Glad they are clamping down on this, but to be honest i know of several who deserve prison more.................

56days is steep

I think its mental. There are far worse crimes out there walking out of court with a slap on the wrists.

So if i tweeted that Tulisa was a Greek willy nibbler - i should be "sent darn for a stretch"??

I'm of the view that someone spouting racist abuse to others on the internet is the least effective method of inciting racism as that person will usually face a barrage of abuse themselves.  One of the most effective ways is the way the right wing media drip feeds prejudice by opinion pieces and slanted news that encourages racist opinion forming. 

 

Yet when a right wing commentator pipes up (not overgrown schoolboys like Clarkson) with an inflammatory opinion based on biased evidence, omissions and conclusions, there's never a question of their freedom of speech to be legally sanctioned.

 

I'm not saying that commentators or journalists should be hauled off to prison because they do have a certain freedom of speech but of the two scenarios, it is the right wing commentator who promotes incitement to racism far more effectively and to a much wider audience.

But they do it in a much less obvious way and so CAN almost go unnoticed - like you sed, they drip it into people's heads.

The student in question was blatantly offensive, and much easier to convict

But i take your point as totally valid

But it's up to people to believe what they want to 

 

 

I'm of a mind, if they have to make examples to stop the stuff that floats about on the likes of Tweeter and Facebook....I'm in favour of the 56 days or whatever it was, sometime's I wonder what kind of a society we live in 

In The Standard this evening it said he'd initially claimed his account was hacked, tried to delete his account and claimed he was drunk. Sounds like a twatty keyboard warrior who thought he wouldn't be caught

A bit harsh I thought. I see worse on You Tube every day. Twitter could do with some mods like there are on most forums, but I guess it might be impractical to moderate 100s of thousands of tweets!

 

I'm inclined to agree, people seem to think normal rules don't apply and they can be as offensive as they like on the internet with impunity. Would the bloke have shouted the same things from the stands? I don't feel sorry for him

Me too! 

Yes, but people can believe they are making fair-minded and informed opinions based on what they see as facts.  It's insidious.

Carnelian, I am glad you started this tbh.  I thought the same and so do my family and pals.  I think ANY kind of racist abuse is out of order actually, but I have recently watched programmes about NASTY internet trolls; the ones who go on facebook tribute pages and put 'I am glad he is dead' and nasty nasty shit like that.  And in the majority of cases, NOTHING is done about them or to them.......The reporter who was a radio 5 DJ, chased him and tried to confront him, (and he chased a few more.)  The upshot is that there was virtually NOTHING that anyone could do, as many of them are hard to prove and they aren't breaking any serious laws etc...

 

I think ONE out of 100s of 1000s of NASTY trolls have gone to jail.. just one...  And that was coz they put death threats to a man and his family.

 

I really seriously believe this dude went to jail because of who he targeted.... a famous footie player who was very ill, who the nation decided they were going to pray for -  even though most people could not have picked him out of a line up before.  If this had been a random nobody; the guy (the 'troll') would have probably got away with it.

Then bigger fool them, they're not thinking is what I say......not seeing both sides 

Bigger fool them maybe, but they might be bosses, managers, teachers or the police never mind BNP or EDF.  They're not seeing both sides but they think they are because the right wing media is quite clever at presenting its argument as reasonable,fair minded and feeding and entrenching existing prejudices.  In that way it's persuasive and insidious and very good at forming opinions that are hard to reverse.  Far better than any  drunken idiot on Twitter.

Isn't that the same for us all though? are we not all fed crap from whatever side?  

yes, to a certain extent, I tend to believe what I read in the Guardian and BBC and instantly distrust what I read in the Daily Mail and the Murdoch press.

You link The Mail 

I did, but the reason being is that it's middle brow, not too long on details and not too brief.  The journalism is of a fair standard, if you can identify the journalistic biases, which I like to think I can!   I read the Mail and Express on line quite a lot.  I read right wing opinion quite a lot also, so I know how they think.  I don't touch the Sun because it's for idiots and really winds me up.  Whereas the Mail and Express are interested in promoting right wing opinions in general, the Murdoch press is more interested in promoting the business interests and philosophies of Rupert Murdoch.  

 

When I find myself nodding in agreement with opinion pieces in the Express and Mail, I know it's time to get hefty dose of the Guardian and New Statesman.

I'm not arguing with you C.

 

There's journalism bias in the Dandy.

Was always a Beano man, myself

Good that he was charged , but i think the sentence is a bit harsh .. agree with Carnelian on the "dripfeeding" theory . 

 

I don't get this racism is all from the right carp...    I've seen it come from all ends of the political spectrum. . in fact it's more about upbringing than politic views isn't it?

Yup! If growing up kids hear racist name calling and their elders generally having no respect for those of a different racial background to their own just because they are different, they will grow into adults who feel and act the same... sad but true

I do!

yup that's what I thought too Jen..

 

Thought the thread was about a racist idiot who posted racist crap but tis more a lets knock the right wing thread. .. again..

 

don't get me wrong am more a slightly right of centre person but hate all this everything is the rights fault stuff..  and would hate if people were saying the left were the spawn of the devil too..  tis stuff like this that puts me right off politco people with their extreme views and huge generalsisations.. 

May I say that a small number of right wing peepil are racist, but all racists are right wing.

how do you make that out then GJ?

 

 

a racist is a racist.. be it a workman on a  building site, a trade unionist or a bloke sat in a fancy office .. I don't get it . .the left and rights are political beliefs aren't they so what's that got to do with being racist?

 

not trying to be argumentative here, I just really don't understand where politics comes into it.  .

I know what you're saying, Olly.

 

People tend to vote for those who they feel represent their own views, or their own 'class'. In extreme cases, they may vote for those who they feel represent their own 'race', or nationalist views.

 

When it comes to the media, in the UK, what is seen as right-wing does tend to be anti-immigration, anti-Europe, anti-Trade union in tone and can be seen to pander to some feelings of unfairness in the plight of the white population, with cries of 'PC GONE MAD!!' if any of their views are questioned. I would bet that the majority of Daily Mail readers would vote Conservative, UKIP, or even BNP, but I'm sure that there are those who would still vote for left wing parties, despite holding racist views.

 

Pure left-wing ideology should include equality for all, whether class, gender or race. As we know from experience, this is not always the case.             

I agree.

 

Although I can see what Carnelian means and agree that more subtle means of spreading racist views do more damage in the long term, I've read some of the tweets that this idiot sent and fully support punishing this sort of vile, personal abuse. If it stops other idiots doing it, then it's worth it.

 

And how come all these idiots say that they have friends from different cultures/ethnicities and do not hold racist views? Where do these tweets come from, if not from their own brains?  

thanks blizzie. . am still finding it weird that it is a political thing tho cos race never came into who I vote for...  growth in businesses and job creation [which to me go hand in hand]  is my main thing when looking who to vote for .. tho am not voting next time as a protest cos they are all pretty much the same now I feel

 

maybe that explanation you gave is the old way of thinking when there was a big difference in the partys .. world's changed a lot now and most are pretty much the same. .  also I'd have always put BNP types down as ex labour voters. . would never have made them as conservatives. . but then that's me making a huge generalisation based on the skin head types I   associate with BNP..so being pretty much hypocritical and lumping everybody in a certain bracket meself

 

 

but it goes back to my original point. . a racist is a racist regardless of who they vote for and I doubt they all vote right..

 

 

Call me old fashioned etc.

In my long experience of trade unionism and labour party membership I came to realise that it is all about "walking the walk!"

Not all trade unionists, or labour party members, or the general working class, if you will, are left wing. They outnumber the rest, but we don't have, and haven't had a left wing government in 30+ years. Thatcher relied on a huge inappropriate vote.

Neither are all "rich people" right wing.

IMHYCO if someone expouses racist views then they aren't left wing. "Workers of the world unite!" and all that jazz.

Indeed.

 

The left wing possess all the morals  

And the loonie left possess envy.

thanks for replying GJ... am still non the wiser as I don't associate those sorts of things with political parties. .I understand the 'workers of the world unite' policy thing from the early days of the setting up of the labour party and the reasons behind it and low paid workers conditions  but those ideals were soon lost as time went by and I still don't understand how that equates to a racist is right wing. . but then I always presumed the left didn't actually include all workers in that saying cos the better off workers [a boss may be a boss but they are still a worker]  are the ones they were always fighting..

 

tho having heard how much a tanker driver earns I wish I had been one of those in my previous life.. I may have even voted Labour  and joined a hardcore union to get a wage like that ..  and gone on strike to get paid even more  

We've no chance of defining left and right!!! Having declared war on Cameron, Murdoch has declared war on the BBC who he described as a bunch of toffs and right wingers. He really is the most powerful man in the country. He's still in charge. Haddaway and shieght Dirty Digger!