THE SPECTRE OF THOUGHT CRIME
Rod Liddle, not one of my favourite people on the planet draws attention to the very disturbing onslaught on free speech I quote, ‘I wrote about an illiterate Muslim idiot in the north of England who posted on his Facebook site nasty things about the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, to the effect that they would ‘go to hell.’* For this, he was arrested and charged with some imaginary crime………’ http://www.spectator.co.uk/rodliddle/7724718/sense-about-sensibilities.thtml
Now leaving aside Mr Liddle’s misuse of the word illiterate, when what he means to infer is stupid, (they are not one and the same thing Mr Liddle), he is pointing to a very serious development in British life. On the same day someone spent a night in the cells for posting unpleasant things about the seriously ill footballer Fabrice Muamba. Well I can’t think of anything more sick than this, but should it be treated a crime?
As I write this someone is doing jail time for burning a Koran, whilst on Friday March 9th a Lincolnshire man was sentenced to 12 months for posting ‘offensive’ anti Islamic literature in his window. In February 3 men, Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan J Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed were found guilty at Derby Crown Court last month, of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. They distributed a leaflet, titled Death Penalty? which was distributed in the build-up to a gay pride event, in July 2010.
Ali was jailed for two years while Ahmed and Javed were given 15-month sentences.
And what about this blog space in which I have accused both Islam and Christianity of being misogynist religions and poured scorn on the belief systems of both. Am I inciting hatred? I am certainly likely to offend someone. Should I be hauled off to the nearest nick? **
The ranks of those willing to be offended grow daily, one can picture them, on hearing that a particular programme contains scenes that some may find offensive they whip off a couple of extra rounds of toast, pour themselves a mug of strong tea, take up a suitable pose and prepare to be outraged.
And do not think your self immune, next time you are in the pub and make some off colour remark beware who is listening. Or should you declare, as I overhead the other day, “Oh God the Welsh have won the Grand Slam, there is nothing worse than a triumphant Taffy.” If someone in earshot was offended they could legitimately have called the old bill, hopefully such a complaint would be dismissed, but can we be sure?
Ultimately this is not a joking matter, Thought Crime is no longer a concept contained within the pages of a dystopian novel but a living reality created out of legislation enacted by the last Labour government an administration that viewed civil liberties as merely a ‘Hampstead fetish.’
Free speech is uncomfortable, it is not just accorded to those with whom you agree, it is the right of all, including the hate obsessed BNP member, the Islamacist fruitcake and bigoted Tory peer. When we defend it we should do so even if the person whose rights are threatened we find abhorrent, otherwise it becomes meaningless. So the next time you read about some right wing obsessive being sent down for expressing unpopular and hateful opinions remember that just because you read the Guardian and hold all the right opinions you may not always be immune.
*This is of course deeply offensive, but as for burning in Hell, if someone declares this to be your own fate I would treat it in the same sanguine fashion as if being informed that you are to be suffocated in your sleep by the Honey Monster.
**Police station
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Now leaving aside Mr Liddle’s misuse of the word illiterate, when what he means to infer is stupid, (they are not one and the same thing Mr Liddle), he is pointing to a very serious development in British life. On the same day someone spent a night in the cells for posting unpleasant things about the seriously ill footballer Fabrice Muamba. Well I can’t think of anything more sick than this, but should it be treated a crime?
As I write this someone is doing jail time for burning a Koran, whilst on Friday March 9th a Lincolnshire man was sentenced to 12 months for posting ‘offensive’ anti Islamic literature in his window. In February 3 men, Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan J Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed were found guilty at Derby Crown Court last month, of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. They distributed a leaflet, titled Death Penalty? which was distributed in the build-up to a gay pride event, in July 2010.
Ali was jailed for two years while Ahmed and Javed were given 15-month sentences.
We are supposed of course, like all right thinking people, to approve of these sentences. It is indeed difficult to read any of the stomach churning leaflets put out by Mr Ali and his pals without wanting to vomit, but I cannot help feeling uneasy that they are doing time for things they believe. They hold, correctly, that they are merely propagating the word of the Koran. Instead of holding these views up to the light of debate and indeed ridicule they have been turned into martyrs.
But hey you say, these laws are only being used against unpleasant people of whom we can all disapprove. Well that is what the young man who jokingly texed that unless Robin Hood airport ‘gets its shit together I am going to blow the place up.’ Arrested under anti terror legislation he has found himself unemployable and with the shadow of having been a ‘terrorist suspect’ hanging over his life.And what about this blog space in which I have accused both Islam and Christianity of being misogynist religions and poured scorn on the belief systems of both. Am I inciting hatred? I am certainly likely to offend someone. Should I be hauled off to the nearest nick? **
The ranks of those willing to be offended grow daily, one can picture them, on hearing that a particular programme contains scenes that some may find offensive they whip off a couple of extra rounds of toast, pour themselves a mug of strong tea, take up a suitable pose and prepare to be outraged.
And do not think your self immune, next time you are in the pub and make some off colour remark beware who is listening. Or should you declare, as I overhead the other day, “Oh God the Welsh have won the Grand Slam, there is nothing worse than a triumphant Taffy.” If someone in earshot was offended they could legitimately have called the old bill, hopefully such a complaint would be dismissed, but can we be sure?
Ultimately this is not a joking matter, Thought Crime is no longer a concept contained within the pages of a dystopian novel but a living reality created out of legislation enacted by the last Labour government an administration that viewed civil liberties as merely a ‘Hampstead fetish.’
Free speech is uncomfortable, it is not just accorded to those with whom you agree, it is the right of all, including the hate obsessed BNP member, the Islamacist fruitcake and bigoted Tory peer. When we defend it we should do so even if the person whose rights are threatened we find abhorrent, otherwise it becomes meaningless. So the next time you read about some right wing obsessive being sent down for expressing unpopular and hateful opinions remember that just because you read the Guardian and hold all the right opinions you may not always be immune.
Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.
