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Comment on “It’s Not OK Any More”: The United Kingdom Cracks Down on Free Speech

A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.” Last year, Nicholas Brock, 52, was convicted of a thought crime in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The neo-Nazi was given a four-year sentence for what the court called his “toxic ideology” based on the contents of the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Yeah, none of that is justified. Whether religion, opinion, or ideology, it’s your duty to protect everyone’s right to them, just as it’s your duty to prevent people taking harmful action with them—like any other scenario. There’s a big difference in two people yelling their opinions back and forth at each other, and someone planning or insighting crime onto the other because of it. That’s why the street preacher can feel as safe as the guy walking past with 666 tattooed on their forehead. They’re expressing themselves, not harming anyone, whether their opinion is popular or not.

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wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The ACLU defended the right of Neo-Nazis to march. That shows how important free speech is in America. Even if you don’t agree with them, you defend their right to say it.

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- saltesc@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Which makes sense. Personally, I’d show up to protest and mock them. But wouldn’t say they can’t be there, that’d be hypocritical of me. I’m sure when I protest for what I think is right, there’s a cohort of people that loathe it and think I’m insane too.
  
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  - wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    If the neos march. I wouldn’t show up. They thrive for any attention. Let them walk down an empty street. They don’t deserve the attention of counter protest. Personally I don’t even like to call them Neo Nazis. They are just bigots. Nazis believed in trade unions, national healthcare, education, roads, er. . the Neo don’t believe in any of that shit. They just hate.
    
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    barsquid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    As early as March 1933, two months after Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the Sturmabteilung began to attack trade union offices without legal consequences. Several union offices were occupied, their furnishings were destroyed, their documents were stolen or burned, and union members were beaten and in some cases killed; the police ignored these attacks and declared itself without jurisdiction.
    
    ???
    
    The German Labour Front (DAF) was then created in May 1933 as the organization that was to take over the assets seized from the former trade unions. Robert Ley, who had no previous experience in labour relations, was appointed by Hitler to lead the DAF upon its creation. Three weeks later, Hitler issued a decree that banned collective bargaining and stated that a group of labour trustees, appointed by him, would “regulate labour contracts” and maintain “labour peace.”
    
    ???
    
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Labour_Front
    
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- AstroGnomeical@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The republican party wouldn’t exist without it
  
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