Why wasn’t I told? 25 Jan 2008 A passing reference to Language Log has introduced me to an excellent blog. For instance, this well-balanced post on hate speech. Why didn’t someone notify me of it before? Administrative
Administrative If this is Friday, I must be in Sydney 16 Apr 2009 I am briefly back from internetless visits to family in Victoria (my home state), and shortly to fly out to Lisbon where I am to give two talks I have yet to finish writing (of course! Not to worry, I always do this). In the interim I must proof my… Read More
Administrative The dangers of walking 11 Apr 201221 Jun 2018 I have long said that exercise is dangerous: that 100% of all those I know who are physically active injure themselves. But I never expected that just frigging walking could be so problematic and fraught with danger! I was on my way to meet some folk for lunch (Lygon Street,… Read More
Administrative Passing thoughts and miscellany 8 Oct 20118 Oct 2011 First of all it occurs to me that people who expect the Singularity to occur simply do not get the logistic growth curve. I’ll just throw that out there. Second, the Great Migration Back to the Homeland (i.e., my move back to Melbourne) happens this week so I will probably… Read More
Language log is a great blog, but that’s not one of their better posts (anything by Mark Lieberman is great, though Pullum is usually excellent too). The only problem here is the excessive zeal and officiousness of the British police. Two local (to me) examples: Oxfordshire police charged a student with hate speech after he said to a policeman “do you realize your horse is gay?” And more recently, when someone threw a water bottle to a protestor sitting in a tree, the police charged him with littering. In both cases the courts threw out the cases and money was wasted.
That’s what happens when you’ve hired too many police in the name of political expediency, and now they’re looking for something to do to justify their existence. Apparently it happens on the left as well as the right (for the right, “security” is the buzzword, rather than hate-speech.)
I suppose that I simply assumed that, as one of the cool intellectual bloggers, you already knew about Language Log. In any event, glad you found it.
Jeff, note in the 2 examples I gave if there was an agenda it was certainly not left-wing. In both cases (including the one using hate speech legislation) the target were environmental protestors. I suspect it is the police using a handy tool to do their master’s bidding, not their promotion of a left-wing agenda.
Jeff, note in the 2 examples I gave if there was an agenda it was certainly not left-wing. In both cases (including the one using hate speech legislation) the target were environmental protestors. I suspect it is the police using a handy tool to do their master’s bidding, not their promotion of a left-wing agenda.
Neil, it’s the not the target but the source that I was considering. Maybe I’m wrong, but I see the British government as being somewhat to the left of the USA’s. I also don’t see them as actively promoting a left wing agenda. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them need to look like they’re doing something. I may be wrong in associating “security” with the right, though. I’ve heard the security in Britain is very tight – tracking everyone and their cars wherever they go, etc.
Jeff, *all* Western governments, probably all other properly elected governments, are to the left of the US govt. In any case, the decision to prosecute is not up to the govt: it is a police and DPP matter. Neither are conceivably left-wing.