The Youtube bio of the social media sensation Count Dankula says:
Offensive social commentary in an accent you won’t understand and skits that get people thrown in prison.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/countdankula
But how have the media responded to the conviction of this online comedian after the ‘Nazi Pug’ incident?
SPIKED MAGAZINE
Spiked have always been fairly hardcore civil libertarians.
Andrew Doyle writes something that will send a chill down the spine of all true First Amendment lovers:
The notion that free speech is not under threat in this country is no longer a sustainable claim. Meechan may not be the first to be prosecuted for offensive jokes, but his case sets a particularly dangerous precedent by which even professional comedians might be criminalised for their material.
GIZMODO
Jennings Brown finishes his article the an utterly horrifying Orwellian words of Sheriff Derek O’Carroll, the chief perpetrator of this travesty of justice:
O’Carroll said that he did not believe the sole purpose of the video was to pester his partner, since he had left it on his page where it could continue to bring traffic to other videos. “This court has taken the freedom of expression into consideration,” O’Carroll said. “But the right to freedom of expression also comes with responsibility.”
BOING BOING
Guardedly but pointedly, Andrea James says:
Sometimes I imagine Ben Franklin or Socrates time traveling to today and reading a headline like this. What a weird timeline we’re in.
BREITBART
Very sinister point of order noted by Oliver JJ Lane:
Speaking to journalists waiting outside the court waiting for the verdict before he went inside, Meechan blasted the police and mainstream media for having colluded before his arrest, allowing journalists to set up outside his home to photograph and record him being taken away by officers.
Yuck! Creepy!
What do you think about this case, and its broader significance?
Leave your thoughts below.