The Glorification Of Terror

[poliphilo]

OK, so the new law probably won't be used to stop folkies singing Irish rebel songs in North London pubs, but even so....

Can we trust the authorities and/or the police not to abuse this new power? Of course we can't.

Yeah, I got hot under the collar seeing those dumbclucks marching up to the Danish embassy with posters saying things like "behead the enemies of Islam", but banning the posters won't stop the dumbclucks thinking the thought.

And denying them the right to voice the thought may well get them thinking it all the more intensely.

Was I offended? Sure I was offended. So?

"Better out than in", as my (fictitious)old granny used to say.

And how can one argue against a bad idea if the bad idea isn't allowed an airing?

Comments

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

I have two concerns over the various laws of this type. Firslty, it seems impossible to draw a meaningful distinction between legitimate criticism that needs to be protected on the grounds of freedom of expression. Cases relating to incitement to religious hatred and glorification of terrorism will have to be vetted by the Attorney General (a politician not a member of the Judiciary) before they will be permitted to come to court on precisely these grounds. This leads to the second objection; the introduction of these various laws seems to me to undermine equality before the law. Most obviously, gender, race and religion are now all protected categories under British laws but sexuality is not.