We are very much under attack from the government who are almost certainly trying to stop us from having freedom of speech... in fact the government doesn't want us to say anything at all... especially not on twitter.
What with the recent imprisonment of the infamous Muamba tweeter Liam Stacey, who said something along the lines of 'LOL! Fuck #Muamba he's dead!!!' followed by a stream of 'vile racist comments.'
I am interested to know what these comments were; I have been, from time to time, quite aggressive on Twitter and would like to know the line between harmless trolling and being a criminal. His charge was 'racially aggravated public order offences'. Similar to Emma West, the racist train lady (who recieved a suspended sentence for abusing members of the public, on a tram between Wimbledon and Croydon.)
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| NIGGERAGUAAAAAAAAAARGHAHAHAHAHAHAAAARGH!!! |
There are reasons why Emma west was given a suspended sentence and Liam Stacey wasn't. West was unemployed and under great stress having to cope with a son who had a rare genetic dissorder which made his face look like it was made of lego. (see above picture.) And of course, Liam Stacey was Welsh and therefore didn't have the same rights as actual humans. What is worrying, is that death threats were made against from multiple accounts to Liam, is threatening behaviour not a crime? Why are these not followed up? I may or may not disagree with the sentencing, and to be honest its been so many weeks now that I have forgotten what my opinion is, but if you are going to throw a man in prison for public order offences on twitter, then should you not throw people who make death threats on twitter in jail as well?
#CUNextTuesday.
Another Twitter crime is being thrashed out in the court. With tweeter, OllyCromwell about to be sentenced for implying that a bexley councellor was a cunt, you can see the backlash against Bexley council here and here amongst other places...
Only, he wasn't actually arrested and charged for swearing; he was charged and found guilty of ‘incitement to commit criminal damage’ which he did, when he posted the address of a councilor and encouraged followers to post shit through his letterbox.
I consider myself quite 'right on', I like to read the Guardian, I don't like the Tories, I listen to Dr Dre and have watched Roots; I even watched Steven Soderbergs 2 part biopic of Che even though it was all in Spanish, but I can't help feeling that this is less about freedom of speech than it is about people who just don't know when to stop. If a person did a flyer campaign stating that poo should be posted through a letterbox it would be a simple case of incitement, but the fact that it has happened over the internet has highlighted a grey area; people who thought they could say whatever they want without consequence have had a bit of a rude awakening. Should these people be sent to prison? probably not, these are not actual criminals, not in the sense that Charles Manson or Ian Huntley are criminals, but if you take the time to make sure the grammar is correct on your racist responses or encourage people to post poo into someone elses home, then you should deal with whatever comes your way I find it very difficult to sympathise.
If it were illegal to say cunt on twitter then there are 50 tweeters this week heading for the slammer, including me; the fact is, it isn't, our freedom of speech is safe. Even if we do say cunt. Dudley Moore famously said the word cunt on tape over 30 times. He remains at large to this day.
So it turns out that the word in question isn't actually illegal on twitter, neither is the word felch, frig, vagina and all other variants of the female anatomy are okay, providing you don't attach it to racist comments or comments encouraging people to post faeces through a local councilors letterbox. If you consider these laws an affront to your human rights then pardon my french: but I think you're a cunt.
