More of ‘We don’t need that free speech thing, Old Boy’

‘British Police Arrest Man for Burning a Poppy and Posting the Picture on Twitter’

Few Americans associate November 11 and the poppy. Flanders fields have been forgotten. In Britain and former Empire countries, the poppy is a symbol of wars in which thousands or millions died.

Britain has a “speech law,” officially known as the Malicious Communications Act 1988, which, according to The Guardian, “deals with the sending to another of any article which is indecent or grossly offensive, or which conveys a threat, or which is false, provided there is an intent to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient.”

Or, as The National Review Online said, the offended person determines “what is allowable.” You have offended me; therefore the police must arrest you.

So some yoot burns a poppy, the burning turns up on Facebook, someone complains, and police arrest “a 19-year-old Canterbury man … on suspicion of an offence under the Malicious Communications Act.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/333219/british-police-arrest-man-burning-poppy-and-posting-picture-twitter-charles-c-w-cooke#

How glad I am one of my ancestors in 1750 arrived in British America.

Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com