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Youtuber Count Dankula found guilty of hate speech according to Scottish court

Youtuber Count Dankula was found guilty for "disseminating grossly offensive information online" by a Scottish court and is awaiting his sentence in April. He is currently out on bail.

In the video he taught his dog to respond to "gas the jews" and to raise its paw to "sieg heil". According to the judge this was a deliberate case of committing "hate speech" under the communications act and the context of it being a joke, did not matter.



Update: Count Dankula has been fined 800 British Pounds and no jail time. He has also said he would appeal the decision as he thought this sets a very dangerous precedent in the UK for free speech.

Update 2: Count Dankula's GoFundme for his appeal, has almost reached 100k. If you would like to donate please see https://www.gofundme.com/fund-the-count-dankula-appeal
 
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Snoopycat

Banned
I thought this foolishness would have been thrown out. It is a total waste of the tax payers money and achieves nothing but giving idiots like Tommy Robinson a bandwagon to jump on.
 

drotahorror

Member
PATHETIC

Here's the "Communications Act"

2vdha131bsk01.png


That's right. If you talk shit to someone on twitter and they don't like it, prepare to be fined or sent to prison.
 
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Grinchy

Banned
That video is still pretty funny.

Imagine being such a lunatic that you think the guy committed a crime there.
 
Sentencing has been delayed until April. He's out on bail until then. It is possible he could end up in jail for a few months.

There are no words.
 
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Bodom78

Member
The video is comedy, not necessarily in good taste but a lot of comedy usually is not. Flag the video as inappropriate sure but possible charges or jail time is overboard.
 
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PATHETIC

Here's the "Communications Act"

2vdha131bsk01.png


That's right. If you talk shit to someone on twitter and they don't like it, prepare to be fined or sent to prison.

A person is guilty of an offense if he? Guilty of an offense if HE? That's sexist! It minimizes women in society, and suggests that they are incapable of hate speech. Women are just as capable of hate speech as men are. This electronic communications network has caused me annoyance and needless anxiety. I demand that the person who wrote this be fined or jailed.

Honestly though, using male or female pronouns to presume gender does bother me. An example would be an ad for power tools with a caption "he'll love this new 15 piece drill set." It's unnecessarily limiting. It looks dumb as it appears in this law as well. Then again, it's the least wrong thing about this law.
 

TheMikado

Banned
PATHETIC

Here's the "Communications Act"

2vdha131bsk01.png


That's right. If you talk shit to someone on twitter and they don't like it, prepare to be fined or sent to prison.

I mean at worse I could probably see a stupid fine just to send a message. I'm not entirely opposed to this, but also not a fan. It's clearly being annoying and offensive for offensive sake rather than any larger point.
 

lifa-cobex

Member
So happy i know where tax payers money is going.

This is absolutely 100% fucking insane.

Slap on the wrists.....no
Community service......no
Fucking prison.

Frankie Boyle makes Count Dankula look like Mary bleeding Poppins.
One second of him being inside is an absolute injustice.

edit: Just to add salt on the wound. At one point, the prosecutors tried make it seem even worse than it was in an attempt to put him away for five years.
Guess he should count his blessing that the judge wasn't all the way in the void of insanity.
 
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KINGMOKU

Member
This is what happens when you don't have freedom of speech. It must be all encompassing or it will crumble. When you erode rights, little by little, an actual slippery slope happens and seeing people cheer for this is baffling as they don't see what is happening. They don't realize they have given immense power to the government. They don't realize they are next.

Wow.
 
Just think. . .

While UK officials have been harassing this guy for two years, they could have been doing some actual work, like investigating the rampant child sex slavery in their country.

What strange priorities.
 
While the Islamic State can be incriminated in such practises, let's not demonise a whole religion. This is not to be taken as warning just a public note on the post.
Just think. . .

While UK officials have been harassing this guy for two years, they could have been doing some actual work, like investigating the rampant child sex slavery in their country.

What strange priorities.

Yes, but investigating the sex slavery would be intolerant towards the beautiful and progressive religion of Islam, the religion of peace.
 

Harlock

Member
Is like a moral inquisition in digital age. Worst than in most conservative regimes from a century ago. Just imagine how this already affect arts, movies, games and just the way people can express.
 


Dear Brits, what happened to you? You used to have the best black humour ever, but now you're just so sad, so really really sad :(

You know, if you can't appreciate the fine art of a nasty joke, you're just angry and stupid:

A new study in the journal Cognitive Processing has found that intelligence plays a key role in the appreciation of black humour – as well as several other factors, notably a person’s aggression levels.

The British Psychological Society Research Digest blog reports that the study found three groups of participants. The group with the highest sick humour appreciation and comprehension scored the highest in verbal and non-verbal IQ tests, were better educated, and scored lower for aggression and bad mood.

A second group showed moderate comprehension of the jokes but enjoyed them the least. These were people with average intelligence scores, but had the highest negative mood and the highest aggression levels.

Do you want to be angry and stupid? Because that's how you become angry and stupid... and it shows! Please stop, your behavior is 'grossly offensive'. If you convict someone for making an anti-Nazi joke, whose side are you on? Think about it...
 
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lil puff

Member
Just think. . .

While UK officials have been harassing this guy for two years, they could have been doing some actual work, like investigating the rampant child sex slavery in their country.

What strange priorities.
I am not sure where I stand on the actual issue, but I would like to think UK officials can handle a few things at one time.
 
Guilty of Speech!
Throw everybody in jail!

This is utter insanity. I hope comedians boycott Scotland.
It will be interesting to see if this topic comes up on a comedian's podcast at all.

Imagine some kids getting thrown in a cage for telling Helen Keller jokes.
 
Guilty of Speech!
Throw everybody in jail!

This is utter insanity. I hope comedians boycott Scotland.
It will be interesting to see if this topic comes up on a comedian's podcast at all.

Imagine some kids getting thrown in a cage for telling Helen Keller jokes.





Just reading through the comments, lots of "tolerant" people wishing for Dankula to be stabbed to death in prison, saying that he is a horrible person, etc.
 
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MrRogers

Member
The video was funny. The verdict is a travesty. The people celebrating are stalinists. The UK is entering totalitariaism. The thread on this in REera is a padded room. The precedent set is utterly mad.
 

drotahorror

Member
Just think. . .

While UK officials have been harassing this guy for two years, they could have been doing some actual work, like investigating the rampant child sex slavery in their country.

What strange priorities.

"asians" are immune.

I am referring to 'child grooming rings'. Look it up (not to person I quoted, just in general if someone had an issue with me saying asians). It's insanity and disgusting.
 
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F0rneus

Tears in the rain
That's patently absurd. A hate crime charge for a moronic video. At most, it should be a strike against his channel.

Also fuck Nazis and hate speech.
 

Dunki

Member
That's patently absurd. A hate crime charge for a moronic video. At most, it should be a strike against his channel.

Also fuck Nazis and hate speech.

Shit like this will gain power to the right and even nazis because they can and will be presented as the victims of free speech. I wonder how much more it has to happen until these people realize that this is not only utterly stupid but also counterproductive.
 

Moneal

Member
Shit like this will gain power to the right and even nazis because they can and will be presented as the victims of free speech. I wonder how much more it has to happen until these people realize that this is not only utterly stupid but also counterproductive.
Sadly, I doubt they ever will. They are on the right side of history, don't you know.
 

Bl@de

Member
I hope they also gas the dog

Edit: Just to be clear. This is a joke. Don‘t send me to the gulag Britain
 
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Mahadev

Member
And the pretentious fucks at Youtube have a million fucking warnings for a video that is obviously comedy. Fuck this world, I want out.
 
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Blood Borne

Member
The only thing scarier than this, is people that support this conviction. Leftists are nothing but turkeys goading for thanksgiving. Fuckin zombies. Yuri Bezmenov was right.
 

Mahadev

Member
The only thing scarier than this, is people that support this conviction. Leftists are nothing but turkeys goading for thanksgiving. Fuckin zombies. Yuri Bezmenov was right.


Dude stop with this leftists bullshit, the harder restrictions were imposed by a rightwing government. This is neoliberalism that has co-opted certain authoritarian ideologies like intersectionality to divide and conquer. This isn't a traditional left vs right issue, this monstrosity is far more complicated than that.
 
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Wunray

Member
This is insanely stupid, this should have been thrown out immediately. It was a joke and a lousy one at that........glad I don't live there or else the jokes I make would have imprisoned me a long time ago.
 

Sàmban

Banned
As much as I think saying hateful shit like that should be “punished”, it seems absurdly excessive to put him in jail for it. At best a YouTube ban and/or maybe even community service? How was this not laughed out of court?

The only thing scarier than this, is people that support this conviction. Leftists are nothing but turkeys goading for thanksgiving. Fuckin zombies. Yuri Bezmenov was right.

This “blame the left” shtick is blinding you HARD. Please do some research before posting knee-jerk reactions.
 
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Here is his first reaction just after the verdict:



Also a bit more info about the trial:

In closing statements, Meechan's defence lawyer Ross Brown said: "The purpose of the video was to annoy his girlfriend. There was no evidence to demonstrate that he intended, by communicating the material, to cause fear or alarm."

He added that Meechan had only intended for the eight subscribers to his YouTube channel - all of which are friends who "share his sense of humour" - to see the video.

But Mr Brown said: "One of those friends leaked the material and so the content went viral. It was not a matter that was able to be reasonably foreseen."

He added that there was no evidence Meechan had intended to "stir up hatred on religious grounds."

He also pointed out that in a second video filmed by Meechan after the "M8" video, he had stated he had "no ill will towards the Jewish community."

He stated the video was to be seen as "comedic or satirical."

Mr Brown accused the crown of "promoting the phrase 'gas the Jews' out of the context it was intended".

He added: "Context is everything."

Mr Brown said there was no evidence of a complainer in the case, adding Police Scotland was not contacted by anyone who found the video "grossly offensive or menacing."

He slammed the authority saying Meechan's arrest was "an attempt to demonstrate diversity credentials."

He said: "The complainer would appear to be Police Scotland."
 

Corrik

Member
I mean, I haven't watched the video, but the joke is pretty vile and shouldn't have been broadcasted publicly or even made. Gassing the Jews isn't particularly funny.
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Every man dies, but not every man truly has freedom of speech.
 
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