A man is being put on trial in Scotland for teaching a dog to Sieg Heil

A YouTube comedian known as Count Dankula (real name Markus Meechan) will soon stand trial for creating the contentious video. For those who haven’t seen it, the pug in question belongs to Meechan’s girlfriend, and in an effort to undermine how supposedly ‘cute and adorable her wee dog is’, he trained the animal to react excitedly to the phrase ‘gas the Jews’, and to lift its paw in response to ‘Sieg Heil’.  At one point, the pug is seen at a computer screen, apparently enjoying a filmed excerpt from one of Hitler’s speeches.

Does the concept of a Nazi pug really have to be explained? Have we reached the point where such a self-evidently absurd premise is interpreted as anything other than comedic? You needn’t even watch the video, the phrase ‘Nazi pug’ should be enough of a hint, let alone that it was created by one ‘Count Dankula’.

Yet last week Meechan was informed that his application for legal aid has been denied. If the police get their way, he will be the latest in a growing list of citizens who have been jailed for making jokes.

Whether the video is funny or not is a matter of opinion. That its intention was to be funny is beyond doubt. But this, evidently, is not a view shared by the Lanarkshire police.

According to one of Meechan’s recent tweets, the officer who arrested him did so ‘with gusto’ and said that he ‘was an actual Nazi trying to inspire people to become Nazis’. I hadn’t thought that such stupidity was even possible outside of the animal kingdom, let alone in the upper echelons of our law-enforcement agencies.

Detective inspector David Cockburn of Lanarkshire CID echoed this sentiment in an official statement. ‘The clip is deeply offensive’, he said, ‘and no reasonable person can possibly find the content acceptable in today’s society. This arrest should serve as a warning to anyone posting such material online, or in any other capacity, that such views will not be tolerated.’

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