Honestly Europe doesn't have free speech anyway. I was kind of suprised that noone was charged over these Prophet cartoons, I guess they were lucky that they were too high profile and in the media. I do find it ironic though all these Government leaders coming out saying 'Free Expression is the European way' when people have similarly criticised Islam have ended up on trial in some of these nations.
Read this article for example and you will see what I mean, this was written prior to the whole cartoon uproar:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...400110,00.html
Quote:
Ha ha! You canhahaha8217;t insult Islam but I can
One of the two statements below may soon be illegal; the other will still be within the law. You have to decide which is which and explain, with the aid of a diagram, the logic behind the new provision. a) Stoning women to death for adultery is barbaric. b) People who believe it is right to stone women to death for adultery are barbaric.
The answer is that a) should be fine and b) may land you in court charged with inciting religious hatred against Islam, under new provisions in David Blunketthahaha8217;s Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill.
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Now read this article of an example of someone being charged for using their supposed right to free expression.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...025181,00.html
Quote:
The CPS has said that it wishes both cases to be retried, as well it might considering the enormous amount of money expended so far. West Yorkshire police proudly announced that they had a team of officers working on the case ?five days a week, 10 hours a day?.
I?m not sure how many police officers constitute a ?team? and West Yorkshire police are disinclined to tell me. But I reckon it?s been a good time to be a burglar in West Yorkshire just recently.
One assumes that the team of police has been painstaking in its efforts to unearth evidence of Griffin being beastly about Islam; certainly there was some minutiae of perhaps questionable relevance dragged into the case against him. At one point he was cross-examined over his reference to Stephen Lawrence, the black lad murdered, allegedly by racists, in southeast London.
Griffin apparently referred to him in a speech as ?Stephen bloody Lawrence?, which is unkind and even tasteless, but scarcely the sort of thing for which one should be bunged in chokey. The most serious charge against him ? that he referred to Islam as a ?wicked, vicious faith? ? is still outstanding. Last year the Home Office told me that I could probably get away with calling Islam a ?wicked, vicious faith? in a nice column in The Sunday Times, but Nick Griffin probably couldn?t. It all seems a bit harsh on Griffin, though. Why should he be prosecuted for telling people what he thinks of Islam if I?m allowed to get away with it? Person-specific crimes: it will never catch on.
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Free speech has never existed in Europe in the same way it does in the USA (with regards to politically offensive speech particularly, not porn). So it's kind of suprising they are championing this right so much over the past couple weeks.