Hate Crime / Hate Speech

[Theland]

I believe crime is crime, and the laws against hate crime, and in particular hate speech have already begun to undermine our freedoms.
I should have the right to express my thoughts and emotions as I feel fit and not censor myself worrying about the thin skinned being offended.
Just too many people are now finding offence everywhere and in every situation.
Give me the good old days when a committee was run by a chairman, not a chairperson, or even worse, by a chair.
What are your opinions?

[ummmm]

You have freedom of speech, it's just how you word it.

[Theland]

Thanks love. Oops, that's sexist. Sorry.

[Theland]

I know Mohammed was a paedophile, marrying his youngest wife, Aisha, when she was six, and consummating the marriage three years later. But to broadcast this fact is offensive to some. Hate speech.

[Jackdaw33]

Load of crap. Dare to mildly criticise anyone one or anything and you are immediately accused of a 'hate' crime. Thanks for that, Mr Blair.

[Theland]

The police are now thought police.

[murraymints]

I agree wholeheartedly..too many PC thin skins around these days...

[woofgang]

Theland, did you like it so much in the dungeon?

[Islay]

What difference does it make to your life if they are called the 'chair' instead of the 'chairperson'?
We have free speech but the difference is that there are some people ( I don't know if I should include you in this) that think they have the right to spout rubbish about other creeds etc and it is just 'free speech'!

[Jackdaw33]

//We have free speech but the difference is that there are some people ( I don't know if I should include you in this) that think they have the right to spout rubbish \\

Oh, the irony, coming from you.

[douglas9401]

'Free speech' within the parameters laid down by wet types who have no idea what goes on in the real world.

Very Orwellian

[Islay]

Oh bless jackdaw your first swipe of the day and at me.
Thank you

[kvalidir]

Free speech is fabulous and something to be cherished but it comes, and always has done by those ho appreciate it's worth, ith a certain level of responsibility which decrees that you ought to say things which are massive generalisations ( hence it's fine to say I don't like that black guy, but not I don't like black guys) or anything which promotes hate because you are generalising. (I ought to point out that there is not a single person in the UK who doesn't have a great odd grandparents who would not now be considered a paedophile as well, marriage laws regarding age didn't exists at all until Victorian times, so pointing out Mohammed's young wife, as its historical, is really counter productive and a perfect example. Say your thoughts by all means Theland but just say them in a way that does not cause offence.

[douglas9401]

Nature has given us a way of dealing with those offended by normal, everyday speech.

It's called the shoulder shrug.

[mibn2cweus]

A snake denied its rattle is no less likely to bite.

[Peter Pedant]

//I know Mohammed was a paedophile, marrying his youngest wife, Aisha, when she was six,//

all this is very 21st century censure of a 7th century event innit - I mean only 1300 y ago.

what about witch trials - which trials were those you may ask - last one 1709 here but 1748 in France
Burning of heretics ( last in 1558 or thereabouts )
or even the Allies sending back cosssacks to Stalin ( 1945 - the Betrayal of Yalta - eliciting howls of 'betrayal of whattle - tar ? ' from the standard ABer )

we all have er cultural mistakes we would rather forget.....
Partition 1947 - institutional child abuse etc etc

and having a mizz chairperson I suggest has nothing to do wivvit. My opinion of course

[Peter Pedant]

// The police are now thought police.//
nope
there has to be an action - in this case speech
thought alone is not enough

but hey ! just say something and it has to be true
//The police are now thought police.//

a bit like:
"MI5 and the Duke of Edinburgh conspired to kill Princess Di" - this statement is obviously true to any Arab - try it and see !

[vetuste_ennemi]

//all this is very 21st century censure of a 7th century event innit - I mean only 1300 y ago...we all have er cultural mistakes we would rather forget...//

What would likely happen to somebody in Pakistan who admitted that the fifty year old Mohammed's having sex with a nine year old was a "cultural mistake"?

[Spicerack]

So Theland shouldn't 'coin' phrases like 'thought police' until we've developed telepathy?

[Peter Pedant]

In July 1885, William Thomas Stead, editor.... four articles describing an extensive underground sex trafficking ring that reportedly sold children to adults. His reports focused on a 13-year-old girl, who was sold for £5 then taken to a midwife to have her virginity verified.

so all this fol-de-rol about child sex dates from as long ago as 1885

good one .....

[Peter Pedant]

oh Stead did time for buying a child with intent to ...
one or two years I think
and then went down wivda Titanic in 1912