Opinion What happened to freedom of speech in the UK? (Long read)

Possum Jenkins said:
Britain has been copying American culture and society for the past 100+ years

The one thing that deserves copying the most (freedom of speech), they ignore.
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And high school shootings
 
In 1865, Robert Hart complained about the son of a high official calling foreigners 洋鬼子 (foreign devils). High official tells him that Chinese call Manchus 臊韃子 (stinking Tartars), Manchus call Chinese 漢蠻子 (Han southern savages), so Westerners should just suck it up.
 
Fox by the Sea said:
In 1865, Robert Hart complained about the son of a high official calling foreigners 洋鬼子 (foreign devils). High official tells him that Chinese call Manchus 臊韃子 (stinking Tartars), Manchus call Chinese 漢蠻子 (Han southern savages), so Westerners should just suck it up.
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It's not 1865 and this is is not China.
We pretend to have free speech in this country , and hopefully one day our laws will reflect that and we can correct this hypocrisy.
 
Sorry to hear about your country.
 
It-is-what-it-is said:
Yes the UN don't have an army so they can't enforce these rights as laws , but here in the uk we have the human rights act which is supposed to integrate our human rights into law. We have the European conversation of human rights that has a court that makes sure European countries follow these human rights. So you'd think we'd have our free speech protected here in the uk and across Europe right?


Wrong. You see what the universal decleration of human rights says about free speech is
"
Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
"

However , when the European convention came together, they added a "BUT" right after that by saying "The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”

And as you know any statement followed by a "but" , is not true. It's basically a self contradictory word salad. So adding this "but" gives them all the lee way necessary to strip away our free speech with the excuse of "it's in the wider public's intrest".


they say free speech is a qualified right meaning " A public authority can sometimes interfere with your rights if it's in the interest of the wider community or to protect other people's rights "
Source:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/l...c-authority-interfere-with-your-human-rights/

So is free speech absolute, or is it qualified? (I live in the UK btw so it maybe different for you americans)
I understand that to protect other people's rights things like threats and slander are not protected by free speech. But since they say free speech is a qualified right here in the uk, that means they can restrict it as much as they like by claiming it's " in the interest of the wider community "

That's why we don't have free speech here in the uk, the government replced it with hate speech laws, also made it illigal to say anything " grossly offensive ", on top of that you're not allowed to send any messages that cause " alarm or distress" whatever that means.

All in the name of the intrest of the wider community we've been robbed of our free speech and if you remember the European convention court that's supposed to make sure countries don't do things like the uk is doing to free expression, that court is in on it too, they're happy with the idea of restrictions on free speech and having penalties put on people for using their free speech.
In fact the court recently upheld the conviction of an Austrian woman who criticised islam in her lectures. So that they could "protect religious feelings"


So even if we wanted to sue the English government for taking away our free speech, we'd be taking the case to the European Court of human rights, a court that just upheld a blasphamy law. So we're fucked on so many levels it's insane.
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Just like I said 99% of comics are far leftist and they're very anti free speech, just look at this guy.
 
It-is-what-it-is said:
Just like I said 99% of comics are far leftist and they're very anti free speech, just look at this guy.
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are you still bitching about this? he literally talks about why free speech is great..... but having the freedom to say something doesnt mean you are free of any and all consequences
 
MayhemMonkey said:
are you still bitching about this? he literally talks about why free speech is great..... but having the freedom to say something doesnt mean you are free of any and all consequences
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Dude we don't have free speech here in the uk.

Free speech is "the right to express ANY OPINIONS without censorship or restraint."

If you were to express an opinion and it's deemed "grossly offensive" , "hate speech" , "Insulting words or behaviour" you'd be prosecuted.

If you express any negative opinion about minorities, transgender, gay, religions you'll be prosecuted for "hate speech", with a maximum sentence of 7 YEARS!!!

imagine that, 7 years for expressing an opinion in a supposed free country.

the government shouldn't be prosecuting people for expressing their opinions, we have a human right to be free from LEGAL consequences for expressing our opinions.

That right is routinely violated by the uk government.

Social consequences I have no problem with. Legal consequences for expressing an opinion are unexcusable. We live in an authoratarian censorious country where people are imprisoned simply for expressing their opinions, I made a subreddit to document the cases of censorship called r/freespeechuk go have a look.


As for russell howard he didn't acknowledge that we don't have free speech in this country , he said he'sok with words being banned so he can "evolve" , and it's quite hypocritical since he claims to love free speech so much.
 
It-is-what-it-is said:
Dude we don't have free speech here in the uk.

Free speech is "the right to express ANY OPINIONS without censorship or restraint."

If you were to express an opinion and it's deemed "grossly offensive" , "hate speech" , "Insulting words or behaviour" you'd be prosecuted.

If you express any negative opinion about minorities, transgender, gay, religions you'll be prosecuted for "hate speech", with a maximum sentence of 7 YEARS!!!

imagine that, 7 years for expressing an opinion in a supposed free country.

the government shouldn't be prosecuting people for expressing their opinions, we have a human right to be free from LEGAL consequences for expressing our opinions.

That right is routinely violated by the uk government.

Social consequences I have no problem with. Legal consequences for expressing an opinion are unexcusable. We live in an authoratarian censorious country where people are imprisoned simply for expressing their opinions, I made a subreddit to document the cases of censorship called r/freespeechuk go have a look.


As for russell howard he didn't acknowledge that we don't have free speech in this country , he said he'sok with words being banned so he can "evolve" , and it's quite hypocritical since he claims to love free speech so much.
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and you have the freedom to express those views..... but you will have to deal with the consequences of whatever you said. Every action we make has consequences that we need to deal with in life. This is just one of them.

Also comedy is not under attack, you are not a comedian if you make fucking youtube videos. now stfu
 
MayhemMonkey said:
and you have the freedom to express those views..... but you will have to deal with the consequences of whatever you said. Every action we make has consequences that we need to deal with in life. This is just one of them.

Also comedy is not under attack, you are not a comedian if you make fucking youtube videos. now stfu
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dude that what you said means literally that theres no freedom of speech.

there should be no legal punishment for saying your views.

this shit is like north korea,say goverment is bad and get locked up
 
MayhemMonkey said:
and you have the freedom to express those views..... but you will have to deal with the consequences of whatever you said. Every action we make has consequences that we need to deal with in life. This is just one of them.

Also comedy is not under attack, you are not a comedian if you make fucking youtube videos. now stfu
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Read the fucking definition.

You don't have free speech if the government is prosecuting you for expressing an opinion.

You're consequences argument is retarded. Take this hypocritical situation.
The government announces that eating burgers is illegal and us punishable by life in prison . Are you gonna come out and say , you can eat burgers there's just "consequences" .


Obviously im talking about legal consequences you gimp.
 
Cole train said:
dude that what you said means literally that theres no freedom of speech.

there should be no legal punishment for saying your views.

this shit is like north korea,say goverment is bad and get locked up
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freedom of speech is not absolute anywhere in the world. Not even in glorious old America.

Also no, you can criticise the government all day long. Believe me millions of us do
 
It-is-what-it-is said:
Read the fucking definition.

You don't have free speech if the government is prosecuting you for expressing an opinion.

You're consequences argument is retarded. Take this hypocritical situation.
The government announces that eating burgers is illegal and us punishable by life in prison . Are you gonna come out and say , you can eat burgers there's just "consequences" .


Obviously im talking about legal consequences you gimp.
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there is no nation on the planet where freedom of speech is absolute..... so stop fucking crying
 
MayhemMonkey said:
freedom of speech is not absolute anywhere in the world. Not even in glorious old America.

Also no, you can criticise the government all day long. Believe me millions of us do
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Again go read the definition dude. "ANY OPINION" by definition it has to be absolute. If you make one opinion illegal to say you no longer have free speech .


They have absolute free speech in America, never heard of anyone being prosecuted for expressing an opinion over there.

You maybe able to criticise the government, but that doesn't mean you have free speech . There's opinions out there that if you uttered you'd get thrown in prison.
 
It-is-what-it-is said:
Again go read the definition dude. "ANY OPINION" by definition it has to be absolute. If you make one opinion illegal to say you no longer have free speech .


They have absolute free speech in America, never heard of anyone being prosecuted for expressing an opinion over there.

You maybe able to criticise the government, but that doesn't mean you have free speech . There's opinions out there that if you uttered you'd get thrown in prison.
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so please explain libel laws to me?

what views will get me thrown in prison? please give me an example
 
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