You see there’s my point……is it now a fact, and I’m not disputing that you are both correct, that you can go to jail for telling racist, sexist or somewhat distasteful ‘jokes’ in a private manner, to a private group, to people who you know wont be offended and wont take offence ? Of course I could understand if these jokes were sent to people, purely to cause offence or distress to the person who received them, which the judge it seems agreed wasn’t the case. So are we now all liable to prosecution if someone else finds “jokes”, whatever they are, offensive ? Surely that’s a bit “big brother” ?
Just had a very brief look and it seems that the act should apply to someone “sending letters of other articles FOR THE PURPOSE OF CAUSING STRESS OR ANXIETY”……but surely if it’s a private message, meant as a joke (however offensive or obscene I might find it) and taken as that by the respondee…..then surely it can’t be an offence ? To me it just opens up a whole can of worms.
It was a WhatsApp group, so wider than a private message. But I suspect the two ex-coppers will appeal on the grounds you state. It seems like a statute open to wide interpretation.
But to emphasise the point, WhatsApp is supposed to be secure and encrypted so can’t see it getting anymore private. And your final sentence makes my point far better than I did…..it’s all open to wide interpretation, and “offence” and boundaries are surely a very individual thing. That’s where I see the problem.
Then let the *****phile have their groups, let the racists of a colours and creeds have their pages, let all the conspiraloons have their sites..and the women haters, the men haters. Let the animal torturers have sites, the sadists have their torture pages open... let the dark Web free. But keep it away from me...and my impressionable grandchildren please. I pass over to you Stainsey how to do that
With respect Beth I haven’t got a clue what you are talking about ? We are supposed to be talking about jokes….offensive or otherwise. What have sadists, animal torturers and *****philes got to do with it ? You sometimes go off on some bizarre, weird tangent……
I’m not familiar with this, could you post a link? The stuff I have been reading about coppers is the weak vetting which has allowed people with links to organised crime, and convictions for indecent exposure and domestic abuse to become policemen with no restrictions.The Inspectorate of Constabulary looked at 725 vetting files for applicants to join the police, thought 131 of these should have been seriously reviewed and 68 rejected outright. Are you referring to the ‘banter’ between members of the WhatsApp group which Wayne Couzens was in?
What's a joke to someone could be offensive to another. If you and your mates " enjoy' sadism, "funny" racist jokes, the humiliation of women , the rape of children.....is it okay ...if it is private. Or is it still offensive...and does it underlie a sick mind, is really my question, and should be yours Stainsey
That's entirely my point Beth….and open to question. Just ‘cos it’s sick, depraved and offensive surely shouldn’t mean you should do time for it ? And in answer to your last question…no it really doesn’t underlie a sick mind. Humour is and always should be subjective and is situational….as a famous comic once said recently (Ricky Gervais ?)..just ‘cos you make a joke about a *****phile..doesn’t actually mean you agree with *****hilia. Do you think Jimmy Carr really thinks the Gypsies were right to be gassed during the Holocaust ? Or do you think him or Gervais have an underlying “sick” mind ? They’ve both made *****phile jokes
The thing is, if you start to prosecute people for what they say in a private forum (however abhorrent) it’s a fairly short journey to prosecuting people for what you believe they think as well. I’d say that’s a pretty scary place to go.
You'd be looking at a couple of centuries of porridge if you got grassed! Gonna have to be more prudent as to who we all send our jokes tobin future if the thought police are now mobilised.
It really has got me thinking. Weirdly enough, and I know you might be shocked at this, I do sometimes fall out with former friends
It's hard to delineate between someone telling a sick funny joke and some one telling a sick funny joke who has a deranged mind...until something happens...and then thanks to selective retrospectivenes, then everyone knew. Something happened in that police What's App ... Sarah Everard was murdered...and so the whole ring is punished to various degrees. The Wembley Park case where they sent out of photos of the murdered sisters, to a their mates..is just morally wrong. And they diserve punishment. I do not think you can disagree with that Stainsy
