Police have become embroiled in a free speech row after officers told a cancer patient to apologise for a social media post.
Deborah Anderson, an American citizen living in Slough, was confronted by an officer from Thames Valley Police after someone complained about an offensive Facebook post. …
Anderson was visited at home by a single officer in June and informed that Thames Valley Police had received a complaint about her.
In a video shared by the FSU, the officer said: “Something we believe you have written on Facebook has upset someone.”
Anderson then asked: “You’re here because someone got upset? Is it against the law? Am I being arrested?”
The officer confirmed that she was not being arrested and explained: “My plan was that if it was you who wrote the comment, you could just make an apology to the person.”
Anderson replied: “I am not apologising to anybody, I can tell you that.”
The officer told her: “The alternative would be that I would have to call you in for interview.”
Anderson then asked the officer: “Are there no houses that have been burgled recently, no rapes, no murders? … Then why aren’t you out there investigating those?”
This is why we have to stop any laws that try to criminalise so called hate speech. Inevitably it leads to the Police intervening just because someone gets offended about something.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
3 comments:
This may well be a concern, but I wouldn't believe anything that Stuff reports.
Exactly, David.
I have made that same point myself.
"Hate speech" laws - as proposed by Comrade Ardern - would have made it a crime to publish any comment that someone MIGHT find "offensive".
Dear me.
I find the Maori Party's policies "offensive". Hate speech laws, as proposed, means that I could ask the Police to arrest them.
Isn't it interesting that Farrars kiwiblog articles haven't featured Willis' ongoing protection of the electricity oligarchs, and just today included an article falsely justifying price colluding supermarkets.
Pot, kettle, black!
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