Juno News - Five Brits arrested for making ＂vile＂ social media video

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?

00:00:00.000 Just because something is wrong doesn't mean it should be illegal. This is an

00:00:05.780 especially true ideal when it comes to discussing free speech, which as we know

00:00:10.560 in the age in which we live doesn't always come so easily even in supposedly

00:00:15.400 free countries. This week police in the United Kingdom arrested five individuals

00:00:20.960 over a vile and callous video mocking those who died in the terrible Grenfell

00:00:28.000 Tower fire not that long ago. It killed dozens and dozens of people, more than

00:00:32.860 70 in fact, and for whatever reason a group of Britons decided that they would

00:00:37.680 take it upon themselves to create an effigy of the tower, burn it, and film

00:00:42.680 themselves burning it, laughing at it, and mocking those who died. Now to be clear

00:00:47.480 something like this is horrific and indefensible. When British Prime Minister

00:00:51.780 Theresa May said that it was vile and reprehensible I agreed with her. When a

00:00:56.500 Metropolitan Police commander who actually investigated the Grenfell Tower fire

00:01:01.360 said that it was vile and reprehensible. I agreed with him. I agreed with anyone who

00:01:06.760 said that this was absolutely inexcusable. But the state went one step further.

00:01:12.460 Police in the United Kingdom actually arrested five individuals on suspicion of

00:01:18.700 public order violations. So ultimately speaking if you do something terrible and

00:01:24.940 callous it is potentially going to get you arrested. This is what we saw in the UK not

00:01:30.560 that long ago where a man went viral online for teaching his dog to respond to

00:01:36.400 commands related to Hitler. The man was charged with a hate crime after what was

00:01:41.080 more aptly characterized as probably a judgment error or a comedy depending on

00:01:46.660 which side of the fence you fall on. Now there was little redemptive about the

00:01:50.800 Grenfell Tower mockery but burning something an effigy is actually quite a

00:01:55.120 common practice in the United Kingdom bizarrely. Just this week as a matter of

00:01:58.600 fact protesters were burning effigies of Boris Johnson and Theresa May. Police were

00:02:04.900 trying to do some crowd control but didn't actually lay any charges. We also have Guy

00:02:09.800 Fawkes Day where everyone across the country is encouraged to burn an effigy of

00:02:14.420 Guy Fawkes. And again no one is charged for this. Burning something even if it is an

00:02:19.860 inherently violent display does not mean you are against the law. But in the

00:02:24.700 United Kingdom free speech is actually subjected to so-called public order instead

00:02:31.180 of an actual constitutionally protected freedom. And this is becoming

00:02:35.300 increasingly problematic when you have a state that does not respect those

00:02:39.860 fundamental freedoms. And again we have to look to this fundamental question of

00:02:45.080 whether we as a society can agree that we will self-regulate instead of

00:02:49.760 expecting the government to regulate things for us. If we think speech is

00:02:53.300 objectionable we should call it out. The state should not be arresting people for

00:02:57.680 it. That's what free speech means. For the True North Initiative I'm Andrew Lawton.

Juno News - November 06, 2018

Five Brits arrested for making ＂vile＂ social media video

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