October 25, 2005
No Speech Allowed in Britain
The British government is working on a law that will pretty much outlaw
speech in England. Sure, that might not be their intent, but the law they are working on will have that effect.
The law, called "The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill," will make it a crime to "insult," "ridicule," or complain about someone's beliefs. Those who violate the law will be subject to up to 7 years in jail.
If that law passes and I walk down the street telling a witch that "Jesus Saves," I could go to jail. Of course, if the witch replies back, "Burn in hell," I'm sure the witch could go to jail too. I sure hope you people have an awful lot of jail space over there because as written, this law could put just about the whole country in jail.
Of course it won't -- and that's what makes the law even worse: "the attorney-general will have the power of veto over any criminal action."
So if this law goes through, the attorney-general will literally have the complete power to imprison absolutely anyone he doesn't happen to like -- as everyone will break the law, but he gets to determine who gets punished for breaking the law.
Don't worry, Americans, we're darn close to a law like this, thanks to "people" like the ACLU.
Posted by: Ogre at
10:02 AM
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1
I hadn't heard about this. I support alot of what they are doing in GB, but this isn't something that looks to good. I doubt they will follow up on too much of it though. I hope they won't.
Posted by: Raven at October 25, 2005 09:04 PM (3kz8d)
2
They go the right way for awhile, then they go the wrong way. They're too close to the EU for common sense.
Posted by: Ogre at October 25, 2005 09:19 PM (iJFc9)
3
They were also smart in that even though they joined the EU, they didn't let the pound be sucked in the Euro quagmire. If they ever decided to drop out, they wouldn't have to extricate their currency.
Personally, I think the EU is/was/always has been a bad idea for Europe, and this is alreadt being borne out by events.
This new speech legislation probably won't survive in its present form, more responsible MPs will undoubtedly rewrite most of it to include broadcasters and people who are in the business of being listened to by others, such as clergymen and civic leaders, rather than the man on the street. Of course, in these days of sheer global madness, anything is possible and I may be dead wrong. :-)
Posted by: Seth at October 26, 2005 04:12 AM (MyOr7)
4
If they change it that way, Seth, that just creates even more problems -- now you're giving freedom of speech to only a few, select, individuals (who will have to agree to a certain speech code to be allowed to speak freely).
Posted by: Ogre at October 26, 2005 07:02 AM (/k+l4)
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