Posts Tagged ‘free speech’
Free Speech: Police Arrest Child For Writing About Shooting A Dinosaur With A Gun
TO the South Carolina in the US of A, where 16-year-old Alex Stone has been arrested after his cretive writing assignment failed the censors:
“I could understand if they made him re-write it because he did have “gun” in it. But a pet dinosaur?” said Alex’s mother Karen Gray.”I mean first of all, we don’t have dinosaurs anymore. Second of all, he’s not even old enough to buy a gun.”
Investigators say the teacher contacted school officials after seeing the message containing the words “gun” and “take care of business,” and police were then notified on Tuesday.
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Posted: 25th, August 2014 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Free Speech Watch: Watching The James Foley Murder Is A Crime Unless You’re In Uniform
DID you watch the video of James Foley being murdered? Have you searched the internet for stills from it?
If you do see it, take care. Looking can make you a criminal.
Scotland Yard says that “viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under terrorism legislation”.
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Posted: 20th, August 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Policing Free Speech Takes Up Half Of The Force’s Time
CHIEF Constable Alex Marshall, head of the College of Policing told BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action that policing social media is full-time job:
“As people have moved their shopping online and their communications online, they’ve also moved their insults, their abuse and their threats online, so I see that it won’t be long before pretty much every investigation that the police conduct will have an online element to it.. in a typical day where perhaps they deal with a dozen calls, they might expect that at least half of them, whether around antisocial behaviour or abuse or threats of assault may well relate to social media, Facebook, Twitter or other forms.”
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War On Free Speech: The UCL Student Union Bans Fascists And Talking About Fascists
THE UCL Student Union has banned the college’s Nietzsche Club. The Union write beneath the headline “Motion to the Union Council: Fight Fascism”:
This Union notes
That a group positioning itself as a “student club about traditionalist art and philosophy” and as “Tradition UCL”, has started operating at UCL.
That this group has been putting up posters with their contact details around UCL campus.
That their posters’ heading reads “Too much political correctness?”, and they advertise a study of the philosophers Nietzsche, de Benoist, Heidegger and Evola[1].
That a second poster appeared around four weeks after the previous one had first been put up, bearing the title “Equality is a false god” and, once again, advertising the philosophers de Benoist, Heidegger and Evola for study.
That on this second poster the group has repositioned itself as a “Nietzsche Club” and altered its contact details to include a new email address.
That the aforementioned philosophers and thinkers are on the extreme-right, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, homophobic, anti-Marxist, anti-worker and have had connections, direct or indirect, with Italian fascism and German Nazism.
You might not agree with the Nietzsche Club. But when did students at universities become censorious?
This Union believes
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War On Free Speech: School Suspends Teenagers For Talking About Not Wearing School Uniforms
THE War on Free Speech spots 24 students at Cowan Road Middle School, Spalding County, Atlanta, suspended for reading and responding to a Facebook post.
Of course, that could be worse. In the UK you can be jailed for that sort of thing.
The Facebook post that got the students rusticated was once encouraging them peers to break the school’s dress code during the final week of classes. The idea was for them to “wear red” on Monday.
One 7th Grade student says her response “I’m in” got her busted.
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Donald Sterling And The Right To Private Speech
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, right, and V. Stiviano, left, watch the Clippers play the Los Angeles Lakers during an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 19, 2010.
WHEN Donald Sterling’s private phone calls became public knowledge, the media began the feeding frenzy.
Bill Maher took a view:
“Last week when President Obama was asked about the Sterling episode, he said, ‘When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, just let them talk.’ But Sterling didn’t advertise. He was bugged. And while he may not be worth defending, the 4th Amendment is.”
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War On Free Speech: Robert Riley Jailed For Offending The Twitter Mob
THE war on free speech claims Robert Riley, jailed for making comments on twitter about Leeds school teacher Ann Maguire, who was stabbed to death by a pupil.
Riley tweets under the nom-de-dickhead @bucketmouth. He called Maguire “miss prissy knickers”. He said he would have murdered the rest of the “bastard teachers too”. His full tweet went:
“I wouldn’t have just killed miss prissy knickers Maguire. I’d have stabbed all the bastard teachers.”
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Josie Cunningham Wants Stabbing, Punching And Shooting, Says The Righteous Twitter Mob
JOSIE Cunningham is the victim of a Twitter hunt. Righteous of Twitter is in favour of killing the mum-of-two who said she would abort her child to appear on Big Brother. These clear thinkers would leave Josie’s children motherless and possibly orphaned. The “bitch”, “c*nt” and “slag” had it coming. We’ve compiled a selection of the more robust tweets. They all seem sincere and devoid of humour. And, remember, that what you say on Twitter can earn you a prison sentence two and a police raid.
But there is a caveat, if the Twitter police don’t like you (see Emma West should be raped and “Let’s hunt him down”) you really can say what you like. Free Speech, it turns out out, is only free on Twitter if the illiberal mob agree that their target is fair game and won’t snitch on you.
Let’s kick off with a call for the children to be taken away from their mother, whose been jailed for having an abortion:
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Enemy Of Free Speech Jim Ardis Executes The ‘Beyond Parody’ Defence
THE Journal Star has caught up with Jacob Elliott. He was arrested in the war on free speech. The Mayor or Peoria, one Jim Ardis, was very upset at the fake Twitter account, @Peoriamayor. He called the police.
Rather than laugh at Mr Ardis and advise him to respond to the spoof blog with humour and smiles, the police thought he had made a good point. How very dare anyone mock the Mayor. You can mock Jesus, God, Mohammed and even George Clooney, but mocking the Mayor of Peoria is a step too far.
Three judges agreed.
Judge Kirk Schoebein signed off on a warrant seeking subscriber information from Twitter.
Judge Lisa Wilson approved a warrant for Comcast to find out where the person who used the Internet to access Twitter lived
Judge Kim Kelley signed the warrant to search the home of the alleged parodists.
Respect for the man and his office must be preserved.
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Posted: 23rd, April 2014 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
War On Free Speech: Starkville, Mississippi Aldermen Want Twitter Parodist Arrested
THE War on Free Speech marches into Starkville, Mississippi, where police are seeking the master criminals who lampooned Starkville Aldermen David Little and Ben Carver using the Twitter accounts @DavidLittleBOA and @BenCarverPray.
The Daily Dolt notes:
The two aldermen came under fire recently after instigating the removal of Starkville’s highly popular Chief Administration Officer Lynn Spruill without providing any reason for the coup other than Carver’s comment that he “prayed” about it and God told him to kick her to the curb (hence the parody handle @BenCarverPrays).
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Posted: 18th, April 2014 | In: Politicians | Comments (3)
Ilinois Mayor Jim Ardis Joins The War Against Free Speech: Police Raid Home Of Twitter Parodists
MAYOR Jim Ardis of Peoria, Illinois, has no sense of humour. If you parody him on the internet, he will be upset.
Ilinois police raided a house suspected to be housing someone who was parodying Ardis on the Twitter account @Peoriamayor. The seven police officers on the raid found three people in the residence. They grabbed them all. They then visited two more housemates at their places of work, and brought them in for questioning.
Michelle Pratt, 27, was one alleged tweeter seized by the Peoria Police Department. She tells the Journal Star:
“They just asked me about the Twitter account, if I knew anything about it… They brought me in like I was a criminal. They said they had a search warrant and took all the electronic devices that had Internet access. They said there had been an Internet crime that occurred at this residence.”
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Posted: 18th, April 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Free Tony Miano: If You Love Free Speech Let The Anti-Gay Christian Preacher Talk
OUR increasingly intolerant society, which seeks to be offended by anything and then whine about it until the offender is shamed into conformity, has seen to it that a preacher has been arrested in Dundee.
American street evangelist Tony Miano had been talking about sexual sin. Mr Miano – a former policeman in Los Angeles – was in fully cry, telling passers by about which sins Jesus could save them from – adultery, promiscuity, homosexuality – when a woman took offence. She said that as the mother of a gay man she was offended.
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Posted: 11th, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (9)
London School of Economics Apologises For Banning Free Speech
FREEDOM of Speech is under attack on your student campuses. The London School of Economics (LSE) banned Chris Moos and Abhishek Phandis, of the student Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (LSEASH), from wearing Jesus and Mo cartooons at the SU Freshers’ Fair on 3 October.
It’s not the Islamofascists and funny, dangerous foreigners eroding our free speech; it’s us.
But it’s all about equality, isn’t it? Only, if everyone gets to be equal, who gets to be free?
The University of Birmingham’s code of practice on freedom of speech on campus is long. A nine-page list of codes for being free and saying what you want in public. Because free speech needs a lot of explaining when it’s not free.
The University of Bolton actually wants students to debate what can be talked about before any event:
APPENDIX 1
Anyone involved in organising a meeting or other activity, or processing a room booking should consider whether there is a possibility that the speaker may not be able to enter or leave the building safely and/or have the freedom within the law to deliver their speech; or that a breach of the civil or criminal law may be committed. The following is an indicative list of circumstances which might give rise to a reasonable apprehension that disruption or disorder may occur.
You know, the kind of things students might want to talk about are only allowed to be talked about with official approval lest the sensitive be upset. This is great:
(a) where the subject-matter of the meeting or activity includes in whole or in part Animal experimentation Immigration and nationality policy The supposed superiority or otherwise of racial/ethnic/religious groupings Blood sports Genocide A current or recent war (or revolution) Sexual abuse of children and paedophilia Abortion Drugs policy Terrorism Other local or national controversial matters
(b) when the guest or visiting speaker includes Any current Member of the House of Commons or Lords A present or former representative of any political party which has put forward candidates at a British or Irish Parliament election in the last 20 years Any member of the British or an overseas Royal family Any diplomat or the representative of a foreign power Any person who has previously been prevented from delivering a speech or whose presence has threatened a breach of the peace at the University or any other Higher Education Institution
(c) where the subject matter might be considered to be of a blasphemous (3) nature (not just in respect of Christianity), obscene or defamatory. This list is provided for guidance and is not intended to be exhaustive. If there is any doubt whether the Code applies, the guidance of the University Secretary and Clerk to the Governors should be sought.
Bolton then explains: “‘Blasphemy’ is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘irreverent talk about God or sacred things’.”
And get this caveat to free speech from Exeter University:
The University expects students, staff, governors, the Students’ Guild and visitors to ensure freedom of speech within the law is assured. Whilst there is no legal prohibition on offending others, the University nevertheless believes that discussion that is open and honest can take place only if offensive or provocative action and language is avoided.
Talk about anything you like. But you must not offend anyone.
The LSE Code of Free Speech includes the gem: “The Conference and Events Office will normally screen bookings from within and outside of the School.”
Students, Give up now. Ideas are set in stone. Forget that speech is how we communicate ideas – both good and bad; how we shape lives; and just stick to the talking about the things the officials approve of. What ideas can be discussed has been decided upon. Free speech means freedom not only for the thoughts you approve of but those you despise. Don’t ban it. It just makes you look weak.
Last year, we noted that the LSEASH wanted to feature a picture of Muslim Prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ “sitting in a pub having a pint” on its group Facebook page. The LSE Student Union was upset enough to call an “emergency meeting”.
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Posted: 19th, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)
Firoozeh Bazrafkan’s Passion For Freedom: The Elite Censor The Artist Scared Of Islamism
WHO is speaking truth to power? Nick Cohen writes:
If you listen to artists, writers, academics and journalists, you would think that thousands of them operate in a radical underground. They say the right things. They ‘speak truth to power’, ‘transgress boundaries’, and all the rest of it. But you will have noticed that they are careful only to challenge religions that won’t hurt them (Christianity) and governments that won’t arrest them (democracies).
He goes on to talk of a who by Iranian-born artist Firoozeh Bazrafkan. You might not like her. But you have to admit she’s not easily intimidated. This how she celebrates the Iranian Revolution:
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Posted: 14th, November 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Banning EDL fans Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer also means the Boat Race streaker and honest Jews are refused entry to Britain
WHO gets into the UK? Pamela Geller (above) and Robert Spencer have been from entering Britain to speak at an EDL rally.
Home Secretary Theresa May has told Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, both of the anti-Islamic group Stop Islamization of America, that their presence in the UK would “not be conducive to the public good”.
Their names are added to the list of not wanted persion that includes anti-Islam polemicist Michael Savage and the faith healer Todd Bentley.
Oh, and the Australian Trenton Oldfield whop disrupted the Boat Race by jumping into the River Thames. He’s lived in the UK for ten years and never claimed a penny in benefits nor put a foot wrong. That “public good” is a woolly catch all.
But Geller and Spencer are nasties. Barthes notes:
Their allies include Babu Suseelan, a Hindu militant who claims that Muslims “breed like rats” but that Islam can be “wiped out”, and it was only bad publicly that prompted the two to cut links with John Joseph Jay, a man who openly called for violence against Muslims and others.
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Posted: 3rd, July 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
SOPA/PIPA: the future of internet freedom left in the dark
NOTHING has watered down the term ‘revolution’ more than its promiscuous use in discussions about web innovation. Developments in internet technology, as well as protests organised online, are widely celebrated by activists, entrepreneurs and governments as ‘revolutionary’. But a debate about proposed internet regulations in the US has shown just how many conflicting interests are tangled up in Web 2.0 and just how cavalier an attitude to liberty many of the supposed champions of internet freedoms have.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) are designed to crack down on copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit goods. The main targets are foreign ‘rogue websites’, piracy sites that are hosted abroad and are therefore currently outside the reach of US law. One example is the Pirate Bay, a Swedish file-sharing website where users can download films and other digital content.
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Posted: 19th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)
Truthers For Barack Obama
WHAT’S the secret of Barack Obama’s success? Steve Schmadeke, of the Chicago Tribune, knows:
Much of Barack Obama’s political success can be traced to a database listing contact information for millions of people, a tool that has proved invaluable in raising record sums of money and organizing a national volunteer network.
So how does that work, then?
Now Obama’s presidential campaign is increasingly using the list to beat back media messages it does not like, calling on supporters to flood radio and television stations when those opposed to him run anti-Obama ads or appear on talk shows.
An example?
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Posted: 17th, September 2008 | In: Politicians | Comments (2)
