UK student facing trial for spreading pro-liberty propaganda

[Capetan Mihali]

The key to Viking's whole outlook in this thread is that it is rooted entirely in the importance he attaches to his status as a public drunk.  If you are routinely drinking yourself insensate and wandering around town arguing with people, it is indeed a good rule to just obey any order anyone in the least position of authority gives you, since they probably have the better judgment and since you're already immediately suspect for being sopping drunk.  This is especially reinforced when you frequently encounter helpful authority figures like bar staff telling you what to do, since they will keep you from getting physically attacked and maintain you at a sufficiently high level of inebriation to satisfy your needs.

Now if you don't organize your life around public binge drinking, you might wish to organize your interactions with authority figures differently.  But when you're staggering drunk, it's both appropriate and socially desirable to submit completely to any show of authority.

[jimmy olsen]

Think I could just petition for the 5000 pounds and promise not to write in chalk? I need it for dental work.

Truly you are British in spirit and all, saving just the passport.

If she was truly British in spirit she'd pocket the money and skip the dental work.

[Syt]

The key to Viking's whole outlook in this thread is that it is rooted entirely in the importance he attaches to his status as a public drunk.  If you are routinely drinking yourself insensate and wandering around town arguing with people, it is indeed a good rule to just obey any order anyone in the least position of authority gives you, since they probably have the better judgment and since you're already immediately suspect for being sopping drunk.  This is especially reinforced when you frequently encounter helpful authority figures like bar staff telling you what to do, since they will keep you from getting physically attacked and maintain you at a sufficiently high level of inebriation to satisfy your needs.

Now if you don't organize your life around public binge drinking, you might wish to organize your interactions with authority figures differently.  But when you're staggering drunk, it's both appropriate and socially desirable to submit completely to any show of authority.

[jimmy olsen]

The key to Viking's whole outlook in this thread is that it is rooted entirely in the importance he attaches to his status as a public drunk.  If you are routinely drinking yourself insensate and wandering around town arguing with people, it is indeed a good rule to just obey any order anyone in the least position of authority gives you, since they probably have the better judgment and since you're already immediately suspect for being sopping drunk.  This is especially reinforced when you frequently encounter helpful authority figures like bar staff telling you what to do, since they will keep you from getting physically attacked and maintain you at a sufficiently high level of inebriation to satisfy your needs.

Now if you don't organize your life around public binge drinking, you might wish to organize your interactions with authority figures differently.  But when you're staggering drunk, it's both appropriate and socially desirable to submit completely to any show of authority.

Damn! 

POTM

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a while, or possibly Doctor Pangloss.

The UK has 63m people and 136k police officers. Every couple of months the police get heavy-handed with some gormless twit or other, there is a furore, the CPS decides not to prosecute or the twit gets his sentence quashed on appeal. The director of the CPS is holding an extensive review into social media so that proper revised guidance can be issued to police officers and future heavy-handed errors avoided. The system is working much as it ever did but needs to update some of its procedures to allow for the rise of social media. Meanwhile, in beacons of freedom such as Russia, the police very rarely misbehave......ha!

[Martinus]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a while, or possibly Doctor Pangloss.

The UK has 63m people and 136k police officers. Every couple of months the police get heavy-handed with some gormless twit or other, there is a furore, the CPS decides not to prosecute or the twit gets his sentence quashed on appeal. The director of the CPS is holding an extensive review into social media so that proper revised guidance can be issued to police officers and future heavy-handed errors avoided. The system is working much as it ever did but needs to update some of its procedures to allow for the rise of social media. Meanwhile, in beacons of freedom such as Russia, the police very rarely misbehave......ha!

Surely you recognize that the "it's worse in other parts of the world so stop complaining" argument is intellectually and morally bankrupt, right?

[Richard Hakluyt]

That wasn't my point though. My point was that, possibly, the media being full of stories of police incompetence is a good thing; as an absence of such stories can hardly be taken as good news. Or are there brilliant police forces elsewhere that are impossible to criticise?

[Brazen]

That wasn't my point though. My point was that, possibly, the media being full of stories of police incompetence is a good thing; as an absence of such stories can hardly be taken as good news. Or are there brilliant police forces elsewhere that are impossible to criticise?

Another positive point of view is that such things are only reported because they're the exception, not the rule. If it happened all the time, it wouldn't be in the news.

[dps]

How does that argument not apply to prosecuting murderers who are in no danger of re-offending?

HOw is murder zero damage?

Maybe he thinks the next rain will wash the dead off the victim.

[mongers]

That wasn't my point though. My point was that, possibly, the media being full of stories of police incompetence is a good thing; as an absence of such stories can hardly be taken as good news. Or are there brilliant police forces elsewhere that are impossible to criticise?

Another positive point of view is that such things are only reported because they're the exception, not the rule. If it happened all the time, it wouldn't be in the news.

Or the vast majority of the population is sufficiently cowered to not step out of line, like Wuss (formerly 'viking') , that people actively exercising their 'rights' to free speech are a now vanishing small minority, hence the rarity of these stories.

[Gups]

Or the vast majority of the population is sufficiently cowered to not step out of line, like Wuss (formerly 'viking') , that people actively exercising their 'rights' to free speech are a now vanishing small minority, hence the rarity of these stories.

I know. Look at the internet. Nobody dares say anything.

[garbon]

Or the vast majority of the population is sufficiently cowered to not step out of line, like Wuss (formerly 'viking') , that people actively exercising their 'rights' to free speech are a now vanishing small minority, hence the rarity of these stories.

I know. Look at the internet. Nobody dares say anything.

Well they won't if your govt continues its plan to punish people for 'malicious telecommunications'.

[Viking]

The key to Viking's whole outlook in this thread is that it is rooted entirely in the importance he attaches to his status as a public drunk.  If you are routinely drinking yourself insensate and wandering around town arguing with people, it is indeed a good rule to just obey any order anyone in the least position of authority gives you, since they probably have the better judgment and since you're already immediately suspect for being sopping drunk.  This is especially reinforced when you frequently encounter helpful authority figures like bar staff telling you what to do, since they will keep you from getting physically attacked and maintain you at a sufficiently high level of inebriation to satisfy your needs.

Now if you don't organize your life around public binge drinking, you might wish to organize your interactions with authority figures differently.  But when you're staggering drunk, it's both appropriate and socially desirable to submit completely to any show of authority.

And people were accusing me of being a wuss...

[Viking]

How does that argument not apply to prosecuting murderers who are in no danger of re-offending?

HOw is murder zero damage?

You brought up prevention of damage to public property. Prosecuting a murderer with no risk of re-offending prevents no murders and costs a lot of money. Why doesn't the same logic apply here?

[Eddie Teach]

Prosecuting a murderer with no risk of re-offending prevents no murders

Are there really that many prosecutions of dead murder suspects going on?

And even if we accept your stipulation that a murderer has no risk of re-offending, prosecuting him makes others less likely to follow suit.