See here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17515992 OK, he's guilty and did something very stupid. A conviction doesn't seem unreasonable in this case, but to me a jail term sounds completely over the top and sets a slightly worrying precedent - as well as being inconsistent with a number of disturbingly light sentences handed out in recent years for more alarming offences. eg That was just from a random search. In what way is jailing an idiot who made racist tweets a better idea than failing to jail a woman who threatens her own mother with a knife, or a bloke with thousands of child porn images? Apparently he is guilty of inciting racial hatred. Who is he inciting? He's an random plonker on the internet, ranting and raving away at no one in particular. I don't think that this guy should have got off. He should be punished somehow. But surely something like a very lengthy community service would be better in this case? I simply can't resolve in my mind...all the times we hear of light sentences for those ASBO cases, who get off jail time and again. I mean, you can escape jail for headbutting at a racist rally (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15581264) but tweeting gets you time! There needs to be some consistency with sentencing. We have to feel like the law is fair and balanced, and not simply subject to the ebbs and tides of current media sensations. I am particularly pained by what the judge said in the tweet case: "It was not the football world who was praying for [Muamba].... everybody was praying for his life." This is the problem. The whole "Pray for Muamba" phenomenen has taken over the country, and clearly has influenced this magistrate. That's not good enough. I am annoyed by the claims that everybody is praying for Muamba. I wasn't. I don't personally know anyone that was. Am I a cold hearted *******? I don't think so. As far as I can remember, I have never prayed. I saw what happened to Muamba. It was painful viewing. I felt sorry for him and hoped (and still hope) that he recovers. Apparently that's not enough. I have to pray as well? The tide is heading in that direction. Let's all just act like North Koreans and engage in public praying for Muamba lest anyone dare insinuate that we may, actually, not be praying for Muamba and hence not acceptable members of the media defined society. As the Great Sage Kyle Walker claims, also on the Twit': Thanks for that Kyle. But I'm pretty sure that whether I'm religious is a pretty major determining factor in whether I'm going to pray for Muamba. In fact, I might dare to add that it is probably the prime factor! Fancy that! I have seen a few unpleasant things in the world. Things that have turned my stomach or have some pretty strong physical and mental affects. Despite that, I've never gone away and decided to pray for that person or people. I'm sure I'm not the only one. And what I saw of Muamba does not make me go away and pray. Is it enough for me to say that I want Muamba to get better, simply because I don't want anyone to die at the age of 23 from a heart attack. But for the near future at least, Praying for Muamba is the only socially acceptable action and it looks like it's even influencing our justice system.
I'm with you man. The consistancy in sentencing is laughable. People that actually physically harm another can get less time than people that commit crimes that haven't really directly harmed anyone. And as for praying for Muamba....that drives me nuts. There was a tweet from his girlfriend saying "Your prayers are working!". Not the on the spot paramedics at the pitch taht worked on him for 15 minutes then? Not the intensive care nurses and doctors, not the banks of machines, monitors and treatments he had, not the years of medical research and science underpinning his treatment and our understanding of his illness? No? Prayer did it? Really? What about all the children and babies that die everyday that also had prayers said for them? What did god do about them? Not as deserving as a millionaire football player? God loves his footy right? I honestly don't care what people believe in private but this sort of public idiocy makes me face palm so hard I'd hit the inside of my skull if my face didn't get in the way. And note...by no means does this mean I mean Muamba ill or otherwise think he shouldn't recover.
I have seen what he wrote and it was vile but in my opinion it didn't warrant a jail sentence.To be honest it looked like it had been written by a very immature twelve year old rather than a university student.He just needs to grow up. I was on my hands and knees in tears.Not that I had got a clue who Muamba was but I felt it was the right thing to do and didn't want to seen as someone who dosen't worship celebrities.
http://newsthump.com/2012/03/21/car...ive-them-a-little-credit-for-muamba-survival/ Sums up my attitude to it. Yes, I'm glad he lived, and don't wish death on anyone, but making it out to be some sort of religious miracle is a bit of a stretch.
I'm curious as to what he wrote, but if you can be jailed for an offensive comment that isn't said at the time of an actual assault or something... Well I hope the police never find my Facebook lol.
His first tweet was "LOL.Eff Muamba. He's dead.#haha" or some such and when challenged he retorted with "sexist and racist abuse" Frankly I do not like where this is going, and that is coming from an LEO! I suspect much of this is post-riot twitter reactions, and it will be a few years before the fine lines between free speech and abusive content settle down
I agree with that article to be honest. I don't think the guy deserved a jail sentence but he did deserve some form of punishment. I do think it's been blown way out of proportion however. Common happening when anything involves a "celebrity these days. Funniest thing though, I had never heard of him until he collapsed and it was all over the papers.
Send the po-po round his house with hammers to smash up his smart-phone, i-pad, laptop and PC. Licence to use digital media = revoked
There's a video on youtube of Liam's twittering. I'd post it here but the content is definitely against the TOS, so I'll just say it's out there and let you do the rest if you're interested. To be honest I find his actual comments not as bad as what I was imagining they must have been based on the jailtime. I stand by my previous opinion that it's just words, albeit unkind ones, and his punishment FAR outweighs his crime. Would be enough to stand in front of the courts and have people throw rotten fruit at him or something, and we could all get on with our lives Just saw some of it on TV, apparently there's a student petition going on now to kick him out of university, and the uni itself is "reviewing his position." This guy's life could be wrecked because of what is in my opinion an EXTREMLY overblown reaction to what ultimately amounts to a harmless (if not victimless) crime :/ I find myself wondering, horrible as his behaviour was, what's the biggest crime here? Saying some stupid hateful stuff on Twitter, or robbing a young man of his foreseeable future and reputation because he had a moment of utter stupidity? I'd rather have seen him fined and banned from drinking or something. He only did what I'd say a huge number of others would do if they were drunk at a computer. He typed up the thoughts of a lot of people. That's probably why people hate him so much right now
He was inciting nothing though - just voicing a stupid comment that I guarantee he thought was "for lulz" when he did it Stupid - yes Douchebag - absolutely Criminal - no
Stupidity and being a douchebag should, in my own opinion, be recognised as crimes. Alright the punishment may be a bit heavy, but frankly I'm fed up with people being unpleasant and then claiming they have some sort of moral right to be so, as if it's some sort of great principle that someone should be allowed to be prejudiced, obnoxious, and generally disrespectful of others.
Wow, really? Jail time for posting a personal opinion- even if it is a rancid personal opinion. A bit Big Brother, isn't it?
Whilst I agree that they should be publicly humiliated, I am cautious of infringing on opinions by pure use of force, as opposed to exposing the stupidity of said opinion.... ...has someone put something in my coffee this morning? I am being too fluffy by far
Not exactly. If he had kept his poisonous opinion to himself, or simply spoken about it in private, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. The point is that he didn't do this at all - what he did was went out of his way to broadcast his opinion to as many people as possible, and then responded with bile when they attacked it. So there's no Big Brother involved. He published it - that means it's no longer a personal opinion, but a public one. Try walking through Germany with a swastika tattoed on your forehead and see what happens.
Something I find interesting, for what it's worth: The video on youtube is of screenshots off his Twitter page (which has since closed, so at least he's got semblence of intelligence once sober lol), and I noticed his typing was different in the posts when he was abusive, to the posts afterwards where he apologised (sometimes to specific people) for his previous comments. He told the police he was drunk, and the court that his account had been hacked. The difference in typing could be because he was drunk, but it isn't beyond possibility that someone was messing with him. I remember an admin to a message board I was on (thankfully a friend of mine) left his computer unattended for some reason, so his mate started messing with members. In my case he implied I was a paedophile. Didn't see me running to the police, btw lol. Just saying, there's a chance it wasn't him who posted it all.
On the upside: perhaps it is time that people became aware that 'the internet' IS just as real as the real world. People seem to work under the misconception that as long as it happens on the internet, there are no boundaries. He is the only one responsible for the ruin that befalls him. If you rock a vending machine and it falls on top of you, it is your fault. My thoughts exactly.
Doesn't really matter, Bunny. People print publications that are just as bad, if not worse, every day. While I may think that their opinions are deplorable, I do support their right to make and print those opinions. That's the way the whole freedom of speech thing works (admittedly not the same laws as those there). It covers the opinions of those who are deplorable just as it covers those whose opinions you agree with. If you start picking and choosing whose opinions are legally acceptable that opens a whole can of worms that really can get messy. I agree, his posts were probably deplorable. But to jail someone for having and even posting those opinions is, in fact, deplorable to me as well. I may not agree with Rush Limbaugh and I may think he can be a bit of a moron, but because I want to be able to say AND PRINT my opinions I have to tolerate the fact that he gets to do the same. So, yep- for me, its still Big Brother.
