Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Serious Crime in Britain

A man in England has been jailed for shouting "racist slurs" at Muslims attending a mosque. Obviously this is a much more serious crime than arson, vandalism or sex with underage girls. The judge presiding over the case told the defendant that "racism of any kind will not be tolerated".

What race are Muslims again?

Among the terrible utterances made were the scathing "Go back to where you came from" and the terribly offensive "Proud to be British". No, that really was one of the statements quoted as being one of the racist slurs.

That's about all we hear from the BBC on the matter but the local press covers the case in a bit more detail. It turns out that the chap at the centre of all this, Bryan Cork, was drunk at the time and can remember nothing about the incident. He also stated that he didn't understand why he had done it as he was "friendly with people from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds”
. His crime is "racially aggravated harassment".

The judge said that "when sober Cork was a good man with much to offer the community" but he added “the aspect of racism which is clearly demonstrated here outweighs any personal mitigation which you have.”

Cork will have to serve three months of a six month sentence before being released on licence.

So in modern Britain "racist" speech will get you thrown in the slammer for months at a time but trifling little matters like burglary, arson, vandalism, threatening to kill, actual bodily harm, possession of heroin or cocaine, common assault, or taking a car without the owner's consent (to name but a few) will see you let off with nothing more than a caution.

"Great" Britain?

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