Juno News - November 06, 2018Five Brits arrested for making ＂vile＂ social media video
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Summary
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, a group of British citizens decided to make a vile and callous effigy of the tower and film themselves burning it, laughing at it and mocking those who died. Police in the United Kingdom have arrested five people, but no one has been charged for it. What does this say about free speech?
Transcript
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Just because something is wrong doesn't mean it should be illegal. This is an
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especially true ideal when it comes to discussing free speech, which as we know
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in the age in which we live doesn't always come so easily even in supposedly
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free countries. This week police in the United Kingdom arrested five individuals
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over a vile and callous video mocking those who died in the terrible Grenfell
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Tower fire not that long ago. It killed dozens and dozens of people, more than
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70 in fact, and for whatever reason a group of Britons decided that they would
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take it upon themselves to create an effigy of the tower, burn it, and film
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themselves burning it, laughing at it, and mocking those who died. Now to be clear
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something like this is horrific and indefensible. When British Prime Minister
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Theresa May said that it was vile and reprehensible I agreed with her. When a
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Metropolitan Police commander who actually investigated the Grenfell Tower fire
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said that it was vile and reprehensible. I agreed with him. I agreed with anyone who
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said that this was absolutely inexcusable. But the state went one step further.
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Police in the United Kingdom actually arrested five individuals on suspicion of
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public order violations. So ultimately speaking if you do something terrible and
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callous it is potentially going to get you arrested. This is what we saw in the UK not
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that long ago where a man went viral online for teaching his dog to respond to
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commands related to Hitler. The man was charged with a hate crime after what was
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more aptly characterized as probably a judgment error or a comedy depending on
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which side of the fence you fall on. Now there was little redemptive about the
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Grenfell Tower mockery but burning something an effigy is actually quite a
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common practice in the United Kingdom bizarrely. Just this week as a matter of
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fact protesters were burning effigies of Boris Johnson and Theresa May. Police were
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trying to do some crowd control but didn't actually lay any charges. We also have Guy
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Fawkes Day where everyone across the country is encouraged to burn an effigy of
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Guy Fawkes. And again no one is charged for this. Burning something even if it is an
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inherently violent display does not mean you are against the law. But in the
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United Kingdom free speech is actually subjected to so-called public order instead
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of an actual constitutionally protected freedom. And this is becoming
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increasingly problematic when you have a state that does not respect those
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fundamental freedoms. And again we have to look to this fundamental question of
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whether we as a society can agree that we will self-regulate instead of
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expecting the government to regulate things for us. If we think speech is
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objectionable we should call it out. The state should not be arresting people for
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it. That's what free speech means. For the True North Initiative I'm Andrew Lawton.