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  1. Tricksilver89 on

    Reading the article, I’m struggling to see what he was charged over other than legitimately criticising a Muslim councillor who herself has complained about about politics in Glasgow being “pale, male and stale”. A comment which is both misandrist and racist in its own right.

    Interesting her comments haven’t been a source of investigation.

    Should add that I haven’t watched any of this person’s videos to get exact context.

  2. Sensitive_Echo5058 on

    So Siddique said the government was “pale, male, and stale” – which is objectively racist rhetoric because it criticises immutable characteristics rather than the contents of one’s thoughts or policies. As a society, we need to get better at calling people out and setting boundaries for acceptable discourse.

    The YouTuber, from what I gather from the article, criticised people like Siddique, who espouse views often based on falsehoods, specifically in relation to perceived under-representation of ethnic minority groups.

    Yet, the data tends not to support Siddique and her followers’ belief:

    1. Often, in public service sectors, there will actually be over representation of certain ethnic minority groups relative to local, city, and national demographics.

    – The numbers are ethnic minority subgroups are often small to begin with (e.g., 4 in every 100 will be black in the UK). So, these individuals will feel underrepresented when, in fact, the hypothetical space is reflective of demographic splits. (E.g., 5 black people in a room of 100 would be overrepresentation but under-representation from one’s own internally generated narrative). So, under-representation is easily perceived, not actual.

    2. It’s easier to employ an ethnic minority who may not be adequately qualified for the role in the public sector because it’s ‘only’ the taxpayer that bears the cost of incompetence in the workforce. Conversely, in the private sector, which is profit driven, you need to employ the best people for the job to sustain profitable margins.

    From what I can see from the article, the YouTubers criticism was reasonable. Unless there is something I have missed or has not been reported in the article, I’m failing to see why he has been charged.

  3. Jaded_Strain_3753 on

    I have no idea about the full history of this guy but nothing reported in the article should be even close to an arrestable offence.

  4. I’d not heard of this guy until this, and just watched one of his videos – and ok, the video that got him in trouble may have been worse, but he just came across as quite a light-hearted commentator, and his approach seemed quite measured and balanced.

    The framing of this also calls into question the idea of right wing vs left wing. He’s the Scottish leader of the current SDP, again a party I know little about, but a quick check of wikipedia shows them to be centre-left on many issues, but socially conservative. Isn’t that pretty much identical to the leanings of the so-called ‘Red Wall’ of England? The old-school Labour heartland? So to brand him as ‘right-wing’ feels odd.

  5. The CPS charge based on whether they think that the evidence presented will result in a prosecution. They must think that whatever he said would be enough.

  6. Kamenev_Drang on

    it was inevitable that hate speech legislation would be misused in this manner. Loath as I am to agree with Toby Young’s Flying Circus, in this case he was right

  7. Lower_Performer_3365 on

    What in gods name are the judiciary doing? I’m in two minds, on the one hand I welcome the honest expression of their moral rot, on the other I’m concerned about where this is leading. Man criticises racist comment and is charged? What?

  8. The Crown Prosecution Service must actively be working to get Reform into government at this point.

  9. EntropicMortal on

    If he was charged, then there is some pretty damning evidence against him somewhere. It says he was charged over this specific video, but it’s more likely this video was used in conjunction with a bunch of other evidence.

    It’s rare the police charge without a high probability of conviction. All the work and effort that goes into a case has to be worth it.

  10. xmBQWugdxjaA on

    The Reform landslide can’t come soon enough.

    A violent gang murders a pensioner and will spend barely 3 years in prison, meanwhile the police are busy arresting political prisoners like this.

  11. CursedRaindrop on

    Still told we have free speech when its clear they only mean some of us do, most dont

  12. RevolutionaryToe839 on

    Next time some one says “two tier policing doesn’t exist” I’ll refer them to this story here, the Muslim councillor can say what she likes but if you criticise her you’ll be arrested.

    No one should be surprised when Reform wins the next election at this point

  13. ApologiseMeowMeow on

    Scary times we live in now where in being critical of a certain religion can be perceived as racist rhetoric, Islam is not a race its a religion ffs.

  14. Keep it up Britain. Turning more and more people to the right with this totalitarianism, and that’s a fact. Country needs to get a fucking grip.

  15. Fuzzy_Cranberry8164 on

    “Minorities are underrepresented..”
    would that be because, by any chance, that they are a minority of the population?

  16. See the far right are still out in force here. Does anyone have a transcript of what he said? Charging threshold is pretty high