Comments on: Deliberate self-blinding

By: dsquared

dsquared — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 16:07:00 +0000

Same as the one proposed for the UK, with the addition of "In Northern Ireland", AFAICT.

By: Tom Doyle

Tom Doyle — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 15:54:00 +0000

"It's not that bad a law. They already have it in Northern Ireland, and things aren't so bad there. Or at least they are, but not in a way that suggests that a shortage of incitement to religious hatred is the root of the problem."

Dan:

What's the law in Northern Ireland?

All the best,

Tom Doyle

By: dsquared

dsquared — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:50:00 +0000

It’s not that bad a law. They already have it in Northern Ireland, and things aren’t so bad there. Or at least they are, but not in a way that suggests that a shortage of incitement to religious hatred is the root of the problem.

By: Andrew Bartlett

Andrew Bartlett — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:23:00 +0000

Verity is an ex-pat?! S/he writes as if s/he has his or her finger on the pulse of Britain, predicting the overthrow of the Blair regime by countryside folk annoyed that they won’t be able to get their jollies ripping an animal to peices. S/he knows exactly what is annoying those Britishers at LGF, pointing out the murder of Kriss Donald, presenting it as representative of Muslims. Imagine discussing a murder of a schoolboy in this way simply because it was committed by a Jew. Yes, there is racism in this country, problem is, Verity’s views are part of this problem.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 12:00:00 +0000

Ouch. Easy money for you. Llamas and Verity are both ex-pats, so they get their news filtered through the media and the blogosphere, without the on-the-ground experience to cut out the hyperbole.

For llamas to say thousands will be prosecuted is mad. They won't. Like I said before, and will continue to say, I expect very few, if any, prosecutions. What will happen is that the police will be used to harass people for making comments that others disagree with, without charge, but with plenty of pent-up resentment.

Besides, if the government manage to pass this law, it will be politically expedient to prosecute a few Muslims early under the new regime anyway to 'prove' the point that it isn't being used as a blatant vote-grab before the election... There will always be an Abu Hamza-type ready to take the fall.

Having said all that, it's still a bad law. It shouldn't matter how many prosecutions there are, when the principle is bad. Granted, we have bigger fish to fry, like ID cards, but you can't take your eye off the ball with this sort of legislation.