[Alf]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I''ve said it before and I'll say it again.

Freedom of speech is not a shield to protect you from criticism or from consequences of your actions. Danny Baker losing his job because he put out a racist tweet is not infringing on his freedom of speech, He can tweet racist jokes all he wants but that doesn't mean he can't be criticised or that his employers can't take exception to his actions and disassociate with him. He's still free to be racist as much as he wants to but everyone else is free to react to it.

I'm so tired of the whole 'poor little racist' routine, they bring it on themselves by considering people lesser if they have a different colour skin to them. If you're going to be openly racist, you've got to be prepared for the consequences and as someone who works in the public eye, this arsehole should have known better.

He didn't take any actions, he spoke his mind.

[Daniel-X]

Originally Posted by Alf

He didn't take any actions, he spoke his mind.

Stop splitting hairs, you know excatly what Dezzy was saying. He knew exactly what he was doing in the hope of a few cheap laughs from some people still stuck with racist mind sets. It’s grotesque.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Daniel-X

Stop splitting hairs, you know excatly what Dezzy was saying. He knew exactly what he was doing in the hope of a few cheap laughs from some people still stuck with racist mind sets. It’s grotesque.

So even you admit that his only intention here is trying to get laughs. Why is trying to make people laugh, wrong?

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Alf

So even you admit that his only intention here is trying to get laughs. Why is trying to make people laugh, wrong?

Alf... if you were walking along in a muddy field and someone deliberately tripped you up and you went face first into a pile of cow muck, I'd hazard a guess that there are PLENTY of people in the world who would laugh. Even if you knocked out a tooth or bust your nose - some people would laugh.

Is a person doing that to you OK because he was just trying to make people laugh?

Let's make it even more extreme: You're walking down the street and some kid, trying to make his friends laugh / impress them, sucker punches you square in the side of the head. What do you do? Do you say "Ahh the little scamp was only trying to make his friends laugh!" and forget about it?

Because that seems to be your logic here. That any comment or action is fine, even if it hurts some people, so long as it was done with the intention of making other people laugh .

[Ammi]

...I can’t believe he didn’t realise or consider what the consequences would be when he posted it but he posted it anyway...so he obviously thought his ‘joke’ outweighed everything else...its incredible that he could have thought a ‘joke’ with racist connotations about a newborn baby was in any way funny...

[arista]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...I can’t believe he didn’t realise or consider what the consequences would be when he posted it but he posted it anyway...so he obviously thought his ‘joke’ outweighed everything else...its incredible that he could have thought a ‘joke’ with racist connotations about a newborn baby was in any way funny...

His Mate on Radio 5 this morning
Emma Barnett show
said he may have been drinking alot of Wine

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by arista

His Mate on Radio 5 this morning
Emma Barnett show
said he may have been drinking alot of Wine

...drunk on the job and racist then, Arista...it was never going to end any differently to him losing his job....

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Alf... if you were walking along in a muddy field and someone deliberately tripped you up and you went face first into a pile of cow muck, I'd hazard a guess that there are PLENTY of people in the world who would laugh. Even if you knocked out a tooth or bust your nose - some people would laugh.

Is a person doing that to you OK because he was just trying to make people laugh?

Let's make it even more extreme: You're walking down the street and some kid, trying to make his friends laugh / impress them, sucker punches you square in the side of the head. What do you do? Do you say "Ahh the little scamp was only trying to make his friends laugh!" and forget about it?

Because that seems to be your logic here. That any comment or action is fine, even if it hurts some people, so long as it was done with the intention of making other people laugh .

You're putting physical assault on the same level as free speech there, I see them as two different things.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Alf

He didn't take any actions, he spoke his mind.

And he's free to do that and the BBC are free to not employ him for it as he's stirred up a scandal.

All opinions have consequences, all opinions can cause a reaction. If you're going to post a racist tweet then you better be prepared for it to rightfully blow up in your face. You're free to speak your mind and anyone else is free to take action too, whether that's blocking you or firing you for bringing bad press attention to their door.

The problem is that you basically want selective freedom of speech. You want freedom of speech without the right of response and that's not freedom of speech.