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This is a pretty outrageous story of a comedian who gets arrested when landing at Heathrow airport because of some tweets.

The civility of individual officers doesn't alter the fundamental reality of what happened. I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online—all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers. To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.

It seems irrelevant to me whether you agree with what this fellow says or whether it was insulting or anything, really.

What is going through the minds of officers who act out such arrests as these?

Later, during the interview itself, the tone shifted. The officer conducting it asked about each of the terrible tweets in turn, with the sort of earnest intensity usually reserved for discussing something serious like… oh, I dunno—crime? I explained that the ‘punch’ tweet was a serious point made with a joke. Men who enter women’s spaces ARE abusers and they need to be challenged every time. The ‘punch in the bollocks’ bit was about the height difference between men and women, the bollocks being closer to punch level for a woman defending her rights and certainly not a call to violence. (Not one of my best as one of the female officers said “We’re not THAT small”).

There are several moments where the comedian thinks he recognizes that some of the officers don't agree with arresting people for what they say...but they still do it!

This is the most curious part to me: what must it be like to be such an officer? To know that you are using violence against someone simply because of what they said. I fear that they justify it by some sort of mental acrobatic that goes: as long as he doesn't resist, we aren't hurting him. So any violence here is his fault.

How do the people who pass such laws and act on such policies not realize that they are building weapons that can be used by whoever is in power?

If insults can be punishable with jail time and fines, anything you say can land you in jail if the right people don't like you. This is a horrible situation from which absolutely no one benefits.

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112 sats \ 5 replies \ @stack_harder 2 Sep

This guy wrote two of my favourite comedies back in the day (Father Ted and Black books), the fact that he's getting arrested for a tweet is ridiculous.

People are allowed to shoplift and be a strung-out drug addict on the streets, but you're not allowed to write something on twitter, honestly, wtf happened to the UK...

102 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 23h

I mean, speech is violence. That's what we have been hearing for decades now. I see what is happening in the UK the obvious consequence of this nonsense we've been seeing written by college professors and liberal studies students for many years. Its just being written into policy.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Scoresby OP 23h

Are you at all surprised though that there is such a curious inability to recognize how these policies can be wielded by whoever is in power? I mean that while they may be used in the UK right now to silence people who are critical of something like the transgender movement, all it takes is a change in regime to see the same tools used to put transgender activists in jail.

I don't care what side people are on, I care that we're putting bad laws on the books that will end up harming all of us.

102 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 23h

I used to be surprised by this but that was probably 20 years ago now. I mean the same concept can be applied to the power of the President in the US. Obama ran for office on the abuse of power by Bush. Then he did zero to reduce the power of the office. That's just one example. In the US every election I think of how absurd it all is. Each side uses scare tactics about how the other is gonna use power to oppress in some way. No one talks about actually fixing that issue. Why? Because they don't want to reduce the power. They just want to use it.

Now, why doesn't the public get this? Well, most are tuned out for the most part and only listen to the surface level stuff on the news or social. The ones that aren't tuned out are only tuned into their team's propaganda. Its like the federal reserve. No one talks about the ring of power. They only talk about what they will do if they have power. It has never entered the mind of most people to destroy the ring.

I'll just say this. I didn't find the liberty movement (libertarianism, anarchism, volunteerism) because I was reading over different world views. Like many others, I'm wired to ask questions and find problems and look for solutions. I recall many conversations with conservatives back in the early 2000s about how many things would backfire on them. The gun would be pointed back at them. Then I started realizing I wasn't alone in this thinking and found like minded thinkers much smarter than me.

I just don't think most people think about this stuff. They are thinking about the immediate. They are easily manipulated and redirected into the two or three camps. I don't even think its some conspiracy. I just think its incentives creating a system that works for those at the top.

And to be clear. Destroying the ring in our case is largely a mental thing. If the state ceases to be at the center of our minds it will eventually fall on its own.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 22h

Obama ran for office on the abuse of power by Bush. Then he did zero to reduce the power of the office.

I forgot about this gem. I remember when Trump won the election the first time and there were stories about Obama staffers panicking about how he would use the power... I remember laughing about this. Guys, you didn't think about this for the 8 years your guy was in power?

Its all so tiresome

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 22h

I'm reminded of another angle to this. We humans in 2025 can just be so selfish and self-centered that we never even consider other perspectives. And I'm not meaning the progressive idea of pluralism or their nonsense. What I mean is to try to understand different perspectives that I may not hold. Its easy and feels good to just discount the opposing position but its actually very dumb and destructive.

If an opposing view is ridiculous it should be easy to knock down. I see this everywhere right now. Most of us are just preaching to the choir all the time. There's a place for that but how many of us actually seek to steel man opposing positions. Can we understand why others would disagree with us. Sure, I know we are right in all our positions but can we understand why others would disagree. If you can't you have work to do. The answer isn't always those people are dumb. Yeah, plenty of people that agree with me are just as dumb.

I see the strawman pattern in religion, politics, health, science, and relationships. I think there is an education component to it. We aren't really taught how to avoid the pitfalls of this but also its just human nature. We can be very short-sighted and selfish.

102 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 21h

I'm a huge fan of Linehan's shows, while also thinking he's largely been an ass and an asshole online, but getting arrested for the stuff he's said is ridiculous.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby OP 21h

Exactly. Being an ass is repulsive and stupid, but it is not something we should arrest people for or involve the state at all.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @anon 2 Sep

Not a fan of the UK government… However you can’t threaten people online and not expect a response from law enforcement.

If I said ‘I’m going to punch every woman I see…’

That would get a response from authorities.

If I said online ‘I’m going to punch every Asian/chinese/black/white person i see’ and sounded serious… said it in a serious way it could be construed as a threat.

Same thing if you threatened the PM or representative in a tweet, don’t be surprised if the government comes knocking.

Stackers need to be a little more discerning when it comes to believing/interpreting things online - the blog’s account is extremely one-sided and if you (the OP) don’t use better critical thinking people will take advantage of you.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby OP 2 Sep

The writer of the account is a comedian. Which of the tweets do you consider to be a threat?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 2 Sep

Don't be anon if you want to tell others to worry less about freedom of speech.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @anon 2 Sep

Difference between privacy/anonymity and freedom of speech. I paid my sats I get to post that's the whole point of lightning.

Why, in the year of our Lord 2025, is any government arresting people for what they say?

What is going through the minds of officers who act out such arrests as these?

How do the people who pass such laws and act on such policies not realize that they are building weapons that can be used by whoever is in power?