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Surely however, democratic society has its foundation in these things. Without freedom of speech, we don't a free formation of ideas in society, so there can b

Surely however, democratic society has its foundation in these things. Without freedom of speech, we don't a free formation of ideas in society, so there can be no legitimate elections. Without freedom to protest and to have political gatherings we don't have freedom to communicate ideas to people who don't see them, and then again, we don't have prerequisites for a functioning democracy I think a) is very dubious-- even things like the 'crying fire in a crowded theater' are associated with suppression of speech that afterwards could be seen to be deeply illegitimate, so even the US assurances concerning free speech are likely to be much too weak. With regard to b) people have despite this been arrested in the context of remarks such as 'fuck imperialism', similarly with regard to c), perfectly nonviolent protesters have been arrested, even charged. d) is not relevant, for the context of at least these arrests and charges has been the proclamation of Charles as King and if the proclamation is mixed with the funeral, such an mixing of the ceremonies is outside of the control of those who wish to protest the proclamation.

petesergeant 4y ago
You are now changing your argument from "Britain may in fact be the most backwards country, socially" to "Britain doesn't have a functioning democracy". Every country on earth has forms of expression that aren't protected. I'm sorry you don't like that, but it doesn't make it any less true. People have not been arrested because they said "fuck imperialism". Here, I'll say it now. Fuck Imperialism! There is zero chance I will get in any legal issue in the UK for this, and I also believe that you know this full well. Once more with feeling, fuck imperialism! In the UK, as in almost every country, violence isn't the sole determinant of whether or not a protest is legal. In the US for example, the degree to which you obstruct traffic is important to the legality of your protest.
- impossiblefork 4y ago
  To, me democracy is something social and at the core of the social functioning of a country. However, these things are prerequisites for democracy, they are not democracy itself and are much more connected to social progress than democracy itself. That some countries go further than the UK does not change how to view what has been aid. People have been arrested because of a placard where the offensive element was the word 'fuck' in the sentence 'Fuck imperialism' near an event relating to the proclamation of Charles as King. It has been a major story and has been decried as illegitimate by the British press. Indeed, there is a case of a lawyer being threatened with arrest after expressing the intent to write 'Not my King' on it (https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/13/man-threatened-with-arrest-if-he-wrote-not-my-king-on-blank-sign-17362896/ https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/13/man-threatened-with-arrest-if...). Your last remark is not relevant, because such things have not been alleged in any of these cases.

petesergeant 4y ago

You are now changing your argument from "Britain may in fact be the most backwards country, socially" to "Britain doesn't have a functioning democracy". Every country on earth has forms of expression that aren't protected. I'm sorry you don't like that, but it doesn't make it any less true. People have not been arrested because they said "fuck imperialism". Here, I'll say it now. Fuck Imperialism! There is zero chance I will get in any legal issue in the UK for this, and I also believe that you know this full well. Once more with feeling, fuck imperialism! In the UK, as in almost every country, violence isn't the sole determinant of whether or not a protest is legal. In the US for example, the degree to which you obstruct traffic is important to the legality of your protest.

impossiblefork 4y ago
To, me democracy is something social and at the core of the social functioning of a country. However, these things are prerequisites for democracy, they are not democracy itself and are much more connected to social progress than democracy itself. That some countries go further than the UK does not change how to view what has been aid. People have been arrested because of a placard where the offensive element was the word 'fuck' in the sentence 'Fuck imperialism' near an event relating to the proclamation of Charles as King. It has been a major story and has been decried as illegitimate by the British press. Indeed, there is a case of a lawyer being threatened with arrest after expressing the intent to write 'Not my King' on it (https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/13/man-threatened-with-arrest-if-he-wrote-not-my-king-on-blank-sign-17362896/ https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/13/man-threatened-with-arrest-if...). Your last remark is not relevant, because such things have not been alleged in any of these cases.