Football fan ban: Misleading hyperbole like "the Stadium Stasi" will not help the defence of free speech, and distracts us from asking more serious questions about censorship and social exclusion
The fact the UK, which created the most popular language in the world, whose tradition of speech is second to none, has hobbled itself with hate speech laws, and by extension given license to virtually anyone to silence ideas and thought, is tragic and shocking.
True. The UK laws seem particularly egregious in the looseness of language, such that virtually any critical speech can be covered. If you aren't allowed to speak, then you aren't allowed to think your own thoughts. Orwellian for sure.
Ireland has one of the loosest definitions I've seen; I covered it in an article a while back. "Hatred means hatred", that kind of thing. It seems common to be vague in these laws, which makes sense if the intention is to make hate speech something you determine once you've heard it or read, rather than in advance. Not a pleasant direction for society, in my opinion.
The fact the UK, which created the most popular language in the world, whose tradition of speech is second to none, has hobbled itself with hate speech laws, and by extension given license to virtually anyone to silence ideas and thought, is tragic and shocking.
Thanks for reading, Chris. It's a trend with a worrying trajectory, and not only in the UK.
True. The UK laws seem particularly egregious in the looseness of language, such that virtually any critical speech can be covered. If you aren't allowed to speak, then you aren't allowed to think your own thoughts. Orwellian for sure.
Ireland has one of the loosest definitions I've seen; I covered it in an article a while back. "Hatred means hatred", that kind of thing. It seems common to be vague in these laws, which makes sense if the intention is to make hate speech something you determine once you've heard it or read, rather than in advance. Not a pleasant direction for society, in my opinion.