May planning TV censorship laws

cheesyboy · 22 May 2015 at 11:55

RDM said:
While widely reported as using anti terror legislation this wasn't actually the case, the laws used weren't anti terror laws just some introduced in the same bill that also introduced some anti terror measures.

Yes and no.

The provision was under the "terrorism, crime security act" (if I've remembered the name correctly) and, whilst not specifically referring to terrorism, had been shepherded very quickly through the legislative process under pretence of national terrorism security.

Regardless of whether it was an anti-terror law which was specifically pointed at Iceland, we need to be fearful of the way extremely draconian law was able to be brought in through the trojan horse of anti-terrorism.

Amp34 · 22 May 2015 at 11:56

robgmun said:
I can see the whole "thin edge of the wedge" argument and even i have used it in the past myself. But it seems like we can't continue to be so passive tolerant as freedom of speech seems to be abused by those that hate the west, hate everybody who isn't Muslim and want to spread extremism, no doubt we need to make sure that certain groups are protected and the one way to do that is to make sure those specific groups are except to the law by name.

Why not specifically ban specific groups. An "opt in" rather than "opt out".

There has been 1 or two examples so far of incidents over several years. Is this really that major an issue that draconian regulation reds to be brought in to control it?

scorza · 22 May 2015 at 12:08

Amp34 said:
Why not specifically ban specific groups. An "opt in" rather than "opt out".

Tried it before, group just changes name, government ends up looking silly and not tough.

Amp34 said:
There has been 1 or two examples so far of incidents over several years. Is this really that major an issue that draconian regulation reds to be brought in to control it?

Dunno but how many young British men and women have been inspired to go and fight for the Islamic State? That imo is a serious problem.

Lagmeister · 22 May 2015 at 12:50

scorza said:
Dunno but how many young British men and women have been inspired to go and fight for the Islamic State? That imo is a serious problem.

And censoring our media is going to stop that? Its not like the Islamic State is putting out ads on national TV to come and join them.

We need rational debate and as distasteful as I find a lot of the views from people in ISIS and the like, silencing someone because you don't like it rather than either picking apart their flawed arguments or fixing legitimate issues, isn't going to help you beat them.

Orion21 · 22 May 2015 at 13:41

Ridiculous idea if they're planning to censor things before they appear in that way. Better to be reactive in this case and punish and censor after it has first been shown in most cases which should do the job and not suppress freedom of speech in the same way.

After all who is going to decide what is censored? So is what is censored actually deserving of being censored or just what whoever in charge of censoring decides they disagree with. A very slipperly slope.

Not many people like being told what to do, trying to censor people is just going to antagonise people. Better to try and understand others viewpoints and change minds through reason and discussion, not through forceful censorship. I think the carrot works better than the stick, but the stick should always be available when it is needed as a last resort.

arknor · 22 May 2015 at 13:42

scorza said:
Dunno but how many young British men and women have been inspired to go and fight for the Islamic State? That imo is a serious problem.

as a percentage of the muslim population it's likely tiny.
more people die due to road accidents than terrorist attacks.

yet we waste billions on terrorism and have roads full of pot holes etc

Aretak · 22 May 2015 at 13:57

Lagmeister said:
And censoring our media is going to stop that? Its not like the Islamic State is putting out ads on national TV to come and join them.

If anything, I'd think the knowledge that the government are trying to censor opposing views would lead to more people seeking them out. It's incredible to me that anyone could still think censorship is an effective strategy in 2015, unless you're willing to go the whole hog, turn the country into North Korea 2 and control people through force.

Amp34 · 22 May 2015 at 13:59

scorza said:
Tried it before, group just changes name, government ends up looking silly and not tough.

Dunno but how many young British men and women have been inspired to go and fight for the Islamic State? That imo is a serious problem.

So is there going to be a list somewhere with the names of a million different organisations? Obviously there would be an admin fee to go with the application to get on the list as the "vetting" process would cost money... If you aren't on the list you aren't allowed to advertise or be on any media portal. That's the system that would have to be put in place and would be open to horrendus abuse.

Perhaps the people that are going off to fight are not doing so because they once saw an interview on TV. Perhaps it's because they are disillusioned with their life and are approached by people they know/associate with and are persuaded to do so over a long period of time?