IT does not happen often but some days I wonder if Scotland exists to fill a column in some tiny local newspaper in America’s Midwest. Picture it. An editorial meeting in the Back of Beyond Sentinel. The editor and his vast staff of two are discussing the column titled, “Those Crazy Jocks!”
The slot began life after a writer, no-one remembers who, went on holiday to Scotland and came back raving about its beauty, the warmth of the welcome, etc, but also about the particular kinds of madness to be found there. In years to come such behaviour would be labelled “bam culture” by experts, but no-one knew that yet.
So began the lighthearted column. But now questions were being asked. “Face it guys,” says the editor, “we’ll never top the deep-fried Mars Bar story, or the time half a city got stuck on a motorway for days because of the snow. Those pictures of Fran and Anna? Classic. But it’s been so quiet and sensible lately with the parliament and all. I hate to say it but maybe the Those Crazy Jocks! column has had its day?
“Chief,” interrupts the cub reporter. “Email just in. Some guy in Scotland has trained his dog to give a Nazi salute.”
READ MORE: Free speech row as Scots 'Nazi dog' film maker found guilty of being grossly offensive online
The editor looks stunned for a moment before bellowing: “Print it, tweet it, we’re going viral with this one! God bless America, and God bless those crazy Jocks!”
The Back of Beyond Sentinel will hopefully hear in time that the story has now moved on. On Tuesday, Mark Meechan, 30, from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, was found guilty of hate crime for posting a video on YouTube of his girlfriend’s pug raising its paw while he prompted it to do so with cues of “gas the Jews” and “Sieg Heil”. Meechan denied any wrong doing, said he had made the video as a joke to annoy his girlfriend, and had never intended it to be viewed widely.
Now, here in Scotland, one would imagine the reaction of most people to this case would be to say “What a complete and utter (insert own expletive here), what on Earth was he thinking,” and then move on.
But what do we know. Meechan’s case is now being taken up as the latest outrage against freedom of speech, and he is receiving support from within Scotland (see newspaper comment threads) and outwith the country. The comedian Ricky Gervais, who has 13 million followers on Twitter, said: “If you don’t believe in a person’s right to say things that you might find ‘grossly offensive’, then you don’t believe in freedom of speech.”
It seems hardly a week goes by without someone exercising their right to freedom of speech to proclaim that their freedom of speech is in peril. Oh, the irony. According to this view, no-one can make a joke, or take a joke, any more. People are afraid to say what they think for fear of being attacked on social media, sacked from their job, or ending up in court like The Coatbridge One. The Thought Police are everywhere, haven’t you heard? Why, you can’t even wolf-whistle at a woman anymore. We’ve become too thin-skinned, too ready to take offence, too snowflake for our own good. The arguments even reach into the realm of international politics, with some holding that one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected was that he stood for freedom of speech and against those who would place a limit on it.
On and on and on the complaints go until someone utters the phrase “political correctness gone mad” and the rant can officially end, only to be picked up again the next time, usually when a celebrity or politician dares to criticise the messages of hate and threats of violence they receive on social media.
Yesterday, FM Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, and former Labour leader Kezia Dugdale did just that, speaking out in support of an Amnesty International call for Twitter to get a grip on on abusive messages.
How awful it must be for freedom of speech fighters to live in such Orwellian times. Spare a thought, if you can, for former English Defence League leader, Tommy Robinson, who felt so strongly that Meechan was a victim of our PC times that he travelled to Airdrie Sheriff Court to lend his support.
“This is the intelligence services, this is the government, this is the police cracking down and silencing free speech on people who are not even allowed to tell jokes,” said Mr Robinson.
Not to be outdone, Meechan said: “There has been a miscarriage of justice. It is a very dark day in regards to freedom of speech.”
Usually, a poop bag would be enough to take care of such views, but let us be reasonable and talk this out. If those speaking out in support of Meechan had bothered to consider the case fully they would have seen that the Sheriff did what must always be done in matters of free speech: he balanced the right to freedom of expression with the obligation to act responsibly.
Having considered the evidence, the Sheriff ruled that the accused knew that the material was offensive and why it was offensive. Despite that, he made the video. It was viewed more than three million times, and this in turn drove traffic to other material he had posted. To put it in a guid Scots nutshell, the accused was “at it”.
As Salman Rushdie, among others, has said, nobody has the right not to be offended. Be a pillock all you like. But if what is being said, or done, appears to break the law then others have a right to call foul and have a court decide who is right.
READ MORE: 'Nazi dog' prankster Mark Meechan hits back at sheriff
Every democratic society operates according to rules. If a law freely made is broken then there have to be consequences. Consequences, moreover, decided upon by that same society. That is how law is upheld. If you don’t like the law, campaign to change it. Don’t be a cry baby about it. Don’t whine. Don’t be a snowflake.
We are not living in a new age where freedom of speech is under attack as never before. What is happening is that bullies, the ones who shout loudest, are no longer having things all their own way. They are being called to account for their views and they do not like it. Tough.
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