Free speech is under attack in Britain |The Economist



Posted by codefluence

24 Comments

  1. A common “gotcha” response we have to this in the UK is “we don’t have free speech in the UK”, as if that’s any better. Shit hole country!

  2. The U.K really doubled down on authoritarian rule after Brexit. I’m not from the U.K but I thought it would go the other way..

  3. Honestly I dislike this guys, a lot for a lot of things, but banning them and lying about why is just further proof, of why we need freedom of speech.

    Also I kinda feel sick but I do have to defend these people.

  4. AlphaTangoFoxtrt on

    Britain does not have freedom of speech. Most of Europe does not either.

    If you can be arrested/fined for “offensive” Facebook posts, you do not have freedom of speech.

  5. Crazy how Britain has been going after right wing free speech for at least as long as I’ve been old enough to follow politics but the second they ban Hasan Piker is when we get pieces about how “fReE spEecH is uNdeR aTtAck”

  6. The only news here is cenk and hasan being related. I feel like she did that on purpose.

  7. Achilles8857 on

    Ah look. Comes the time, the US can bomb the Islamic State of Great Britain just as easily as we did the Islamic State of Iran (insert country name here Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, &etc.). /sarc

  8. AGodDamnFreeMan on

    UK Public General Acts > Human Rights Act 1998 (hilariously recent compared to the US Constitution) > Article 10 (which supposedly gives UK free speech). See if you can spot the hilariously glaring problem here:

    1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.
    2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary

    If you said, “It’s hilarious (in a sad way) because Section 1 guarantees a freedom that Section 2 destroys”, you’d be absolutely right. Further, Section 1 states that right may be exercised ‘without interference by public authority (which is exactly what the government is)’ and then Section 2 is the aforementioned public authority/government shitting on Section 1 which they also wrote.

    Make fun of and hate America all you guys want! We don’t mind.

  9. Daviddonovan11 on

    This is fake news. Cenk and Hasan were not banned. They had their eTA revoked which is an expedited way that people from trusted countries can enter Britain. Both of them still are able to apply for a travel visa just like everyone else. This is a meaningful difference than being banned from entering the country. Personally, I think revoking Cenk’s ETA is hard to defend, but Hasan has been cheering on terrorist attacks in the UK. Maybe requiring extra review in his case is ok.

  10. SDMasterYoda on

    Hasan and Cenk weren’t blocked from entering the country. Their [ETAs](https://www.gov.uk/eta) were revoked. They can still apply for a Visa to visit, they just lost the quick an easy automatically approved pass for being from a trusted country.

  11. 707danger415 on

    I’m in favor of free speech. But “free speech” doesn’t mean you have to let everyone into your country. They can both still use their platforms to say whatever they want.

  12. AllLeftiesHere on

    They don’t have free speech there, right? Hasn’t this been happening for decades now? 

  13. redpandaeater on

    Not to mention they’re both morons so by all means just listen to them. But it’s been a long time I’ve heard anyone claim the UK has freedom of speech. If you can’t say potentially hurtful things you don’t have it and there’s a literal meme about exactly that.

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