Political correctness gone mad

[Martinus]

Fabrice Muamba: Racist Twitter user jailed for 56 days
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Liam Stacey from Pontypridd admitted posting the comments, hours after the player collapsed during an FA Cup tie.
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A student who admitted posting racially offensive comments on Twitter about footballer Fabrice Muamba has been jailed for 56 days.

Swansea University student Liam Stacey, 21, from Pontypridd, admitted inciting racial hatred over remarks about the Bolton Wanderers player, who collapsed during a FA Cup tie at Tottenham.

A district judge in Swansea called the comments "vile and abhorrent".

Muamba, 23, who suffered a cardiac arrest, is still in intensive care.

Sentencing Stacey at Swansea Magistrates' Court, District Judge John Charles told him: "In my view, there is no alternative to an immediate prison sentence.

"It was not the football world who was praying for [Muamba].... everybody was praying for his life."

Stacey broke down in tears as he was led away to begin his jail term.

As he passed the public gallery, he was briefly embraced by friends and his parents.

A second year biology student at Swansea, Stacey was arrested after his comments on the social networking site were reported by other users.

A number of people challenged Stacey on Twitter following his first comment, and he responded with a number of offensive posts aimed at other Twitter users.

Fabrice Muamba, 23, remains critically ill after collapsing during a match on 17 March
Last week the court heard how Stacey posted the offensive comments shortly after the former England Under-21 star collapsed during the FA Cup quarter-final at White Hart Lane on 17 March.

Magistrates were told police forces across Britain received complaints following the comments.

'Disciplinary'

Stacey tried to "distance himself" from the tweets by claiming his account had been hacked, the court was told.

He later tried to delete his page but was arrested the following day at his student house in Swansea.

When interviewed by police, Stacey said he had been drinking since lunchtime on Saturday and was drunk when he made the comments.

Stacey was initially released on bail pending sentence and was ordered not to use Twitter and other social networking sites.

Jim Brisbane, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Cymru-Wales, said: "Racist language is inappropriate in any setting and through any media.

"We hope this case will serve as a warning to anyone who may think that comments made online are somehow beyond the law."

A Swansea University spokesperson said: "The student remains suspended from the university pending the conclusion of our disciplinary proceedings."

Stacey is also registered as a player with Treorchy rugby club, where he has turned out for the second team on occasions.

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A statement after his arrest said: "The club wishes to completely disassociate itself from these comments and will be carrying out a full investigation into this matter."

There has also been a reaction on Twitter to the sentence, with Lord Sugar - former Spurs chairman - saying "Be warned idiots!," while Gary Lineker posted "Let it be a warning to all you immature souls. #thinkbeforeyoutweet"

Muamba remains in intensive care in a London hospital where his condition is described as serious but stable.

Bolton and Tottenham play their re-arranged FA Cup fixture on Tuesday evening, with a minute's applause before kick-off.

Ok, a jail sentence, no matter how short for offensive words on tweeter is just insane. The UK has officially jumped the shark.

The bolded part is just mind boggling.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I've said this before, we are jailing people for being discourteous wankers. As the majority of Britons are discourteous wankers we are digging a deep hole here 

[Razgovory]

So Briton is becoming more inline with continental Europe?

[Martinus]

So Briton is becoming more inline with continental Europe?

Actually, with some exceptions (e.g. Holocaust denial laws), Britain has been historically rather behind some European countries when it comes to freedom of speech. For example, it had rather aggressive anti-blasphemy legislation and laws like section 28, which was not present at the time e.g. in France.

[derspiess]

Wow.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The theoretical freedom of British people has often lagged the continent. The Soviet Union had a far more enlightened constitution I believe. The real freedom was derived from people deploying common sense, eg. ignoring the rants of a drunken idiot for the irrelevancy that they are.

[Razgovory]

So Briton is becoming more inline with continental Europe?

Actually, with some exceptions (e.g. Holocaust denial laws), Britain has been historically rather behind some European countries when it comes to freedom of speech. For example, it had rather aggressive anti-blasphemy legislation and laws like section 28, which was not present at the time e.g. in France.

You mean like Andorra, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Norway the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine?

[Zanza]

You mean like Andorra, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Norway the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine?

Heh, apparently you can get fined and get a suspended jail sentence when you print the Qu'ran on toilet paper in Germany and offer it for sale/send it to mosques. 

[Admiral Yi]

I find it interesting that the actual comment was not printed in the article.

I also find it interesting that the dude "admitted to inciting racial hatred."  How the hell can he know if he incited any racial hatred or not?  Did he conduct a survey?

[Sheilbh]

I also find it interesting that the dude "admitted to inciting racial hatred."  How the hell can he know if he incited any racial hatred or not?  Did he conduct a survey?

Well incitement doesn't have to be successful.

It's ridiculous and there's a fair backlash against it.  He shouldn't have been arrested and he shouldn't be serving time for it.

[CountDeMoney]

I bet if it was about Jews and not soccer, there wouldn't have been a problem at all.

You people over there have significant priority issues over such a silly ass game.

[Duque de Bragança]

So Briton is becoming more inline with continental Europe?

Actually, with some exceptions (e.g. Holocaust denial laws), Britain has been historically rather behind some European countries when it comes to freedom of speech. For example, it had rather aggressive anti-blasphemy legislation and laws like section 28, which was not present at the time e.g. in France.

You mean like Andorra, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Norway the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine?

Fixed the most glaring error

[KRonn]

I've said this before, we are jailing people for being discourteous wankers. As the majority of Britons are discourteous wankers we are digging a deep hole here 

Fortunately we Americans have nothing worry about, being so courteous and respectful and such.   

[Martim Silva]

The Soviet Union had a far more enlightened constitution I believe. The real freedom was derived from people deploying common sense, eg. ignoring the rants of a drunken idiot for the irrelevancy that they are.

You believe right. There IS something called "common sense", which is a thing that Liberal Democrats have long lost.

What amazes me is that Liberals do this and still have the gall to say they live in "free societies" and chastize non-western countries that jail people for their opinions.

[derspiess]

The Soviet Union had a far more enlightened constitution I believe. The real freedom was derived from people deploying common sense, eg. ignoring the rants of a drunken idiot for the irrelevancy that they are.

You believe right. There IS something called "common sense", which is a thing that Liberal Democrats have long lost.

What amazes me is that Liberals do this and still have the gall to say they live in "free societies" and chastize non-western countries that jail people for their opinions.

So we in the US are free & clear to criticize non-westerners, then