In the near future I can see police cells not being full of people suspected of robbery, murder or rape, but full of journalists & bloggers. In the near future I can see police cells not being full of people suspected of rape, murder & robbery, because the cells are going to be full of journalists & bloggers whose only crime is that they exercised their right to freedom of speech. In the near future I see police cells not being full of those suspected of murder, rape & robbery, because police cells will be too full of journalists & bloggers whose only crime is to express etc but somebody happened to not like the etc they expressed.

Whatever happened to the concept of free speech in this country, because these days if you’re a blogger or journalist you can’t say anything about anything or anybody without the constant fear of either being sued for something you’ve said or getting a call from the police asking you to help with enquiries into a complaint that has been made against you in regards to something you’ve said.

The editor of The Bastard said to me just yesterday that she’d pretty much thought about jacking in writing completely & this was due to being utterly fearful in regards to the laws about what you can & can’t say about etc. The editor of The Bastard isn’t the only person who’s recently thought about jacking in writing completely, I to have thought about jacking in writing completely because its as if you can’t shit these days without the threat of being hauled into court.

To quote that quote often associated with the philosopher Voltaire ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’.

I’m certainly not saying that people should be free to threaten violence against anybody or should anybody be free to preach the use of violence; however if you have had a falling out with somebody & publically express annoyance about that disagreement you’ve had, I don’t think anybody should be threatening to get lawyers or the police involved. If somebody doesn’t like an opinion you have of somebody then that somebody does have right to respond; as I’ve always said I believe people should be free to say things like I’m a sick twisted asshole for being a transsexual because firstly I’ll know they’re an asshole & secondly I should be equally free to say they’re an ill educated dipshit for thinking I’m a sick twisted asshole for being a transsexual.

Its certainly not right that there are people preaching intolerance & hate towards those of a certain sexual orientation or of a certain skin colour, but no matter how much the government attempts to prohibit free speech there are always going to be racists & homophobes. I would much rather those with views I find repugnant were free to express those repugnant views, so I know who in mind is a total asshole.

To quote George Orwell ‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear’.

In regards to restricting free speech people do talk about slander & libel; well I reckon that if you knowingly tell a load of bullshit lies without about somebody or any institution that can be proven to directly denigrate the reputation of that person or institution, you quite probably do deserve to get hauled into court & have your arse sued off you. If somebody insults then I think that’s a matter of subjective opinion; I mean there are people who think I’m utterly nasty & I believe they should be free to say that, because its not an opinion that I share nor many of my friends.

As for harassment & free speech, well I think a few tweets & blog post about being pissed at somebody or other doesn’t constitutes harassment, but if you continue to hound that person to the point that its impeding on them living their life that’s not a free speech issue that really is harassment issue which that law needs to sort.

I’ll admit I can be damn right insulting sometimes & not always realise I’m being so, therefore I guess I’m grateful that people have the right to free speech to be able to tell me. I write articles like these & sometimes I fuck up in regards to getting my facts straight, so I guess I’m grateful for people being to exercise freedom of speech in telling me I’ve fucked up.

Sending some student to prison for posting a racist tweet when he’s had a few to drink is ridiculous & yes folks that did happen. I don’t preach race hate, xenophobia or violence, but I’m scared of ending up in prison for criticizing somebody for being a jerk.

So I do wonder whatever happened to free speech in this country? Its as if these days free speech is long dead because no longer can you say shit about anything.