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Comment by space_fountain | Hacker News Reader

Article for those who might be interest: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/20/man-admits-p....

A 10 week jail sentence for a racist video making fun of a terrible tragedy doesn't bother me as much as locking up political opponents

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Ok, I read the article. The defendant did not share the video publicly, he shared it with two whatsapp groups. He was also not the one to make the racist comment in the video. Was his video offensive? Sure. But being offensive should never be a crime.

But the thing we're comparing to is literally advocating for women to be allowed to drive. I categorically reject the notion that we have to ignore the content of the messages when comparing the cases. The slap on the wrist for making fun of victims is bad, but isn't comparable and any reader should know both that it was just a slap on the wrist and that it was for something that almost everyone would agree was wrong.

edit: also the article doesn't mention how large the groups were. There's every possibility one was quite large because you know it went viral

On what planet is 10 weeks imprisonment a slap on the wrist? Both of the rulings we’re comparing are utterly insane but I certainly agree that the Saudi one is far more insane.

In my opinion the size of the groups doesn’t matter when it comes to whether or not it should be a crime. Though I understand it may be a relevant factor as far as the law is concerned.

Does it bother you it was the ONLY jail sentence associated with this enormous disaster? You can kill 70 people, just dont say bad things about them, mkay?

A 10 week jail sentence for a racist video making fun of a terrible tragedy bothers me a whole lot.

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