by hotspur 22 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Recent news item in the UK. This guy received a 8 month jail sentence which case was prosecuted under "hate crime" laws. This is a very similar situation to the recent case that Cedars, Amelia, cantleave and others have pursued in Hampshire with the Police. It's almost as if there is now a precedent to pursue this further.
BBC News ~ Internet bigot Stephen Birrell jailed for eight months
The siutation in Scotland is very sensitive at the moment. Sectarianism and bigotry has been accepted in Scottish football for as long as anybody can remember and its a source of national shame. (The 2 top foootball, aka soccer, teams in Scotland are Celtic and Rangers. Celtic has a Catholic support and Rangers a protestant one) It came to a head last year when somebody sent a parcel bomb to Neil Lennon the Celtic manager. The stupid boy featured in this article was one of my U17 players last season.
Growing up in the west of Scotland everybody was identified as being on one side of the divide or othe other. The Scottish parliment has passed new laws to give police and courts power to act and they are keen to start setting precedents.
The similarities between what Birrell did and the WT words, in intent, should be drawn to the attention of investigating officers.
@ cofty - I believe that was not related to this guy's hate campaign. Sinister hard core stuff but comes on the back the ongoing Rangers/Celtic battles
@ wobble - that was what went through my mind. Birrell's activities (to my knowledge) didn't lead to any violence as such ~ just the suggestion of hatred which is NO different to the weasily words of the Watchtower! In fact I beleive the WT to be worse and their intent (deliberate or otherwise) was to split families that, intrinsically, really want to be together.
The WT wants Armageddon to come and bring death to Apostates - Birrell seems to be saying he doesn't mind if people die. Which is worse?
Ok - so I may have a bias in my thinking but I think the WT is the Big Bad Boy here! They wrap their vitriol in the sugar coating of "Jah loves and protects the congregation. All true Christians would do well to do the same".
Actually, I thought what he posted was pretty tame compared to the hate-filled jargon that fills the Watchtower magazines.......Too bad some of the Drooling Body Members didn't have their asses thrown in jail for 8 months after preaching hatred against anyone who leaves.
I have to agree Mary - I didn't want to colour anybody's opinion before they read it!
Just two thoughts from Teary:
1. What is the effect of an arrest like this on Free Speech in general? What is there to stop the authorities there from using this case as a precedent to act on tamer and tamer speech over time, until they finally just get to the point where they can arrest you for doing something as simple as criticizing the government? Teary takes it that free speech is an acceptable sacrifice to users here, so long as they can manage to take down the Witnesses?
2. Wouldn't accepting a ruling like this also mean that sites like THIS ONE and others (such as the infinitely more hateful JW Topix forums) would have to be shut down for "targeting" a specific group and for spreading hatred and bigotry of that group? Aren't the users of this thread just cutting of their own noses to spite their faces?
Mary _ I agree. That was tame compared to the WTS.
(I couldn't help putting a celtic accent on the writings! LOL)
Its a delicate balance bewteen stopping hate talk and encroaching on legitimate free speech. I think the USA have gone too far towards protection. I have seen news reports of white racists shouting racial abuse at black people in USA, that would put you in jail over here.
Teary takes it that free speech is an acceptable sacrifice to users here, so long as they can manage to take down the Witnesses?
Teary takes it wrong. The WBTS thinks it's OK to sacrifice individuals free speech to talk about their past publications though.
