Free speech in the UK is getting worse. More and more, taking offense is often followed by a report to the police, and rather than treating such reports as akin to panic about scary hedgehogs, the police are taking them seriously – in many cases leading to convictions.
For those across the pond unfamiliar with Katie Hopkins, she’s really just the UK version of Ann Coulter with a bit less emphasis on politics. She stays relevant by saying controversial things, with the general public completing an unfortunate symbiosis by meeting her remarks with outrage.
She tweeted the following:
Glaswegian ebola patient moved to London's Royal Free Hospital. Not so independent when it matters most are we jocksville?
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) December 30, 2014
Little sweaty jocks, sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn't cricket. Scottish NHS sucks. http://t.co/EZpO0UTYHx
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) December 30, 2014
That’s not very nice.
After multiple outraged folks called the police, they responded with this:
Please be aware that we will continue to monitor comments on social media & any offensive comments will be investigated.
— Police Scotland (@PoliceScotland) December 30, 2014
From the Telegraph:
Detective Inspector Glyn Roberts said: “We have received a number of complaints regarding remarks made on Twitter. Inquiries are ongoing into the nature of these tweets and to establish any potential criminality. Police Scotland will thoroughly investigate any reports of offensive or criminal behaviour online and anyone found to be responsible will be robustly dealt with.”
It isn’t just the authorities, either. At the time of writing, a petition to have her convicted has over 26,000 signatories.
There are so many other possible responses to Hopkins’ nonsense: Realise that she doesn’t necessarily believe what she’s saying; that she needs to keep saying it to stay in the public eye (this is my solution). If you really can’t handle a few insults, block or mute her on Twitter. Or, if you really must, reply to her civilly on Twitter (though I think this is naive and futile). I’d even prefer it if you replied uncivilly to her on Twitter, rather than call the police.
We need to have a very serious nationwide conversation about free speech in the UK, but sadly I don’t think that’ll happen any time soon.
