Should racist WhatsApp messages land you in jail?

[Atreus21]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

 

[Slyfox696]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

In the United States, simply sharing a racist meme would be protected under the 1st Amendment and should be. There are very limited exceptions to that, but based on the little provided in the article, I don't see that being an exception to the 1st Amendment.

However, while criminal punishment would not be warranted in America, that doesn't mean this person could not suffer repercussions such as loss of job, becoming a social pariah, etc.

 

[JoeyJoystick]

I Voted 'Yes' here, but it needs a little bit of motivation.

If, the law states that racism can land you in jail, then this should be applied to WhatsApp messages or any other form of communication as well. So the reason I voted 'Yes' is simply because I think racism should land you in jail, regardless of whether this was verbally or by WhatsApp. Now I do not know if Racism can land you in jail or not, and this varies greatly from country to country.

Anyways, my 5c worth.

Joey

 

[DarkWizard12]

I Voted 'Yes' here, but it needs a little bit of motivation.

If, the law states that racism can land you in jail, then this should be applied to WhatsApp messages or any other form of communication as well. So the reason I voted 'Yes' is simply because I think racism should land you in jail, regardless of whether this was verbally or by WhatsApp. Now I do not know if Racism can land you in jail or not, and this varies greatly from country to country.

Anyways, my 5c worth.

Joey

so, you're not for the 1st amendment then.

so progressive, King George III would be proud of you.

 

[Slyfox696]

so, you're not for the 1st amendment then.

In fairness, his location is listed as Thailand. So he probably doesn't care.

 

[bomberfox]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

The cop should be fired but not arrested.

 

[Nomad4Ever]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

On itself no, but if he was sharing racist memes that called for violence against minorities for example those would be "racist memes" that I could see there being an argument for.

That said, the issue there legally would be the violence informed by the racism and not the racism directly.

 

[TheParser]

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

Yes.

But I assume that most websites would delete those memes.

 

[Atreus21]

In the United States, simply sharing a racist meme would be protected under the 1st Amendment and should be. There are very limited exceptions to that, but based on the little provided in the article, I don't see that being an exception to the 1st Amendment.

However, while criminal punishment would not be warranted in America, that doesn't mean this person could not suffer repercussions such as loss of job, becoming a social pariah, etc.

Of course. Losing his job seems like a no-brainer. But jail time? Certainly not. That's power the government should not have.

 

[DarkWizard12]

In fairness, his location is listed as Thailand. So he probably doesn't care.

he could be an american citizen. you never know these days, with all the travelling and foreign work and all

 

[ttwtt78640]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

The poll question does not match the bolded above. The answer to the bolded above question is yes, but the answer to the poll question is no.

 

[Slyfox696]

he could be an american citizen. you never know these days, with all the travelling and foreign work and all

Possibly, but the wording of his post does appear to be consistent with a non-American.

 

[Grand Mal]

so, you're not for the 1st amendment then.

so progressive, King George III would be proud of you.

So you think American laws should apply in every country in the world.
Sounds good, turn the whole world into dysfunctional societies where half the population hates the other half.

 

[Sweden]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

It depends on the nature of the 'racism'. If the message advocated violence a jail sentence might be appropriate, otherwise not.

We live in a world where the word 'racist' is now thrown around on the whim of the speaker. Strange as 'races' do not even exist. To maintain that they do is simply to reiterate long disproven junk science.

 

[Atreus21]

The poll question does not match the bolded above. The answer to the bolded above question is yes, but the answer to the poll question is no.

That's fine, just make your response the poll pertinent only to the poll question, and (if you wish) answer the bolded question in your normal comments.

 

[JoeyJoystick]

so, you're not for the 1st amendment then.

so progressive, King George III would be proud of yo,

u.

Hi Dark Wizzard,

I am all for the 1st amendment, but not if it is being used to degrade people. A good thing should not be used to do a bad thing. In this case, what needs to be determined is whether their was racist intend. If that is the case, than the defendant should not be able to hide behind the 1st amendment.

And that does not have anything to do with being progressive. But then again, and I mean no disrespect here, but where I come from we refer to your 'extreme left' as 'center' to 'center right', so it is probably not productive to have this discussion here. Besides, it is not the topic.


Joey.

 

[bomberfox]

Being a klukker automatically makes it impossible for one to do their job in a fair manner.

 

[JoeyJoystick]

In fairness, his location is listed as Thailand. So he probably doesn't care.

Hi Slyfox,

Please enlighten me as to how you came to that conclusion?

Joey

 

[JoeyJoystick]

he could be an american citizen. you never know these days, with all the travelling and foreign work and all

Hi DarkWizzard,

Exactly my point. I am Dutch though. But there are a lot of Americans living in my village here.

Joey

 

[ttwtt78640]

Of course. Losing his job seems like a no-brainer. But jail time? Certainly not. That's power the government should not have.

Hmm… how does one lose their government job without that being a result of government power?

That seems to indicate you think ‘free speech’ should have consequences from the (powerful) government, but short of being jailed.

 

[ttwtt78640]

That's fine, just make your response the poll pertinent only to the poll question, and (if you wish) answer the bolded question in your normal comments.

I have done both.

 

[JoeyJoystick]

Possibly, but the wording of his post does appear to be consistent with a non-American.

Hi Slyfox,

Yep, not trying to hide my identity, but that is not good enough.

Do you think that just because I am not American that I do not care about the constitution of the most prolific country in the world? That's a little naïve now, don't you think?

Joey

 

[AGENT J]

Ex-police officer jailed for 20 weeks over racist WhatsApp messages

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared ‘grossly offensive’ material in group chat

www.theguardian.com

"A former police constable has been jailed for 20 weeks after sending a string of racist WhatsApp memes, including images that mocked the death of George Floyd.

James Watts was serving with West Mercia police in 2020 when he shared the “grossly offensive” material in a group chat, which included former colleagues at a Warwickshire prison.

After a police inquiry, the 31-year-old was found to have posted 10 offensive memes in May and June 2020, including one featuring a white dog wearing Ku Klux Klan clothing and another showing a kneeling mat with Floyd’s face printed on it."

If this were in the US, presumably this would be protected speech under the first amendment. Should it be?

whats a racist message? who decides?
raist "ALONE" no threats or planning violence?

the answer is absolutely not
that being said there always could be other repercussions, lost of employment, friends etc

in some circumstances, I think some jobs should have conduct clauses (detailed and specific) and it should be certain that you lose your job (yes this already exists but I'm saying I support it and it should be more common)

 

[Atreus21]

Hmm… how does one lose their government job without that being a result of government power?

That seems to indicate you think ‘free speech’ should have consequences from the (powerful) government, but short of being jailed.

I'd say losing a job is not a criminal penalty like jail time is, even if your employer is the government.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I'd say losing a job is not a criminal penalty like jail time is, even if your employer is the government.

I agree, but it is still government power being exercised in response to (protected?) speech alone.