Man arrested for racial abuse of Chelsea striker Demba Ba

[wow2011]

I just looked up the guy on wiki. He is a African French muslim/soccer player.

What I don't understand is what exactly did the person post to get him arrested. Is saying ni**** an arrestable offense in Europe? Or maybe fu***** ni****? Or perhaps the person was suggesting an elimination of the entire race? While hate speech is detestable, I am not sure about being physically arrested for saying you hate a certain race. Or is hate speech a crime in Europe?

Does anyone know what the facebook post was?

[Elgand]

Even where freedom of speech is protected and practiced Libel, Slander, Sedition and Treason are not typically defended.

[Zhangfei]

Unless I know the original post, this conjecture is idiotic. Hate speech and incitement to cause violence are NOT free speech.

[Deleted]

Unless I know the original post, this conjecture is idiotic. Hate speech and incitement to cause violence are NOT free speech.

We don't. Unless someone screen-grabbed it, no-one does.

That's the problem.

[Zhangfei]

We don't. Unless someone screen-grabbed it, no-one does.

That's the problem.

It's only a problem if the justice system fails and we find out later what he really said, otherwise I'm not too worried.

[Raiju]

@ Raiju but after all there is a pretty, little difference between him and many others, he expressed such racist slurs, the big part of the rest did not. So where is the problem of looking into it, there is evidence in this case, his comment on facebook.

If the laws in great britain say thats enough for the arrest thats it. I like it, others don't.

There's laws to arrest most people for something they've done at some point in their life.

But please continue with your totalitarian scheme, mr. president.

[wow2011]

Unless I know the original post, this conjecture is idiotic. Hate speech and incitement to cause violence are NOT free speech.

I think this is the grey area of the law that can never truely be defined because this can become a subjective thing. What if you draw something that symbolizes hate speech in a comic or painting? Or mix in subliminal incitement of violence in a religious sermon? The famous "God Hates Fags" from westboro church comes to mind.

And what if that idea is written out? Can we than start to ban religion based on certain criterias? So maybe we should ban certain parts of the bible where god purged a city of unbelievers killing everyone even children and animal? Maybe we should ban parts of quran where god commands muslims to kill unbelievers?

If we allow these to exist then why can we arrest people for spewing disgusting racist crap on facebook?

It is too difficult to determine without reading the actual post. And I think it's a dangerous thing for people to jump in and crucify a person without even seeing the full picture.

[Zhangfei]

I think this is the grey area of the law that can never truely be defined because this can become a subjective thing. What if you draw something that symbolizes hate speech in a comic or painting? Or mix in subliminal incitement of violence in a religious sermon? The famous "God Hates Fags" from westboro church comes to mind.

And what if that idea is written out? Can we than start to ban religion based on certain criterias? So maybe we should ban certain parts of the bible where god purged a city of unbelievers killing everyone even children and animal? Maybe we should ban parts of quran where god commands muslims to kill unbelievers?

If we allow these to exist then why can we arrest people for spewing disgusting racist crap on facebook?

It is too difficult to determine without reading the actual post. And I think it's a dangerous thing for people to jump in and crucify a person without even seeing the full picture.

That's what I'm saying for one, and two, hate speech and incitement to violence has to be against a specific group present and under threat. The Bible and Qu'ran are aggressive against people who no longer exist, so that's a bad analogy.

Racist thoughts lead to racist actions, so it's good to crack down on it.

[Deleted]

Actually your answer is quite incorrect, the most people are just doing nothing for the whole time thus not getting arrested nor something else.

If you consider laws against racism totalitarian scheme everyone would be wasting time if they argue with you, me included. Please do me and others a favor and don't answer on this post or others if you only reply with non logical, snarly comments.

[Deleted]

UK hasn't had free speech for a long time.

Racist messages and hate speech are most definitely free speech. Unless he was organizing people or threatening to harm the football player, nothing he did was wrong, except by the current fucked up UK standards.

[Zhangfei]

UK hasn't had free speech for a long time.

Racist messages and hate speech are most definitely free speech. Unless he was organizing people or threatening to harm the football player, nothing he did was wrong, except by the current fucked up UK standards.

Why do you think you're the rights police? They're not free speech, any more than libel or slander is.

[Deleted]

That's what I'm saying for one, and two, hate speech and incitement to violence has to be against a specific group present and under threat. The Bible and Qu'ran are aggressive against people who no longer exist, so that's a bad analogy.

Racist thoughts lead to racist actions, so it's good to crack down on it.

What the actual fuck? You're seriously saying that we should crack down on racist thoughts because people *might* commit actual crimes with racist motivations?

Jesus christ some people here on this forum are scary.

[Zhangfei]

What the actual fuck? You're seriously saying that we should crack down on racist thoughts because people *might* commit actual crimes with racist motivations?

Jesus christ some people here on this forum are scary.

Yes, you are. Hate SPEECH is bad (a racist act, not racist thoughts, you know the difference, right,) just like libel and slander.

[Kraenen]

It's only a problem if the justice system fails and we find out later what he really said, otherwise I'm not too worried.

I.E. government that runs us, instead of us running the government.

[chadwix]

Is this the guy who the fans were making monkey noises when he got the ball? If so it was probably a disgruntled fan who cant go to the game.

[Zhangfei]

I.E. government that runs us, instead of us running the government.

The government is elected and represents the people. We do run the government?

[Deleted]

Why do you think you're the rights police? They're not free speech, any more than libel or slander is.

Please read up on how defamation laws work. They do not apply when some random nobody says nasty things about a public figure.

And I'm not the rights police, but freedom of speech is a pretty simple concept. Just because someone is offended by the speech doesn't make it a crime. And just because it's racism, doesn't make it a crime.

Except in the UK which has been shedding its freedom of speech for a while now. Shame on the UK.

[Kraenen]

Yes, you are. Hate SPEECH is bad (a racist act, not racist thoughts, you know the difference, right,) just like libel and slander.

Something being "bad" doesn't mean it should be illegal or criminal.

[Deleted]

Yes, you are. Hate SPEECH is bad (a racist act, not racist thoughts, you know the difference, right,) just like libel and slander.

Hate speech is bad, but it's not against freedom of speech. In countries with civil liberties the courts do not recognize hate speech.

Only if you're encouraging people to do harm to the player, or threatening to do it yourself, might the authorities get involved. Lacking that, people who say stupid things are punished by social sanctions. Like when an employer fires you for saying nasty stuff like that, or your friends abandon you.

Racism isn't social ok, just like being an alcoholic isn't socially ok. But it's not and should not be illegal in civilized countries.

[Raiju]

Actually your answer is quite incorrect, the most people are just doing nothing for the whole time thus not getting arrested nor something else.

Go look at some of the laws in the UK (and a lot of other western countries) or just keep believing that if you wish. It's hardly uncommon to be tried for something because they WANTED to get you for some other reason. They have no reason to chase down everyone who breaks every minor law that shouldn't exist, because that's just how the legal system is. Overbearing. If you tried to enforce everything all the time you would run your country into the ground and be a mini north korea while you're at it.