In an earlier post, “What Is The Cost Of Free Speech? £800, According To Scottish Law”, I discussed how the YouTuber, Count Dankula, was convicted of a “hate crime” in Scotish court for training his girlfriends pug to act like a Nazi to annoy her.
He was sentenced to pay an £800 fine.
He avoided prison, which was a bit of a relief to me because I really am not ready for that level of authoritarianism in a country so similar to my own (US). But he was still fined and convicted of a terrible crime.
Well, in this ironically uplifting video post-trial, Dank explains that he in no way intends to pay this fine, and, in fact, will fight to get it repealed as it sets president for further abuse.
He was prepared to go to jail rather than admit that he did anything wrong, but he didn't get that opportunity.
Why this is important
There are a number of reasons why this is important that scale from local to international.
Firstly, the English Common Law (as far as I understand it, which isn’t very far) is a legal precedent-based system. This means is that a precedent or authority is a legal case that establishes a principle or rule. This principle or rule is then used by the court or other judicial bodies use when deciding later cases with similar issues or facts.
A case or issue decided by a court that can be used to help answer future legal questions.
In practical terms it means that anything the courts have decided upon in the past now act as a rule to decide cases of a similar nature. So, the next time someone in the UK says something that the government arbitrarily deems “grossly” offensive, they’ve committed a crime.
You can see, of course, what sort of authoritarian terror this leads to.
Secondly, this sets up a global social precedent as well.
People are constantly referencing the way that other countries do things as an example of what should be done in their county. It is easy to completely miss the nuance of national or local laws and customs and missapply them to your own culture.
For instance, in Japan people don’t lock up their bikes, and you can find cell phones sitting on public tables, because the culture in Japan is one of simple respect for property. If someone steals, it is a much greater social risk than in a place like America. As much as we would like to have the experience of being able to leave our bikes unattended in public without them being stolen, it simply isn’t the culture we live in here in America.
Similarly, there are people who will only see a headline like “Man Convicted Of Hate Crime For Spreading Anti-Semitic Propaganda”, and think such a precedent is reason enough for them to adopt similar policy in their own countries, without knowing anything about this case and that it is actually an egregious violation of free speech and creeping totalitarian abuse.
I mean, I hear things like this all the time: “If only we adopted a quasi-socialist system like Sweden, we would be so much better off!” Such a view completely ignores the nuances that distinguish Sweden from other places; things like culture, demographics, economics, the fact that they don’t have a military and are completely protected by the US and thus don’t have such a massive expenditure in their national budget.
You know, things like that.
So the Count is right to fight this to the fullest extent possible.
How you can help
Dankula has set up a gofundme campaign:
Fund The Count Dankula Appeal.
Don’t worry about it reaching its goal -- the goal was £100,000, which it blew through in less than a day. The total currently sits at £144,191.
What I want you to do is -- well, donate if you can, because every little bit counts -- spread this story around to everyone you know online and show your support for free speech.
As described in the campaign:
This conviction will be used as an example to convict other people over the things they say and the jokes they make, it sets a standard where courts will be able to willfully ignore the context and intent of a persons words and actions in order to punish them and brand them as criminals.
This is the amount that has been quoted by my lawyer, the reason it has been quoted so high is my lawyer wishes to bring in top legal representatives to ensure that we have the highest chance of reversing the standard that this case sets, I cannot allow the 2 years of litigation I went through and having my life put on hold, to happen to anyone else.
I will be 100% transparent with these funds, all bills in regards to the case will be made publicly available.
Let’s all come together on this and bring back that old liberal maxim
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
What do you think?
Tell me what your thoughts are on this.
Did you know about the case of Count Dankula and his girlfriend’s Nazi pug?
Will you be supporting his campaign?
Let me know in the comments.
Images not from the gofundme campaign are from https://pixabay.com