Dakryn's Batshit Theory of the Week

[Badbird]

Not really but they should fix the public education though.

 

[Pessimism]

Are you telling me that cutting funding to schools who do poorly on standardized tests is a BAD IDEA? How D.A.R.E. YOU!

 

[Einherjar86]

Not really but they should fix the public education though.

Does "not really" mean "no;" or "I'd rather not, but I see its advantages?"

 

[Badbird]

I'd rather not, but I see its advantages"

 

[Dak]

The sign is real: Obama has fallen from the grace of his masters! :Spin:

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Obama had grace?

 

[Dak]

Breaking News at 11 - Presidential Seal answers charges of racism.

 

[Pessimism]

What's going on now?

 

[jussstin]

The most notorious t-shirt in metal history makes the news once again:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/heavy-metal-fan-charged-over-tshirt-20101007-168u8.html

 

[Valerie]

From what I read, Australia's constitution is kind of shady about freedom of speech/expression, despite the fact they support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Sucks for that guy =\

 

[jussstin]

Yeah I don't think there's anything in there protecting freedom of speech directly, more so that the constitution sets up the rules for a fair and responsible government who by definition should protect freedoms of speech.

I'm not really sure how I feel about someone being fined for offensive language on a shirt in public. Obviously people should still have a right to not have to view offensive material if they don't want too. I don't really want my grandma seeing that shirt for example, as hilarious as seeing her reaction might be. He definitely doesn't deserve jail though, not that that will be the likely outcome unless he calls the judge a cunt.

Sucks even worse for that guy that now they're bringing in on-the-spot fines for public nuisance after he got charged. Apparently public nuisance cases were a massive waste of time for the courts here, with over half the summary offense cases in magistrates court being for public nuisance. I'm not surprised, half my mates have had public nuisance charges, mostly for pissing in public. It seems to be a bit of an all purpose charge. One of them got charged with PN for calling a bouncer a fuckhead when there were two cops standing about a metre away. What a fucking dumbass.

For a Western country we seem fairly sensitive about what materials we're allowed to see. We've got pretty strict movie and game classification laws, but music doesn't seem to be as heavily regulated. Although you can still get done for possession and importation of offensive lyrics or album artwork, as a Tasmanian goregrind band did a while back. http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=2717

And of course every time a somewhat 'offensive' band comes here there's always some politician trying to get some publicity for themselves by calling for the band to be banned, which of course The Chaser took the piss out of:

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

"Hate crimes do more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens. They inflict on victims incalculable physical and emotional damage and tear at the very fabric of free society. Crimes motivated by invidious hatred toward particular groups not only harm individual victims but send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members of the group to which the victim belongs. Hate crimes can and do intimidate and disrupt entire communities and vitiate the civility that is essential to healthy democratic processes. In a democratic society, citizens cannot be required to approve of the beliefs and practices of others, but must never commit criminal acts on account of them. Current law does not adequately recognize the harm to public order and individual safety that hate crimes cause. Therefore, our laws must be strengthened to provide clear recognition of the gravity of hate crimes and the compelling importance of preventing their recurrence. Accordingly, the legislature finds and declares that hate crimes should be prosecuted and punished with appropriate severity."

Jesus Christ Valerie. Didn't you at least learn anything from that Seton Hall video I posted some pages back?
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/9334837-post4477.html

All I can say is

um

well...

 

[Dak]

Talk of a "bullying law" is being tossed about now. Lasws based on ambiguous definitions are fail, not to mention that for any particular real case of "bullying", there are already laws to prosecute the actual offense, just not to prosecute the situation.

 

[jussstin]

Jesus Christ Valerie. Didn't you at least learn anything from that Seton Hall video I posted some pages back?

I don't know who was stupider in that video, that girl who wanted to ban images of animal cruelty, the guy who wanted to ban flag burning or the guy who wanted to ban blasphemy.

 

[Dak]

But clearly we need to ban "bigoted" speech though.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Talk of a "bullying law" is being tossed about now. Lasws based on ambiguous definitions are fail, not to mention that for any particular real case of "bullying", there are already laws to prosecute the actual offense, just not to prosecute the situation.

As someone who was a victim of bullying in elementary school, I can't say I oppose laws targeted at bullying. You are right though; problems are rarely solved by creating new laws. I think teachers, or anyone charged with the care of children, need to be trained to detect bullying, prevent it, and given real and harsh consequences for bullying children themselves.

 

[Dak]

Ive been a victim of bullying/verbal bullying plenty in my life. I have very little sympathy for those whose response is to take the selfish/easy way out.

 

[jussstin]

But clearly we need to ban "bigoted" speech though.

I think it depends on the situation. As far as bigotry towards race, going up to someone and maliciously calling then a racist name for example, obviously should be banned, because it's a direct attack on someone and will likely cause more offense and hurt than just using a non bigoted insult, as Valerie pointed out. But I don't think, for example, a discussion where someone is asserting that another race is inferior should be banned. Sure, it's still bigoted and I most likely won't agree with the sentiment, but a person should be free to discuss what they feel, as long as it's in a calm and reasonable manner.

Bigotry versus religion, politics and indeed any other idea or belief should be given free reign as long as it doesn't lead to verbal or physical violence. Attack the idea, not the person.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

We already have laws for that kind of behavior. Going up to someone and calling them a racist/bigoted name to their face is punishable under current laws concerning harassment.

 

[skeptik]

I don't understand why the media chose to phrase the incident as something as trivial as "bullying" when it was clearly psychologically damaging harassment and not a small degree of invasion of privacy.