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Politics, politics, politics (so long and thanks for all the fish)

In actual politics, seems there are measures coming in to ease burdens on the poorest classes, which is good to see. Not saying everything so far is the be all and end all, but adding up they will help.

Decent enough start
 
MartyFunkhouser said:
In actual politics, seems there are measures coming in to ease burdens on the poorest classes, which is good to see. Not saying everything so far is the be all and end all, but adding up they will help.

Decent enough start
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It will be interesting if they tackle some of the biggies while they have momentum and goodwill. Like breaking the binding of the price of electricity to the price of gas. Or taking the profit making out of social care (nationalise it)
 
MartyFunkhouser said:
Yeo, most normal people manage to navigate life saying what they want, you have to wonder what exactly it is people are desperate to say that they feel they cant
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People don't have to be "desperate" to say something for free speech to matter. The whole point is that you don't find out where the line is until someone crosses it.

There are plenty of examples where speech has been curtailed or punished. In the UK, people have been arrested or prosecuted over offensive social media posts under laws like the Communications Act and Public Order Act, and there have been debates over police recording "non-crime hate incidents" based on lawful speech. In the US, while the First Amendment gives much stronger protection against government censorship, there are still examples such as protesters being arrested under laws later struck down by courts, attempts by public officials to pressure platforms over speech, or government employees facing restrictions on certain kinds of expression.

The issue isn't whether "normal people" can usually say what they want. Most can. The question is whether the state should have broad powers to decide what opinions or jokes cross the line. Free speech isn't really tested by popular opinions—it's tested by speech that people dislike.
 
Mikey10 said:
Doesn’t she still present the swimming on BBC? Wasn’t Lineker taken to task for expressing political opinions on social media?
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Yes she does. She’s very passionate about fairness in swimming and women’s sport in general. I thought Lineker was in hot water because he shared anti semitic posts on Twitter?
 
Jurgen the German said:
People don't have to be "desperate" to say something for free speech to matter. The whole point is that you don't find out where the line is until someone crosses it.

There are plenty of examples where speech has been curtailed or punished. In the UK, people have been arrested or prosecuted over offensive social media posts under laws like the Communications Act and Public Order Act, and there have been debates over police recording "non-crime hate incidents" based on lawful speech. In the US, while the First Amendment gives much stronger protection against government censorship, there are still examples such as protesters being arrested under laws later struck down by courts, attempts by public officials to pressure platforms over speech, or government employees facing restrictions on certain kinds of expression.

The issue isn't whether "normal people" can usually say what they want. Most can. The question is whether the state should have broad powers to decide what opinions or jokes cross the line. Free speech isn't really tested by popular opinions—it's tested by speech that people dislike.
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Ok and all of that is fine, but can you give me a solid example of one if not more of those times you think someone has been punished and silenced in the UK because of something that have said? I mean a real life example where you think they have been wrongly punished.
 
MartyFunkhouser said:
Ok and all of that is fine, but can you give me a solid example of one if not more of those times you think someone has been punished and silenced in the UK because of something that have said? I mean a real life example where you think they have been wrongly punished.
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Sure. Whether you agree with what they said isn't really the point—free speech is about protecting speech you dislike too.

Count Dankula (Mark Meechan)
was convicted under the Communications Act after posting a satirical YouTube video teaching his girlfriend's pug to perform a Nazi salute as a joke. The court found it was "grossly offensive", but many people—including those who found the joke distasteful—argued that a criminal conviction for an obvious attempt at comedy was a disproportionate restriction on free expression.

You don't have to like either person's views to think the state shouldn't be investigating or prosecuting people over lawful expression unless it directly incites violence or amounts to genuine criminal harassment. That's the distinction I'm making.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Sure. Whether you agree with what they said isn't really the point—free speech is about protecting speech you dislike too.

Count Dankula (Mark Meechan)
was convicted under the Communications Act after posting a satirical YouTube video teaching his girlfriend's pug to perform a Nazi salute as a joke. The court found it was "grossly offensive", but many people—including those who found the joke distasteful—argued that a criminal conviction for an obvious attempt at comedy was a disproportionate restriction on free expression.

You don't have to like either person's views to think the state shouldn't be investigating or prosecuting people over lawful expression unless it directly incites violence or amounts to genuine criminal harassment. That's the distinction I'm making.
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That one falls pretty much either side of the line for me. I think he took a stroke saying it was a joke. Teaching your dog to react to "gas the Jews" and "sieg heil" would take some hell of a lot of training........comes from a fairly weird place too. I am not offended by it, even as a Jew, but I think now and I thought at the time that the "juxtaposition" line was BS, but of course I can't prove it (wasn't my place to).
 
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