Prosecutions for speech are mercifully rare in Australia and this one is troubling. Everybody gets abused at some stage. Conservative bloggers get it almost daily. So people have to learn to get used to it. The fact that the abused person was Jewish is of course unpleasant but the abuser was an obvious nut anyway.
A substantial part of the student body at the University of California would have to be locked up under the criteria adopted in this case
The High Court of Australia has found a right to free speech in the constitution so this verdict could be overturned if it is appealed
"Brendan Lee O'Connell, 40, was sentenced in the District Court in Perth yesterday after being found guilty on Friday of six racial hatred charges.
He faced seven charges related to the posting of a verbal altercation he had with Stanley Keyser and Timothy Peach, who are Jewish, and was found guilty on six.
An argument broke out between the three men at an IGA supermarket in South Perth on May 2, 2009, where a Friends of Palestine group was holding a protest against Israeli oranges. O'Connell was using a video camera at the event and in a video he later posted online, he labelled Mr Keyser a "racist, homicidal maniac". "You have a religion of racism, hate, homicide and ethnic cleansing," he said in the video.
SOURCE
10 comments:
Defamation or free speech?
Rule #1:
Thou must NEVER offend the "chosen" people. Your personal beliefs and opinions are not only irrelevant, but may be criminal, if some jew, somewhere, is offended or "feels" offended.
"Thou must NEVER offend the "chosen" people."
Nice. First they invent a god, Yahweh. Second, their so-called god tells them that they are the "chosen people." Of course they are the "chosen people"; they designed their god that way.
"You have a religion of racism, hate, homicide and ethnic cleansing,"
Sounds like Islmam to me
First they invent a god, Yahweh.
You might want to redo that post there again as your ignorance is showing.
A pity that the 'Friends of Palestine' group was't locked up for being a public nuisance.
If the clown that was locked up was part of them then I have no doubt justice was done. Abusive threatening speech is the norm for anyone who disagrees with them. I have seen these idiots holding rallies in Melbourne. They do not take kindly to being told they are supporting terroists.
I guess we are lucky they aren't muslims but only the misguided left otherwise they would probably be looking for martydom.
This leads to an obvious question: will you get three years in jail if you abuse someone in public simply because you don't like him, not because of his race (or religion)? Disturbing the peace cannot be tolerated, but it is usually regarded as a misdemeanour.
These people go beyond disturbing the peace if you attempt engage them in civilised converation.
Their verbal abuse is pure intimidation.
Because they are representing a muslim cause a blind eye is always turned in this state.
-btm
anon 3:58pm
This is a chilling decision for free speech (especially since much of this speech at least was essentially political in nature) in Australia and especially here in Perth.
Sounds like the complainants were out and about doing a bit of camera work, for the record. To their surprise others were out to, not just with the video hardware, but with a few choice rebukes as well. Unable to cope, in a fit of hysterical histrionics, they wailed off to the courts to have the nasty evil man jailed for his impolite lack of "face".
Of course we can't have a bit dialectical biff can we. It hurts people and 'always' leads to violent acts, or so they say. It's just not "Australian" today in the Pussified Land of Oz.
Apparently, past generations fought and died for this kind of court enforced "tolerance" and diversity of opinion.
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