Spanish Government Uses Hate Speech Law To Arrest Critic Of The Spanish Government
from the shocked-SHOCKED-to-find-such-a-predictable-use-of-a-bad-law dept
Spain's government has gotten into the business of regulating speech with predictably awful results. An early adopter of Blues Lives Matter-esque policies, Spain went full police state, passing a law making it a crime to show "disrespect" to law enforcement officers. The predictable result? The arrest of someone for calling cops "slackers" in a Facebook post.
Spain's government is either woefully unaware of the negative consequences of laws like this or, worse, likes the negative consequences. After all, it doesn't hurt Spain's government beyond a little reputational damage. It only hurts residents of Spain. When you're already unpopular, thanks to laws like these and suppression of a Catalan independence vote, what difference does it make if you're known better for shutting down dissent than actually protecting citizens from hateful speech?
One Catalan resident is getting the full "hate speech" rap-and-ride.
A Catalan high school teacher, Manel Riu, appeared in court on Thursday accused of hate speech for his tweets and Facebook posts criticizing Spain, government members and the Guardia Civil police. Over a hundred people escorted him to court in Tremp, west of Catalonia, where he denied any wrongdoing and asked for the case’s dismissal.
As a Catalan, Riu certainly has reason to criticize the Spanish government. During the last attempted referendum, the Spanish government sent police to seize ballots, voters' cellphones, and ordered Google to remove a voting location app from the Play store. The evidence against Riu is composed of 119 tweets gathered by the Guardia Civil, Spain's oldest law enforcement agency -- one that blurs the line between playing soldier and playing cop far more often than its US counterparts.
One tweet apparently compared Spain to hell. The rest are presumably similarly unflattering. Hyperbolic venting by unhappy citizens is to be expected. It also should be protected. Insulating the government from unhappy citizens never works out well. But that's how Spain is handling dissent: by sending out the most "police state" wing of its police forces to arrest people for calling Spain figuratively hell.
The crime cited here is a violation of Spain's hate speech law. But that makes no sense. Hate speech laws are supposed to protect underprivileged groups who are often targets of derogatory comments. They're not supposed to protect the powerful from the underprivileged. The anomalies of hate speech law enforcement are the times they're actually used the way they should be. (Not that they're good ideas in the first place, but for the sake of argument…) Shutting down dissenters and critics of the government is the status quo.
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Filed Under: censorship, free speech, political oppression, spain
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What's next?
And then Kick the Jews Out 2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Isabella_(sculpture)
Hey let's build some more statues to Dictators!
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> groups who are often targets of derogatory comments
Which is itself authoritarian and horrible. Even when used properly 'hate speech' laws are incompatible with a free society, which is why the US thankfully does not recognize a 'hate speech' exception to the 1st Amendment, despite all the governors and legislators that pretend that there is one.
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Fuck, being right gets old.
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Well, that's just absurd...
Words are harmful, and are just the exact same as if you took a brick and smashed someone over the head.
And that's why we need comprehensive hate speech laws, to protest people.
So I find it ABSURD that any government would misuse the spirit and intent of such laws to stifle political dissent.
/s
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this is awesome!
Boy do they sure scream like little bitches when they get fucked over and they act incredibly indignant when you remind them... "I Told You So!"
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Basically the cops approach tourists, DEMAND money and if you refuse they can just arrest you for 'disrespecting' the officer.
It's completely and utterly fucked up and a vast number of tourists are now warned away from Spain which is kinda sad to see.
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Shooting random passersby in the streets because they 'looked like enemies of the general' etc.
They're heavily into the drug trade, controlling vast swathes of the cocaine and heroin market.
Basically its a group Literally from the fascism of the 1940s that never got shut down.
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Re: this is awesome!
There is ZERO logical consistency across articles.
"Hate Speach" Laws were one of the many reasons normally progressive folks, finally had had enough, and voted for Trump.
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Re:
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Re: Re: this is awesome!
What a nut job.
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Re: Re: Re: this is awesome!
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Re: Re: this is awesome!
This argument might hold up if the United States had laws prohibiting hate speech in any way. Last time I checked, Trump voters have been more than able to publicly vent about immigrants, the Westboro Baptist Church still drags out the “God Hates Fags” signs every once in a while, and the New York Times printed anti-Semitic rhetoric from a Nazi just a few months ago. What I did not see is the government bringing down the hammer on any of that. If you want me to take your argument seriously, consider backing it up with facts instead of feelings.
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Re: Re:
[citation needed]
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Re: Re: this is awesome!
It's a typical Tim Cushing article. He is the stereotypical Trump-bashing hypocrite, who will turn everything he claims to believe on its head when the person doing the screwing is a Democrat.
There is ZERO logical consistency across articles.
Can you point to a single example of this? I mean, if it happens all the time, there must be links you can provide of Cushing taking the opposite position.
We'll wait.
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Re: Well, that's just absurd...
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Re:
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Re: Re:
In reality, Spain has just positioned itself to overtake the US as the world's second most popular tourist destination.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/16/spain-set-to-replace-us-as-second-most-pop ular-tourism-destination
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Either they apply to all, or none at all. I'd prefer the latter.
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Re: Re: Re:
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Re:
You know that line about equality feeling like oppression to the privileged?
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