I don't agree. What we never hear is someone being jailed for shouting "******" at someone in the street, a Judge in such a case would doubtless say "he was sending out a message that this sort of behaviour would not be tolerated", that would not be an attack on Free Speech, it would just be a Judge sending out his message.
Let's go a little bit bizarre then. If you're on a train and you hear 2 people saying the most appallling things about a section of society and do nothing about it how are you going to feel if you turn on the telly 6 weeks later to see that they've carried out an attack on representatives of the said group. If you'd have reported it that attack could have been prevented.
Awful But I'm sure with my charm, wit and lack of an ignore function on Scotrail they'd have killed me first as I tried to educate them
I covered this when I mentioned "Common Sense". You keep going back to the OBAF, I made it clear that this has NOTHING to do with that piece of legislation.
Presumably they declined to do so on the basis that some smart arse would make up an offensive song and, when confronted by the police, claim it wasn't on the list so they'd done nothing wrong. It's what I would do
Unless I'm mistaken, shouting "******", is racist and therefore illegal and therefore an abuse of free speech? Punish the abuser of free speech via applicable law. Singing "up to yer knees in fenian blood", while offensive is not illegal. To jail somebody for it, in my opinion, is a farcical attempt to deal with this country's sectarianism, but is moreover an attack on free speech. Let them away with it and our free speech will continue to be eroded. I will defend your right to say anything you want regardless of how offensive it may be to me as long as what you are saying does not break any law. If the judge in the OP read GC we would all be in the jail. Where does it end? Anybody who makes a sick joke? Anybody who laughs at a sick joke? Maddie is still world hide n' seek champion.
Singing "up to yer knees in fenian blood " has always been an arrestable offence under Breach of the Peace laws, likewise "All ******s must die", or "I hope all Gays get Aids". They fall under the remit of "Hate Speech" rather than "Free Speech".
Aye, and I explained that the guy who wrote the piece does not know what he's talking about, the OBAF is NOT and never has been an attack on Free Speech.
