Saturday, March 24, 2018

Shappi Khorsandi on the conviction of Count Dankula

On Thursday I suggested there had been a deafening silence among liberals and the left about the conviction of Mark Meechan (aka Count Dankula) for posting a comic video.

Only David Baddiel and Ricky Gervais, I suggested, had spoken up in his defence.

The next day, I am pleased to say, Shappi Khorsandi entered the fray with a good column for the Independent:
The terrifying thing about this conviction is that the judge sided with the prosecution who said “context and intent are irrelevant” in a joke? In a bloody joke? Context is everything in a flipping joke! 
It’s happened. Like Iran, like Burma, like other countries where freedom of speech isn’t really their thing, the Scottish courts have convicted someone for telling a joke.
And the increasingly impressive @femi_sorry has spoken out on Twitter:

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1 comment:

  1. Phil Beesley26 March, 2018 21:12

    Fuck, a man is being sent to prison in the UK for a lousy joke.

    This is about how we challenge racism and bigotry in society. Or how we might look at "the joke" values.

    Mark Meechan is going to gaol for dodgy taste -- and being "caught" and "punished".
    ---
    Meanwhile the leader of the Labour Party blusters whether he liked a mural which he says he never looked at. Failure to spot an anti-semitic mural portraying stereotyped Jews was apparently difficult for a politician who has spent a life time as an expert in middle east politics.

    It's all right to have dodgy friends if you are Jeremy Corbyn. It is not all right to tell crap jokes in Scotland.

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