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As Theodore Dalrymple points out, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is a nationalist and a socialist: “a national socialist”. Which might, perhaps, explain her government’s hyper-sensitivity to erstwhile national socialist leader Adolf Hitler being mocked by silly-looking dogs.
When YouTube comedian Mark Meechan, aka “Count Dankula”, posted a video of his girlfriend’s pug dog imitating a Nazi salute, the Scottish authorities launched a legal blitzkrieg. Dankula was hauled before the courts and convicted of “hate crime” charges.
The Good Doctor Dalrymple has further described Sturgeon as having “all the charm and good humor of reinforced concrete”. As if to prove him right, the kilted national socialists are criminalising jokes.
Scottish YouTuber and comedian, Count Dankula, said that the impeding Hate Crime and Public Order law in Scotland — which criminalises ‘stirring up hatred’ — is a new form of puritanism, saying that “the same boomer level argument” that sought to ban video games, rap music, and Dungeons and Dragons is being used to restrict the “jokes and memes” on the internet[…]
“The new Scottish hate crime bill not only restricts the human right of freedom of expression but it is a direct breach of Article 10 Section 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights.”
“It outlaws many forms of expression through mediums ranging from online communications right up to live comedy performances, and it justifies this with the term ‘stirring up hatred’, something completely subjective and the legislation defines this term so poorly, if at all, and the term itself is completely without merit.”
In fact, as Meechan points out, this is no different from the censorious puritanism which gripped the theocon right in the 1980s.
“It is based on the same arguments made by the hyper-Christian conservatives of yesteryear, who would say things like: ‘rap music causes crime, video games cause violence, playing dungeons and dragons cause devil worship’. It’s the same boomer level argument from the 90s, only this time it’s been turned into memes and jokes can cause hatred,” the comedian warned.
Worse, the Scottish law opens the way for just the sort of panopticon surveillance as New Zealanders have de facto experienced under their own female socialist, Jacinda Ardern.
Mr Meechan also pointed to Section 5 of the proposed hate crime bill, saying: “It criminalises even possession of offensive content, and the way things currently work is if the police believe that you may be in possession of offensive content then they are allowed to begin surveillance of you and can get a warrant to search your home as well as search and seize your electronic devices.”
“As for who has offensive content on their phone or computer? Probably every single teenager in this country,” he surmised.
“But not only does this bill violate human rights, it asks for a maximum sentence of seven years simply for being in possession of offensive content — the maximum sentence of possession of child abuse images is 10 years — so having offensive memes on your computer will carry almost the same maximum prison term as being caught with child abuse images on your computer.”
Not only that, but Sturgeon and her party are ardently committed to keeping an independent Scotland in the EU. Which opens the question of how their law fits in with the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
But, then again, New Zealand’s own Bill of Rights says almost exactly the same thing – not that it stops the rozzers from hammering on your door if you commit a ThoughtCrime.
Scotland’s justice secretary, Humza Yousaf denied that the hate crime bill will limit free speech[…]
The justice spokesman for Scotland’s Labour Party, James Kelly, disagreed with this assessment, saying that there is a “significant divergence” from hate crime laws in England and Wales, which require intent to be demonstrated to prosecute an alleged hate crime.
“Under the current proposals, the law here would not require this intent to be present – which sets an alarming legal precedent.”
“Every joke is a tiny revolution,” wrote Orwell. “Whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny. And the bigger they fall, the bigger the joke.”
And that’s what misery-guts, petty dictators like Sturgeon are really afraid of.
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