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Thoughtcrime

  • 22-08-2014 6:30pm
    #1
    wendell borton
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,336 ✭✭✭


    I find it a bit unsettling that former Cardiff city manager Malkay Mackay is being hauled over the coals because of comments he made in private that police came across in the course of a totally unrelated investigation.

    The comments were undoubtedly in bad taste, but the context surely has to be taken into account.
    A thoughtcrime is an occurrence or instance of controversial or socially unacceptable thoughts. The term is also used to describe some theological concepts such as disbelief or idolatry,[1] or a rejection of strong social or philosophical principles.[2]
    The term was popularized in the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, wherein thoughtcrime is the criminal act of holding unspoken beliefs or doubts that oppose or question the ruling party. In the book, the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects. To entertain unacceptable thought is known as crimethink in Newspeak, the ideologically purified dialect of the party.[3]


Comments

  • #2
    kneemos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,661 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    What he say?


  • #3
    Tail Docker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,954 ✭✭✭Tail Docker


    kneemos wrote: »
    What he say?

    Nothing. He just thought it.


  • #4
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,235 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    Tail Docker wrote: »
    Nothing. He just thought it.

    Oh Shiite, I'm just after thinking the same thing. Someone call the thought police.


  • #5
    P_1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,681 ✭✭✭✭P_1


    It's a tough one to be honest. Yes what he said was pretty damn awful but they were in what he thought of as a series of private text messages.

    Fair enough if somebody says something racist/sexist/homophobic in public but is it correct to haul them over the coals if they say it in private?


  • #6
    Banjo String
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,380 ✭✭✭✭Banjo String


    Tail Docker wrote: »
    Nothing. He just thought it.
    Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »
    Oh Shiite, I'm just after thinking the same thing. Someone call the thought police.

    He's bolloxed.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-B5vCLAoqw


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  • #7
    super_furry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,351 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    The comments were made during work time to a colleague using work equipment. If he texted his mate down the pub it wouldn't be an issue but he was at his place of employment using his employer's computers to send these messages to a fellow colleague.


  • #8
    NomadicGray
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,433 ✭✭✭NomadicGray


    kneemos wrote: »
    What he say?

    Traded racist, sexist & homophobic text messages with his work mate


  • #9
    Karl Stein
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,689 ✭✭✭Karl Stein


    So it wasn't thoughts it was behaviour.


  • #10
    hatrickpatrick
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,798 ✭✭✭✭hatrickpatrick


    F*ck that. Freedom of speech should be respected. If I ever found myself the "victim" of private messages between others and it went to HR or whatever I'd refuse to have anything to do with it. I do not have the right not to be offended, and I find the creation of such a ridiculous concept to be one of the biggest threats to freedom today.


  • #11
    whirlpool
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,574 ✭✭✭whirlpool


    Threads where you have to Google what they're even about.... http://insideiim.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Thumbs_down_smiley2.png


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  • #12
    thelad95
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,812 ✭✭✭thelad95


    I had an incident back when I was in 1st year of secondary school when I wrote on my Bebo page that my school was a sh*thole. My principal stumbled across this (no idea how) and I got a week's detention and was threatened with expulsion (although looking back he was probably bluffing). Since then I never say anything bitchy or f*cked up either on texting or Facebook. Nothing's private anymore.

    The moral of the story is to be careful of anything you put down in text.


  • #13
    Bipolar Joe
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,443 ✭✭✭Bipolar Joe


    hatrickpatrick wrote: »
    F*ck that. Freedom of speech should be respected. If I ever found myself the "victim" of private messages between others and it went to HR or whatever I'd refuse to have anything to do with it. I do not have the right not to be offended, and I find the creation of such a ridiculous concept to be one of the biggest threats to freedom today.

    You can be offended, that's a natural reaction and it's fine, but you can still respect the concept of freedom of speech.


  • #14
    hatrickpatrick
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,798 ✭✭✭✭hatrickpatrick


    Bipolar Joe wrote: »
    You can be offended, that's a natural reaction and it's fine, but you can still respect the concept of freedom of speech.

    Sorry if I wasn't clear, by the alleged "right not to be offended" I was referring to the idea that somebody who is offended has the right to have the "offensive" content deleted / banned / censored / blocked and the "offender" punished in some way. I find it insidious. My feelings don't trump your rights, as harsh as that sounds. If you write something which pisses me off, I shouldn't have the right to take legal action over it unless you're libelling me.

    Stuff like high profile people abroad having to apologize for Irish jokes, for instance... It makes me cringe.


  • #15
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,795 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    So the same standards should apply if the politic winds change and people can be fired for progressive sentiments?
    There are numerous examples in the US of people being fired for not toeing the PC mindset version of tolerance and fired. So it is a case being free to express whatever you wish so long is it part of the PC tenants.


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