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The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities didn't find it that funny, in fact they found it so offensive they contacted the police.
They didn't have to. So if NGOs now don't like something somebody joked about or said, they can sue for grossly offensive content and win in court. Nevermind the fact that British girls are groomed and gang-raped by Muslims with almost no repercussions, police and councils turning a blind eye. But a joke gets you convicted.
They didn't have to. So if NGOs now don't like something somebody joked about or said, they can sue for grossly offensive content and win in court. Nevermind the fact that British girls are groomed and gang-raped by Muslims with almost no repercussions, police and councils turning a blind eye. But a joke gets you convicted.
If the content is deemed by the Courts to cause alarm or distress then the answer is obviously yes.
As for 'Gas the Jews', I don't see any comedy in the phrase, however he can appeal if he so wishes.
The evetual outcome will probably be a £200 fine or something of that nature.
In terms of Section 127 Of the Communications Act 2003 it has it's critics, as for what is deemed grossly offensive that is for the Court to decide. Some cases have been rejected as they fall out of the remit of the legislation if they do not create fear and apprehension.
It does seem slighly unfair that the legislation is so broad and withour proper guidelines, and it is now used to prosecute racist posts, on-line trolling, offensive videos, tweets and posts, as well as on-line threats. It was used during the 2011 riots to jail inviduals who encouraged rioting on facebook.
The fact that the legislation is so broad and without guidelines means the onus is on the Courts to decide, and this leads to inconsistency for instance whilst Mark Meecham aka Count Dankula was found guilty of gross indency, when in the case of the DPP v Collins very offensive racial terms were judged not to be grossly offensive.
From a continent where two world wars started - killing tens of millions of people - about 75 million in total... Europeans need to police their thoughts and morality as they see fit.
American laws and legal concepts are for Americans. It is time we stopped projecting what we believe is "the right way" to do things onto others.
Hey, what is wrong with pointing out how we essentially came from their culture, yet have a better system in my view. As I can see from the reply below from BNW, it is not British law, but some European article. In theory the Brits will be rid of having to abide by such nonsense, and can decide for themselves how to rebuild their own culture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brave New World
The Public Order Act is generally used to stop offensive and threatening behaviour in Britain.
As for your rights, you have Right to Freedom of Expression under the Human Roghts Act however the European Convention on Human Rights has ruled that Article 10 this does not apply when Article 17 Abuse of Rights is breached in relation to hate speach.
I should have known you'll all were too sharp to restrict freedom of expression, especially that is not threatening, not teaching how to harm people, etc.
As another poster pointed out it was done in humor, all be it tasteless for most people. Jews are generally thick skinned in my experience, and while this piece of work will not be invited to perform at any Bar Mitzvahs, it seems much to do about nothing.
I don't really care whether this person was offensive or not.
But I do care that he is being jailed for such a minor offence.
Sadly it is part of the growing culture of PC correctness - three people were denied entry to the UK last week over their views on Islam. Why 3 anti-Islam activists were refused entry to the UK - BBC News
The reality is nothing is being done to prevent ISIS thugs returning to Britain from Syria but if you express an anti-Islam view the whole weight of the Establishment comes down on you.
Our country is being destroyed from within.
He's an odd YouTuber personality who put up a video with the aim to wind up his girlfriend who thinks her pug dog is the cutest thing, so he turned her dog (his words) "into the least cute thing I could think of... a Nazi". Then proceeds to say to the dog "Do you want to gas the Jews?" in the way that people would say enthusiastically to their dog, "Do you want to go for a walk?" and the dog peps up, looks at the camera in anticipation of doing something fun. He does this repeatedly as well as saying "Sieg Heil" in which the pug raises it's front paw. He also shows some footage of Hitler and his troops in the TV in which the pug sits and watches.
Yes, it's very very offensive and understandable that it would deeply upset some people... although no one I know of was forced to watch it.
It's also immature absurdist humor by someone who most likely never met a holocaust survivor.
If a leader of the Jewish community in Scotland did indeed file the complaint, or had anything to do with his arrest and or conviction, I think it was a lost opportunity to reach out to someone who is very public and has young fans. It could have been a teachable moment.
I live in the U.S. I grew up around Jews, I've known holocaust survivors and have seen the tattoos. I sent the video to my best friend who is Jewish and very involved in her Reform synagogue and she was horrified that he was arrested. She was also very concerned about that backlash his arrest could spark from actual anti-Semitic types.
Yes, we in the U.S. have very very liberal laws concerning speech especially since the 60's, where comedians were often arrested (such as Lenny Bruce) for breaking obscenity laws.
The UK certainly have the right to whatever laws they deem necessarily, and this certainly put a spotlight on what some of those laws are and their consequences, and it certainly gives clarity on what the UK prioritizes as important.
My husband is from England and moved here almost 20 years ago. He's now a citizen and he said it makes him sad to see what's been happening in the UK. He hates Nazis too, but agrees with the 1st amendment of the U.S. He said he'd never move back, even when I've suggested it a few times.
Hey, what is wrong with pointing out how we essentially came from their culture, yet have a better system in my view. As I can see from the reply below from BNW, it is not British law, but some European article. In theory the Brits will be rid of having to abide by such nonsense, and can decide for themselves how to rebuild their own culture.
The European Covention on Human Rights (ECHR) provides a Freedom of Expression however this does not include hate speech which was deemed to abuse these rights.
The ECHR was enshrined in to British Law in 1998, when the Human RIghts Act was passed.
The ECHR is totally seperate to the EU and is not effected by Brexit, however there has been some talk of replacing it with a British constitution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vector1
I should have known you'll all were too sharp to restrict freedom of expression, especially that is not threatening, not teaching how to harm people, etc.
As another poster pointed out it was done in humor, all be it tasteless for most people. Jews are generally thick skinned in my experience, and while this piece of work will not be invited to perform at any Bar Mitzvahs, it seems much to do about nothing
It was Jewish Leader Ephraim Borowski of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, who initally made the complaint and who appeared as a witness in Court. The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities claimed they were grossly offended by the video, and the term 'Gas the Jews', the court agreed with them, stating with free speach comes responsibility and that the accused knew that what he was posting was offensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scottish Daily Record
Ephraim Borowski, 66, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC), blasted the clip and told how he lost members of his own family to the Nazis.
Mr Borowski was giving evidence against Mark Meechan, 29, who has denied claims of committing a hate crime.
Mr Borowski told the court he had family who died in the Holocaust which saw over six million Jews killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazis.
He was shown the recording of the video in court and said: "It is grossly offensive, it stuns me that anyone should think it is a joke.
"My immediate reaction is that there is a clear distinction to be made between an off-hand remark and the amount of effort that is required to train a dog like that, I actually feel sorry for the dog.
"In many ways, the bit I found most offensive was the repetition of 'gas the Jews' rather than the dog itself.
"The other thing that struck me was the explicit statement that this was intended to give offence and intended to be the most offensive thing he could think of and then he says he isn't a racist but unfortunately we hear that all the time from people.
"I'm no historian but it is the marching signal of the Nazi storm troopers who contributed and supported the murder of six million Jews including members of my own family and I take this all slightly personally.
"Material of this kind goes to normalise the anti-Semitic views that frankly we thought we had seen the last of.
"The Holocaust is not a subject for jocular content."
Mr Borowski also told the court sections of the Jewish community in Scotland felt threatened by the video's contents and that the SCoJeC's website was bombarded with abusive comments in the wake of it emerging.
The European Covention on Human Rights (ECHR) provides a Freedom of Expression however this does not include hate speech which was deemed to abuse these rights.
The ECHR was enshrined in to British Law in 1998, when the Human RIghts Act was passed.
The ECHR is totally seperate to the EU and is not effected by Brexit, however there has been some talk of replacing it with a British constitution.
It was Jewish Leader Ephraim Borowski of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, who initally made the complaint and who appeared as a witness in Court. The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities claimed they were grossly offended by the video, and the term 'Gas the Jews', the court agreed with them, stating with free speach comes responsibility and that the accused knew that what he was posting was offensive.
Well I think you would be smart to use Brexit as a means of disentangling yourselves from cultural differences and values which do not reflect British freedoms. After all, what do you all have in common with Germans, French etc, other than a desire to emulate Americas economic engine, presumably under the guise of a "European Union". Your safety is already insured via NATO & us backing you all up militarily, right.
I guess the question would be, how many Brits would prefer ECHR over traditional British values today?
As to a few Jews being offended, well that comes as no surprise, as any group will always have more sensitive people in it, just as they will have the thick skinned. I have a decent amount of experience with American Jews, and even though they tend to be politically liberal by our standards, most have thick skins and would not let some goofball like this get to them.
I imagine they would see the bigger picture and understand that if his expression could be outlawed today, maybe theirs could be in the future.
Additionally, by going after this guy, it brought much more notoriety to him than he ever could have hoped for. How many of us would even have heard or him otherwise?
EDIT - DO NOT CLICK ON THE OP'S LINK AS I RECEIVED A VIRUS WARNING!
You guys need to follow your former colonies lead and create a constitution where your God given rights cannot be taken away by whatever government happens to be in power.
Though you will always have forces trying to reduce or eliminate peoples rights, in the end they will lose because of the rights enshrined in your governing document.
Thus attempts to enforce Political Correctness will not even be tried in many cases, knowing they will eventually lose in court.
Frankly, if things like comedic material is being banned, you guys are in worse shape than I imagined.
Scary to think that something like Borat wouldn't be possible in the UK today.
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Yes, the video could be very disturbing...
