Student jailed for 56 days for racial comments

Duggys Housemate

inforfun wrote: »

Trouble is that most people on twitter havent a ****ing clue what at least 2 out of those 3 words mean.

Indecent matter is hardly criminalised these days. If blasphemy on twitter were criminalised then half of twitter would be in jail. Seditious? Are we arresting Marxists.

So possibly tis you who doesn't know what those word mean, but that has nothing to do with this ( UK based case) anyway.

token101

tigger123 wrote: »

So, if an apology is sufficient, where's the deterrant? If you can just say sorry afterwards what's to stop people saying whatever the hell they want, wih no filter whatsoever and apologising afterwards.

Ron Atkinson, Jade Goody - not great examples to be using.

They are great examples. Jade Goody made all these remarks to that Indian girl. What happened? She said sorry, then came out and opened a salon and got TV shows and sh*tloads of sympathy when she eventually got sick. Ron Atkinson apologised, but he's a pariah in football. But neither were ever charged for inciting hatred and they had a much larger audience than this lad ever had. Is the social shame not enough? Is this public hanging really going to make Fabrice Muamba and other black people feel better? If it does it says more about them than this guy. He's caused offence, so he apologises. This inciting hatred stuff is rubbish really. The only person who is hated is him!

Kylo Ren

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

And he is in England.

However despite what the constitution says, it depends on parliament, the police and the courts to enforce with legislation, investigation and sentencing. In most cases there is none of the last two for these cases, making the first toothless.

There is no prohibition in the Irish constitution on racist speech.

I think the UK have an even stricter and longer constitution regarding freedom of speech.

I don't feel he should of been jailed. Was just playing Devils advocate. Jails are already over populated and they don't need to start introducing Twitter bandits with the rapists and murderers.

pickarooney

Surely the only person he incited anyone to hate was himself?

tigger123

token101 wrote: »

They are great examples. Jade Goody made all these remarks to that Indian girl. What happened? She said sorry, then came out and opened a salon and got TV shows and sh*tloads of sympathy when she eventually got sick. Ron Atkinson apologised, but he's a pariah in football. But neither were ever charged for inciting hatred and they had a much larger audience than this lad ever had. Is the social shame not enough? Is this public hanging really going to make Fabrice Muamba and other black people feel better? If it does it says more about them than this guy. He's caused offence, so he apologises. This inciting hatred stuff is rubbish really. The only person who is hated is him!

He had no shame when he published those remarks, and I find it hard to believe that he does now. Any expressions of remorse are probably due to the fact that he's being held accountable.

It's not a public hanging. He got due process in a court of law.

token101

tigger123 wrote: »

He had no shame when he published those remarks, and I find it hard to believe that he does now. Any expressions of remorse are probably due to the fact that he's being held accountable.

It's not a public hanging. He got due process in a court of law.

Doesn't really matter what you believe. If he apologises and admits he's wrong that should suffice. And you don't know what he feels now! He's been kicked out of University, his local Rugby club and he's been in every paper available. It's a slightly more civilised public hanging. There's a savage irony in him being called all sorts by the Daily Mail, the biggest proponents of racial tension in the UK.

tigger123

token101 wrote: »

Doesn't really matter what you believe. If he apologises and admits he's wrong that should suffice. And you don't know what he feels now! He's been kicked out of University, his local Rugby club and he's been in every paper available. It's a slightly more civilised public hanging. There's a savage irony in him being called all sorts by the Daily Mail, the biggest proponents of racial tension in the UK.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've no sympathy for the guy after reading what he published on twitter. If he was man enough to start throwing that kind of stuff around online, he should be man enough to accept the consequences for it.

Beefy78

inforfun wrote: »

During the riots in London, people were caught calling peopel to take part in those riots via twitter and such.

How many days did they stay in prison?

Somehow i dont think it was 2 months, i could be wrong though.

No, it was a hell of a lot longer. Such as this guy who is looking at four years in jail for doing just that:

http://www.london24.com/news/court/london_riots_tottenham_man_admits_inciting_violence_on_facebook_1_1324931

Orando Broom

token101 wrote: »

They are great examples. Jade Goody made all these remarks to that Indian girl. What happened? She said sorry, then came out and opened a salon and got TV shows and sh*tloads of sympathy when she eventually got sick. Ron Atkinson apologised, but he's a pariah in football. But neither were ever charged for inciting hatred and they had a much larger audience than this lad ever had. Is the social shame not enough? Is this public hanging really going to make Fabrice Muamba and other black people feel better? If it does it says more about them than this guy. He's caused offence, so he apologises. This inciting hatred stuff is rubbish really. The only person who is hated is him!

The jail sentence is retarded. The lad is an ignorant, narrow-minded boob who needs re-educating, not jailing. He should be made do community service (a lot of community service) along side black community leaders and get to know what he did was ignorant stupid and offensive. Jailing him will not cure him of his prejudices but perhaps only deepen them. There are plenty of smart positive people the likes of especially Clark Carlisle (professional footballer) who deal with this type of stuff and could actually help this guy face down the demons that make him rant his hateful bile. It's hardly like he was a threat to society.

Endless Nameless

jeez if some of the people in this thread were law-makers I'd be scared for my safety.

Where do you social warriors draw the line? If I made a facebook status saying that big macs sucked would I be inciting hatred against mc donalds? should i go to jail for that?

lividduck

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

And he is in England.

However despite what the constitution says, it depends on parliament, the police and the courts to enforce with legislation, investigation and sentencing. In most cases there is none of the last two for these cases, making the first toothless.

There is no prohibition in the Irish cnstitution on racist speech.

There is, The Prohibition on Incitment to Racial Hatred Act 1989 is constitutional, the Constitution does not guarentee unlimited free speech, if it did Section 31 of The Broadcasting Act would also have been unconstitutional.

SteppingStone

Harsh I think. Racial remarks is wrong and I don't agree with it. If Fabrice wasn't well known and in the public eye because of the sad incident which happened there would be no action taken. Just like when someone threw flour over Kim Kardashian in the US, they got jailed. I know the circumstances are both very different but both in the public eye. People get racially abused and attacked everyday all over the world and it's hardly heard of or acted upon.

Socialist_Pig

Seachmall wrote: »

Nagger

FYP

keith16

token101 wrote: »

The law has plenty to do with it. The conviction means he can't emigrate and start fresh elsewhere. It means he can never apply for certain jobs. It means he is classified as a convicted criminal. And for what? Twitter comments? In fairness, how many times have you gotten drunk and said stupid things that you regret the next day? If you're an average person probably at least once or twice. He didn't hurt anyone. He offended people. Casting people out socially for this type of thing is totally counter productive. It will just radicalise him, and anyone that has sympathy for him.

Of course we all say stupid things when we are drunk. Of course we all say offensive things.

What this guy was saying was inflammatory. And on the internet to a potentially unlimited audience.

And let's think for a moment about the very distinct possibility of Fabrice Muamba not coming through. I think that Stacey should be thanking his lucky stars that Muamba appears to be pulling through.

KINGVictor

SteppingStone wrote: »

Harsh I think. Racial remarks is wrong and I don't agree with it. If Fabrice wasn't well known and in the public eye because of the sad incident which happened there would be no action taken. Just like when someone threw flour over Kim Kardashian in the US, they got jailed. I know the circumstances are both very different but both in the public eye. people get racially abused and attacked everyday all over he world and it's hardly heard of or acted upon.

In all honesty, I doubt a lot of people ever heard of Fabrice or even knew who he was before he unfortunately slumped on the field of play- well unless you are an ardent Bolton fan.

At topic, I feel that the jail term for the kid was a bit harsh and I share some of the sentiments expressed on the thread about the inordinate punishment he has recieved. I have a Twitter account myself and I have observed/seen far more racist comments on the website most of which go unreported and which most users ignore as rants by unintelligent bigots.

Yes, he is reponsible for his comments and should be rightly reprimanded for his actions online; but to jail him, expel him from college- which means a criminal record and a very uncertain future is a bit unfair.

That is window dressing /nitpicking and not addressing racism.

keith16

Endless Nameless wrote: »

jeez if some of the people in this thread were law-makers I'd be scared for my safety.

Where do you social warriors draw the line? If I made a facebook status saying that big macs sucked would I be inciting hatred against mc donalds? should i go to jail for that?

Don't be ridiculous. Saying you hate MacDonalds is not the same as openly celebrating the death of a 'wog'.

To be honest I'm a little surprised that the general consensus in this thread seems to be that the sentence was harsh. And maybe so.

But what we need to remember is that while places like London and Paris are 'multi-cultural', like it or not, racial tension is always there, and the authorities are terrified of these tensions turning nasty. Things like twitter and FB do have the potential to spark things off as they reach a much wider audience.

As I said, have all the free speech you want. If Stacey didn't get locked up, and things didn't work out for Muamba, well I would fear for Stacey's safety. I'm not saying that's right either. These things can get out of hand and the authorities have been decisive here.

keith16

keith16 wrote: »

And let's think for a moment about the very distinct possibility of Fabrice Muamba not coming through. I think that Stacey should be thanking his lucky stars that Muamba appears to be pulling through.

Why?, would he have gone down for life had Fabrice died?

SteppingStone

KINGVictor wrote: »

In all honesty, I doubt a lot of people ever heard of Fabrice or even knew who he was before he unfortunately slumped on the field of play- well unless you are an ardent Bolton fan.

At topic, I feel that the jail term for the kid was a bit harsh and I share some of the sentiments expressed on the thread about the inordinate punishment he has recieved. I have a Twitter account myself and I have observed/seen far more racist comments on the website most of which go unreported and which most users ignore as rants by unintelligent bigots.

Yes, he is reponsible for his comments and should be rightly reprimanded for his actions online; but to jail him, expel him from college- which means a criminal record and a very uncertain future is a bit unfair.

That is window dressing /nitpicking and not addressing racism.

Agreed because I had never heard of him until that day.

Beefy78

Fabrice was captain of my multi-Premier League winning Southend United side in Football Manager 2008.

keith16

RVP 11 wrote: »

Why?, would he have gone down for life had Fabrice died?

Ah no I'm not saying that at all. Who knows what would have happened, but if I was Stacey and I woke up on Sunday morning regretting my idiocy, and then found out Muamba had died, I would keeping a very low profile indeed.

Don't forget, Muamba was literally at death's door at the time while Stacey was tweeting. Absolutely outrageous.

As has been rightly pointed out on this thread, right minded people shouldn't be getting their nose bent out of shape...don't feed the troll etc. etc.

Having said that, Stacey could have found himself at the wrong end of a witch hunt.

Jorah

So this idiot gets sent to prison yet the four Somalian girls that racially abused + assaulted a young white girl get off scot free?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wiRYWb8imo

Racism isn't worse than homophobia, xenophobia or any other type of hatred. It's ridiculous that it's treated as such.

Owen_S

Jorah wrote: »

So this idiot gets sent to prison yet the four Somalian girls that racially abused + assaulted a young white girl get off scot free?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wiRYWb8imo

Racism isn't worse than homophobia, xenophobia or any other type of hatred. It's ridiculous that it's treated as such.

Yeah I was surprised to see that particular racist gang get away without a sentence. If I had to choose between getting a brutal beating, and a hateful comment over Twitter, I know which one I would choose. Maybe the courts see it differently...

CreepingDeath

Owen_S wrote: »

Yeah I was surprised to see that particular racist gang get away without a sentence. If I had to choose between getting a brutal beating, and a hateful comment over Twitter, I know which one I would choose. Maybe the courts see it differently...

Well when a minority attacks a "majority" it can't be publicised for fear the majority would react negatively in defence.

But if a member of a majority attacks a member of a minority group, then the minority has to be protected.

Middle class white people have the least rights and the most economic responsibility.

If we had a "white heterosexual pride" march down O'Connell Street it would be considered racist/homophobic/Nazi.

token101

keith16 wrote: »

Of course we all say stupid things when we are drunk. Of course we all say offensive things.

What this guy was saying was inflammatory. And on the internet to a potentially unlimited audience.

And let's think for a moment about the very distinct possibility of Fabrice Muamba not coming through. I think that Stacey should be thanking his lucky stars that Muamba appears to be pulling through.

What? Why? Would his words have willed Muamba into the grave or something? Utter ****ing nonsense. That's the kind of trash you read in the Daily Mail.

He offended, of course it was inflammatory. But lots of things are inflammatory. I could say the Household charge is fair. That's inflammatory! He didn't openly provoke violence. He expressed an opinion. Albeit vile, it's still just an opinion.

token101

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Well when a minority attacks a "majority" it can't be publicised for fear the majority would react negatively in defence.

But if a member of a majority attacks a member of a minority group, then the minority has to be protected.

Middle class white people have the least rights and the most economic responsibility.

If we had a "white heterosexual pride" march down O'Connell Street it would be considered racist/homophobic/Nazi.

Isn't that the ultimate example of ridiculousness though? You can't have equality whilst expecting special treatment. It breeds resentment and extremism. And making this guy an example is the same as making him a martyr. He's just a moron. No more, no less.

lividduck

So he lost his appeal, the Judge upheld his sentence.
http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16199517

Laneyh

It might have been nice if the punishment fitted the crime and he was given some kind of Internet based community service

Something related to,Internet bullying maybe

I don't think 56 days in prison would change his views if he genuinely holds racist views
It definitely wont rehabilitate him and it has to some extent ruined his life or at least his career

It also will have cost the British taxpayer a fair bit of money.
The only positive is that it serves as a warning for other people that mouth off online.
However, if this wasn't about a footballer and was just directed at another user for example one wonders what if anything would have happened. Banned from the site ?

Mal-Adjusted

permaban- the cruelest of all punishments.