Tweets towards Olympic swimmer end in arrest

OMG what a nanny state. Glad I don't live there. I'd be doing 25 to life for rude tweets.
 
Twitter seems to be the home of racist comments.

People should think before sharing their racist or controversial comments.

If they did, they would not be in such a situation.
 
Some of us get harassed here on this forum, but we don't run off to the SAPS when we read something we don't like. Just tell the poster to f/off and be done with it.
 
chrisc4290 said:
Some of us get harassed here on this forum, but we don't run off to the SAPS when we read something we don't like. Just tell the poster to f/off and be done with it.
Click to expand...

Except he's a known public figure so every threat needs to be taken seriously. They can't afford not to. Well they're not really threats I suppose.
 
Last edited:
He is known I agree (for a 2 week period). While the tweets were "negative", were they sufficiently life-threatening to warrant such attention? I hope we don't become so PC in SA that we fly off the handle when something disagrees with us. You should develop a thick skin and take it on the chin, so to speak.

My friend's 28 year old daughter, a practicing Christian was denied the position of a (honourary) Sunday School teacher in the UK, since when the parish applied to the SAPS for a good conduct report, the SAPS took 4 months to reply (and sent a "no criminal record" report). It was feared, the secretary of the parish said, that the delay in obtaining a good conduct report meant that there might have been circumstances that warranted a revision of the report by the SAPS. When she explained that the SAPS are just plain inefficient, she was asked to leave the church property and not come again. She had been a Sunday School teacher in Cape Town for 12 years. That did not count in the slightest.
 
chrisc4290 said:
My friend's 28 year old daughter, a practicing Christian was denied the position of a (honourary) Sunday School teacher in the UK, since when the parish applied to the SAPS for a good conduct report, the SAPS took 4 months to reply (and sent a "no criminal record" report). It was feared, the secretary of the parish said, that the delay in obtaining a good conduct report meant that there might have been circumstances that warranted a revision of the report by the SAPS. When she explained that the SAPS are just plain inefficient, she was asked to leave the church property and not come again. She had been a Sunday School teacher in Cape Town for 12 years. That did not count in the slightest.
Click to expand...

Do all ex-pats need a good conduct report?!?
 
here is the relevant law. does seem to be quite wide and could cater for the smallest of things

Malicious Communications Act 1988

Offence of sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

(1)Any person who sends to another person—
(a)a [F1letter, electronic communication or article of any description] which conveys—
(i)a message which is indecent or grossly offensive;
(ii)a threat; or
(iii)information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender; or
(b)any [F2article or electronic communication] which is, in whole or part, of an indecent or grossly offensive nature,is guilty of an offence if his purpose, or one of his purposes, in sending it is that it should, so far as falling within paragraph (a) or (b) above, cause distress or anxiety to the recipient or to any other person to whom he intends that it or its contents or nature should be communicated.
Click to expand...
 
Nerfherder said:
The dude was harassing him on Twitter, how the **** does arresting him make it a nanny state ?
Click to expand...

If the guy was making explicit death threats (which they do not mention being the case) then fair enough. Otherwise, there is a reason for the blocking functionality on twitter.

And if he was just being offensive, the comedian Steve Hughes has the right attitude:

So what, be offended, nothing happens. You're an adult grow up, deal with it.

"I was offended."

I don't care.

"I want to live in a democracy but I don't want to ever be offended again."

Well, you're an idiot.
Click to expand...
 
Is it just me or should people just avoid using Twitter in England completely until the Olympics are over?
 
Why not just report the guy to twitter and have them ban him or something? Why get the police involved? It's overkill. But I know some people are overly sensitive about insults that are thrown at their family. If it were face to face, you'd probably have punched that person. Then the police would HAVE to get involved. Why should insulting someone on the internet be any different? Since you can't punch the guy through your PC, you could then just call the police and have them punch him.
 
Fudzy said:
Do all ex-pats need a good conduct report?!?
Click to expand...

Anyone applying for this position, whether native to England or foreign, requires a good conduct report

It got considerably worse for the church after this. They interviewed a woman for the position who told them she was gay. So they turned her down as "unsuitable". She took the Diocese to the industrial tribunal and told them she was being discriminated against because of her sexual persuasion. The tribunal fined the church £500 and told them they must hire her. The bishop got involved and there were letters flying about from the Home Office and the church main office in England. In the end they had to hire a lawyer at considerable expense and have another hearing in front of the tribunal, where it was decided that she might not be suitable after all since she would commit to being a Christian. The secretariat at the church involved all resigned and left it to someone else to sort out. Since June 2011 there has been no Sunday school, whereas prior to this, 120 to 150 children were accommodated. The original secretary had a nervous breakdown after all this, as it seemed she would not or could not make a decision with involving all sorts of ill-informed people. One stupid lady said my friend's daughter was unsuitable since she had blonde hair and this was well known to attract undesirable men.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X