Voltaire's wisdom forgotten
Saturday, December 07, 2013
BBC News - 'Troll' Gordon Mullen sentenced over April Jones web abuse.
It's hard to like Gordon Mullen. He posted nasty remarks on Facebook about a little girl who was missing. She was later, sadly, found to have been murdered. Not by him, I hasten to add.
I like one of Mullen's Facebook 'friends' even less.
At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, Mhari Mair, prosecuting, said one of Mullen's own Facebook friends alerted police to the comments he had made about the murdered schoolgirl.
Why did he need to 'alert' them? Because the remarks were made in a private text chat conversation. That's right. He did not publish them to the internet at large. He did not even post them to his 'friends' feed.
The judge said that if the dead girl's family had read the comments
they would have been absolutely devastated.
I am sure they would, but the only reason they now know something nasty was said about their poor child is because of this stupid case. Law enforcement in this country now has the time and resources to monitor what stupid people say to each other and make an expensive fuss about it. Yet, to listen to our public servants, there isn't a single cut to be safely made in public expenditure. Hmm.
The family only know of Mullen's existence because of a disgusting law, a vile snitch and a body of policemen who have nothing useful to be getting on with. Scotland being such an idyllic place, populated with happy, caring hobbits and entirely free of crime of course.
The pair had been in a three-way Facebook conversation, with each "trying to be more shocking than the other", the court had heard.
In other words, they - and their snitch 'friend' - had been channeling Frankie Boyle in a competitive fashion. I think we can safely say the snitch lost that game.
The most shocking thing to me about this case is that not one word has been uttered in the coverage about freedom of speech. That's a forgotten concept in modern Britain. No-one in the media is remotely inclined to quote Voltaire's famous remark
I disagree wtih what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it
Even his defence counsel, a man entirely unworthy of his fee on this evidence,
agreed with Sheriff McDonald's remark that Mullen's behaviour was "absolutely appalling"
Yes, perhaps, if you really have nothing better to do than go out of your way to be appalled.
I appreciate your comments too, Matt. This particular one makes me feel very worldly, though I am dismissed by most friends as a hopeless idealist. You are really taking idealism to a whole new level if you are expecting men of power to protect us from their own excesses.
I am sure it's genuine idealism on your part and I warm to it immensely, but it plays into their hands. They *want* us to be passive, to trust them, to believe in their instinctive good behaviour and their desire to serve.
I would like to believe Matt, I really would, but nothing in my life experience suggests that - given power over others - men won't use it for their own benefit - e.g. an 11% pay rise for M.P.s when the nation is suffering and they are telling us we are all in it together.
Posted by: Tom | Monday, December 09, 2013 at 07:59 AM
It was never their job to defend us from them. That's a job only we can do.
No it should never have been their "job" it should have been how they instinctively behaved, how they instinctively recognised that their power and influence over us proles was an immense privilege, and not an opportunity to be exploited or exerted with disregard to our history, norms, and traditions. How about calling it self awareness and self control and respect for our fragile unwritten constitutional rights, our body of common law.
They must be the front line defenders against their own excesses and stupidities. What can we the proles do when instead of upholding decency fair-play and sensible justice they play fast and loose.
I suspect we will be disarmed of our pitch forks and scythes as quickly as we were of our hand guns.They will exploit a suitable Dunblane moment to do so. Beheading knives will probably escape the ban.
They don't fear us any more. They don't respect us.
The country seems to be decaying because no-one is doing any upholding of the things that made the country what it was. They are more likely to sneer at them.
I do appreciate your blog posts.
Posted by: Matt | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 09:35 PM
It was never their job to defend us from them. That's a job only we can do.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 08:12 PM
True but I think this particular wicked law is a UK statute.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 08:11 PM
Scotland, of course, has a civil law system, not a common law system.
The difference in outlooks between the two is vast-and always will be.
Posted by: MickC | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 07:37 PM
We are doomed. Our "leaders" in all areas of the establishment no longer have the intelligence, education,integrity, wisdom or courage to defend us from themselves.
Posted by: Matt | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 05:44 PM
The golliwog thing again. It's a rag doll and about as physiogonomically accurate as its white counterparts. I had one as a baby/toddler. It was one of my first toys. I also had a collection of Robertson's Jam gollies. I can't say it affected my view of black people any more than my sister's Sindy doll affected her view of whites. Not being morons, we knew they were toys. I loved mine, which is as close as I shall get in this life to the victim's poker royal flush of being in love with a disabled black man. It's a manufactured grievance and in the case you cite all the complaints seem to have come from linked council employees. What a waste of taxpayers' money they are, both usually and in this specific case. What an even greater waste are the academic sociologists who devise this divisive nonsense and make suspects out of civic-minded old ladies.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Oh, it's worse than you think.
The snitch is lucky he's not being looked at himself for not condemning the remarks enough..!
Posted by: JuliaM | Sunday, December 08, 2013 at 06:55 AM
Freedom of speech in Britain is dead. It died at the offence seeking missiles became routine - and the police became prepared to investigate this rather than actual crime where actual harm has been caused.
Posted by: Longrider | Saturday, December 07, 2013 at 06:00 PM