its illegal in Germany to do the nazi salute or shout their 'catch phrases'...

maybe your next thread should be how Germany is oppressive when it comes to free speech.
mentalist..

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

Based on the publicly available information it seems an odd choice by the COPFS to pursue this. The argument seems to be that his repeated use '. Gas the jews' was threatening but that seems to ignore the context of what he was doing.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
When YouTuber “Count Dankula” uploaded an offensive video

People always whine about free speech. The thing is that there are social norms have been put into law, and these (in the UK at least) seek to curtail offensive and hate speech, particularly when it incites people to perpetuate hate. I can say what I like, but would be quite rightly challenged if I started to bang on about stuff that is socially unacceptable because it fuels hate.

My main point would be around self-publicising YouTube bloggers. Being a dick does not mean that your action are inoffensive, or should be exempt from what is categorised as offensive.

Freedom is an illusion always has been. Hey at least I can cross the road where ever I want and eat a kinder egg.

originally posted by: testingtesting
Freedom is an illusion always has been.

That's meaningless. Freedom is not an illusion. In the UK you are free to do whatever you like, but if you do stuff that is against the accepted social norms (i.e. break the law) then you'll pay for it. Maybe, the question is "what are you not free to do which you should"?