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Free speech has potentially been taken down another peg in NZ with a woman arrested for a Facebook post about the Christchurch shootings. The woman has been arrested on suspicion of "inciting racial disharmony" after a message was posted to her Facebook page. She faces a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment or a NZ$7000 fine and living in a society that condemns free speech. However, given the recent ruling in Australia that 'Muslim' is not a 'race' she may get off given that the law she is accused of breaking is of one who “publishes or distributes written matter which is threatening, abusive, or insulting” to other people . This means that it may very well be legal at this time to insult people of a specific religion.
Decades ago they relied on neighbors to find subversives; now they just check social media.
[Ed.: The above is a paraphrase of the linked-to story, not a direct quote, and with submitter's editorialising left in. -- FP (honouring people's right to free speech ;-) )]
Also covered by the NZ Herald.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday March 30 2019, @02:37AM (14 children)
a while ago, I got an email from a recruiter who is trying to find techies to move to NZ for jobs.
I thought about it, at the time, since I was up for a big change in my life.
not sure about how mobile you can be, if you have to change jobs there, but I did think about it for a while.
so glad I didn't take that chance. this kind of issue shows what the culture is about. and its not at all what I want.
what is it with british accent-like countries that seem to want to reduce your freedoms so much? oz, nz and uk all are following george orwell a bit TOO well. whats up with that?
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Informative) by deimtee on Saturday March 30 2019, @04:12AM (13 children)
Speaking from Oz.
So far the frog is only in a comfortably warm pot, having a nice soak.
I don't know anybody who has been seriously affected by all the nanny-state stuff and a lot of old women of all ages and genders like it. Most of the bullshit laws are only enforced if you are pissing someone off and they complain.
You see a lot of stories and media beat-ups, but it doesn't seem to affect anybody real. I can say Muslims are nutjobs, (because I think anybody who believes in a magic sky fairy is a nutjob) and nothing will happen to me.
I don't really feel the need to march down to the shops with an AR15 slung over my shoulder and 300 rounds of ammo in my pockets, and while I agree in principal with the USA's second amendment I also don't think our current citizens are universally up to the responsibility it entails. If I actually have a reason to shoot stuff I will get a licence and an appropriate firearm. (quite likely soon, as I am looking at a few acres out in the bush. Probably a .22 and/or a shottie for rabbits and foxes.)
What it comes down to is the road to Orwell starts out fairly nice, and so far most people don't mind the trip.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by coolgopher on Saturday March 30 2019, @06:55AM (1 child)
You hit the nail on the head I reckon. While I agree in principle with both the right to bear arms (which we don't have down here), and free speech (which we also don't have down here), I think it's abundantly clear by now that as a society we are not responsible enough to actually have it. All everyone is concerned with are their *rights*, and they don't give a damn about the *responsibilities* that go with those rights. Until we grow up, we can't solve this properly.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 30 2019, @03:16PM
Wow. And, congrats. You recognize that there are no "free rights". That is, rights always come with responsibilities. I hope you realize that most Americans fail to understand that, as well. If you were to browse Youtube for videos about activists vs cops, you'll even hear cops claiming that they have some kind of "right" to search, to identify, to do this or that. The cops don't have any such rights - they have authorities and responsibilities, but they have no more "rights" than the turkey they are harassing at the moment.
In a dispute with a cop (perhaps over searching my vehicle) I am far less likely to mention "rights", than I am to mention "authority". As in, "You have no authority to search my vehicle without my permission." Such an objection carries more authority, than some lame claim to "rights".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @07:34AM (6 children)
Perhaps a translation for the Non-Auzzies on the site? You are not serving hard liquor to rabbits and foxes, are you? And I have seen the movie, "The Rabbitproof Fence", so I know there are no foxes in Australia, only Racist Administrators. Bloody Poms.
(Score: 3, Informative) by deimtee on Saturday March 30 2019, @08:25AM (5 children)
shottie: n. sl. A shotgun.
There are way too many foxes in Oz. The bloody poms let them go in the 1830's so that upperclass twits could go charging around with horses and hounds like back in ye merry old england. They bred just about as fast as the rabbits and both are considered shoot-on-sight vermin.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @10:55AM (1 child)
Tally-ho's! Ok, shottie for the bunnies, foxes, bandicoots and wombats, the Bufo toads, Poms, and drop-bears. Not to mention the Taipans and the Marsupial Lion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @11:39AM
Foxes and bunnies and bufos definitely. Bandicoots and wombats and taipans and dropbears will get you locked up for a long time. Poms are a bit iffy. Nobody likes them, but you're still not supposed to shoot them.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 30 2019, @03:05PM
Trying to hit that damn bandicoot as it goes whizzing by in its souped-up go-kart is a chore, let me tell you. One time it even fired a freaking missile at me! And it brings an entire zoo of its friends, *also* all burning rubber, right behind it. I'm pretty sure I saw a polar bear in that lineup. You can't tell me that's natural.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 30 2019, @03:18PM (1 child)
The poms and the twits?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31 2019, @02:59AM
Sadly no. It's the bunnies and the foxes.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @02:59PM (1 child)
If anyone but a muslim posted on Facebook telling people to go kill themselves and that their race will be wiped out [dailymail.co.uk] then there would be serious repercussions. When a muslim did this nothing happened.
If a Christian posted like this to Facebook the muslins would be rioting in the street. Out for blood. Look at what happened with the Innocence of Muslims" response. They carried around deeply offensive signs and attacked police officers.
A double standard?
This is Australia. Not the middle east. As time passes it is only going downhill.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @06:45PM
yes, they are a protected group, as they are a political tool. just like they are used for the israeli puppeteer-ed "war on terror".
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @05:43PM (1 child)
if you won't fight it while it's easy i doubt you'll fight it when they turn the heat up. that's the point of the whole method. it's not that you don't notice. it's that you are weaker to resist. you shouldn't need permission from a fucking thieving piece of shit to own a firearm or speak your fucking mind. fight now, while you still can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 01 2019, @01:04PM
If you say anything against the kebabs you are labelled a racist and an "islamophobe".
So, don't. State that you are against organized religion. That you sincerely doubt the sanity of anyone who believes strongly enough that they would harm others for their religion.
This is not hate. It is not illegal, yet, not to like or support everything any everyone.
I have been asked why I am against them. The answer is simple. They would end my life if they could. I do not fit in to their religion. I will not kowtow to them. So we are debating my existence, my life, which these people would end. If asked for proof I tell people to read the koran and watch islamic state videos and read the news about who muslims have killed or disfigured this month.
The main difference between Christians/hindus/jews/etc and muslims is that I have no doubt that Christians etc will not kill me for disagreeing with them or refusing to join them. The same cannot be said for islamasists.