[TomC]

Originally Posted by Robodog

What if he had written a tweet calling someone 'a posh idiot' would that be labelled 'hate speech' or 'upper-class-ophobic'?

What if he had targeted an individual with a big nose and called them 'concorde face', would that be considered 'hate speech' or 'nose-ophobic'?

Why is it NOT OK to make rude comments or use rude words about certain groups within society, while at the same time it's totally ok to say rude things about other groups or individuals?

Why is it ok for us all to say hateful things about INDIVIDUAL HMs and attack them on a very personal level, while at the same time we can't say anything bad about their race/gender/background etc?

These forums are full of so-called 'hate speech' towards individual HMs. So is every episode of BBBOTS. So is every newspaper. It's offensive sometimes yes, but no one expects them to stop it.

The crowd last night were full of 'hate speech', quickly judging HMs based on their accent/beliefs etc and then booing them, shouting 'OFF OFF OFF OFF' like a pack of rabid dogs - is that not 'hate speech'?


My point is: You can't have it both ways.

If you want to be fair and intellectually consistent then you can't call it 'phobia' and 'hate speech' one minute (when it refers to certain beliefs/genders/sexuality/races etc) while at the same time pull someone apart on a really personal level with the exact same kind of 'hate speech' and think that's OK

(in fact the comments made about HMs on a personal level on BB forums and on BBBOTS are usually FAR worse than some old off-hand tweet like Tom's)

Either you ban all 'hate speech' which means no more rude comments about ANYONE EVER regardless of their race/gender/sexuality/background etc (which would be a pretty boring, over-controlled world to live in) or you allow people to say what they like and just deal with it whether you like it or not.

You can't pick and choose.

It's all or nothing.

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"One of the problems with defending free speech is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting. "

Salman Rushdie

FFs. It's about moral responsibility and social sensitivity. The reason race and sexuality are two of the most sensitive areas of hate speech is as follows. 'Posh' people and people with big noses have never gone through mass persecution, nor are they still fighting for equal rights across the world. Hate speech targets the most vulnerable in society; people who are still fighting for rights.