Kid arrested in UK for facebook post

[Eric Blair]

hilarious

http://rt.com/news/afghanistan-faceb...ge-arrest-439/

[Eulogy]

yeah we do a couple things better over here at least

[Trotskilicious]

lol what would make you think that e

[redbreegull]

"racially aggravated offense"

what the fuck kind of law is that

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

lol what would make you think that e

....we don't arrest people for facebook posts like that....? and if someone did it would never hold up?

[Eric Blair]

The case will definitely get thrown out. It would have just been some cantankerous police higher up wanting to flex his patriotic muscle and doing something that is going to earn him the ire of the entire country.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by Eric Blair

The case will definitely get thrown out. It would have just been some cantankerous police higher up wanting to flex his patriotic muscle and doing something that is going to earn him the ire of the entire country.

regardless, the US is much better on free speech than just about anywhere else. i'm not sure that sentence even needs a "just about."

[redbreegull]

in modern times with the light of mass media scrutiny shining on everyone all the time, I would agree. In the past though, the US government has committed some pretty atrocious free speech violations

[Eric Blair]

I'm sure that's true. Although, I a am also pretty sure the kind of stuff this kid was arrested for is published in the Morning Star all the time.

Actually, NZ and Australia could probably match the US on freedom of speech, we just don't have the same reasons to exercise it exactly.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by redbreegull

in modern times with the light of mass media scrutiny shining on everyone all the time, I would agree. In the past though, the US government has committed some pretty atrocious free speech violations

you're gonna have to provide an example.

only thing coming to my mind is this (and i probably wouldn't call it "atrocious"):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplin..._New_Hampshire

which hasn't ever really been followed since. i don't think. obviously i don't have exhaustive knowledge but still. our record is pretty damn good, especially when speaking comparatively.

i think obscenity laws are generally bullshit but that's kind of less important than political (broadly defined) speech, which we basically don't limit at all.

[redbreegull]

I'd have to look up exact numbers but I am pretty sure the US has sent tens of thousands of people to jail under the espionage act since WWI

Originally Posted by Eric Blair

Actually, NZ and Australia could probably match the US on freedom of speech,

don't these jerkoff countries make companies censor all the videogames

when an australian shoots a zombie in left 4 dead nothing happens to the zombie except it falls over

[Eric Blair]

Yeah, Australia is pretty fucked when it comes to gore and porn actually. But I don't tend to view this as a freedom of speech issue - I don't know, that might be a mistake on my part, but freedom of speech and freedom of expression aren't always equivalent.

[Eric Blair]

New Zealand doesn't do anything like that though. I play Left for Dead with the same amount of gore you do, thank god.

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

....we don't arrest people for facebook posts like that....?

actually i'm convinced that if the US did arrest someone for something like this, nobody would report it because terrists r bad

besides the fact that the federal government has it within its power to do so, whether it has or not yet isn't really important; it's all about whether it can

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

regardless, the US is much better on free speech than just about anywhere else. i'm not sure that sentence even needs a "just about."

do you either discount mccarthyism or just not really know about it

the persecution of socialists from Eugene V. Debs onward is pretty much proof that america will do anything within and beyond its power to suppress dissident thought & speech

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by Graveflower

don't these jerkoff countries make companies censor all the videogames

when an australian shoots a zombie in left 4 dead nothing happens to the zombie except it falls over

And then there's this
http://nocleanfeed.com/

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

actually i'm convinced that if the US did arrest someone for something like this, nobody would report it because terrists r bad

besides the fact that the federal government has it within its power to do so, whether it has or not yet isn't really important; it's all about whether it can

Hate crime laws are vague and open to wide interpretations. We should really scrap them all.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

Hate crime laws are vague and open to wide interpretations. We should really scrap them all.

i don't think most of the people who bitch about hate crimes laws actually know anything about them or what they actually do.

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

Hate crime laws are vague and open to wide interpretations. We should really scrap them all.

satan is picking out a room for you in your catholic hell as we speak

[Trotskilicious]

i suppose, i'm personally concerned with thought police

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

i suppose, i'm personally concerned with thought police

Originally Posted by Eulogy

i don't think most of the people who bitch about hate crimes laws actually know anything about them or what they actually do.

yep

[Eulogy]

and additionally, motive and intent are pretty frequently considered when it comes to charging and sentencing.

but no one complains about the distinction between first and second degree murder being "thought policing." but even setting this point aside, i don't think anyone knows what hate crimes laws are meant to do. they allow the federal government to intervene when local law enforcement drops the ball as a result of local law enforcement being incomprehensibly racist in practice. see: trayvon martin. and they can affect sentencing. which i think is perfectly acceptable (based on the idea that more people are victimized as a result of them).

edit: apparently i'm off base in invoking trayvon martin.

other points still stand.

[Trotskilicious]

whatever dude

[Eulogy]

really? you're very wrong. try to learn something.

it's so repulsive that you try to make a difference but you still refuse to recognize your wrongs. gross.

"whatever dude"

[Trotskilicious]

that's just, like, your opinion, man.

[great poster]

A police spokesperson said that the teen "didn't make his point very well and that is why he has landed himself in bother."

jesus christ it's like the UK is one big internet forum. shit shouldn't be that way.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by mickyshambles

no, you arrest people for dancing.

no we don't

[TuralyonW3]

if by dancing you mean like raping

[Trotskilicious]

hey guys lets remember that a state in our country is not going to convict a guy who shot a child that was armed with tea and skittles