Wednesday 12 May 2010

Come Out With Your Hands In The Air! It's The Poster Police!

Coincidentally, Hoffman has become one of Britain's most respected photojournalists after three decades chronicling alleged police brutality.
'Coincidentally', eh..? Sure it was!
After he expressed concern at his treatment, Hoffman says, a local inspector told him over the phone that "any reasonable person" would find his poster "alarming, harassing or distressful".
Care to test that in court, Inspector?

9 comments:

Dick Puddlecote said...

Presumably he is a 'class war' socialist? Well he should know who is to blame for installing an environment in which it is one's right not to be offended, eh?

Bet he'll just blame the cops, instead.

Anonymous said...

How does a photographer get to chronicle police brutality?

Does he just happen to show up Jessica Fletcher style with his box brownie every time some brutality happens?

Or do the police let him know in advance?

Or perhaps, and this is a conspiracy theory almost beyond belief, he turns up to demos where he and others will provoke the police and then take a nice pic? Nah, it couldnt be that.

Most perplexing.

sobers said...

Is the word 'wanker' now illegal to be displayed in public then? How about in books? In public libraries? If wanker is off limits, why is onanist or masturbater OK? (Presumably because people are so poorly educated now, they wouldn't have a clue what they meant I suppose). The meaning is identical.

To be honest the one thing I am desperate for the new govt to address is stuff like this. I don't care if I end up paying shed loads more tax to fill the gaping void of the deficit, can we please have our liberal (in the true sense of the word) country back? Where the phrase 'Its a free country' isn't just something from history?

Longrider said...

Um... Hoist with his own petard, eh? As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

I could go on, and on, and on...

AntiCitizenOne said...

People who support a war against a class of people might find they become a combatant.

Ian B said...

...and the irony is, the Guardian then warns readers that the discussion contains "offensive language". Ha!

We have been living under political correctness for more than 150 years. It was invented in Victorian times, and since then a whole plethora of laws- long before NuLabour- have been implemented to impose it upon us, and protect us from "offensive" speech. New PC made it illegal to say "nigger". Old PC made it illegal to say "wanker". Same thing with different knobs on.

Thus the absurdity of crusty conservatives, railing against "political correctness" in the hope of fully reimposing the previous, just as dogmatic, just as proscriptive, and just as legal enforced, version of it.

English Viking said...

I'm afraid that I agree with the removal of the poster (but not the extreme measures taken by the Police).

It is a sad indication of the decline of public decency, that people consider it a right to display what most consider to be a swear-word, in a public place.

I don't like Cameron (or any other politicians for that matter) but I also don't like being bombarded with smut in the name of freedom of speech.

People can say what they like. They can write it down. Others (including me) can moan about it. That is freedom of speech. They should not be allowed to force it on people.

JuliaM said...

"Presumably he is a 'class war' socialist? Well he should know who is to blame for installing an environment in which it is one's right not to be offended, eh?"

There is a certain amount of schadenfreud about this, it's true.

If only it just affected trendy lefties...

"To be honest the one thing I am desperate for the new govt to address is stuff like this. I don't care if I end up paying shed loads more tax to fill the gaping void of the deficit, can we please have our liberal (in the true sense of the word) country back?"

Amen!

"...and the irony is, the Guardian then warns readers that the discussion contains "offensive language". Ha!"

You really couldn't make it up, could you?

"I'm afraid that I agree with the removal of the poster (but not the extreme measures taken by the Police).

It is a sad indication of the decline of public decency, that people consider it a right to display what most consider to be a swear-word, in a public place."


I can see where you're coming from.

banned said...

At least Class War were not singling out Dave Cameron, thoughtfully providing versions of their wanker poster for Gordon, Nick C and Nick Griffin.