S.O.P.H.I.E

[emilystrange]

good work by The Sophie Lancaster Foundation. hate crimes against subcultures now to be recorded as such, at least in greater manchester.

[splintered thing]

Wonderful. Great cause I think many of us can relate to. (top)hats off to them!

[markfiend]

I wish there was a way to pull the posts from here onwards into this thread...

[Norman Hunter]

Have worn my S.O.P.H.I.E. wristband non-stop for years, now.

When Jnr had a homework topic on bullying, we wrote about the SLF and got three stamps!

[emilystrange]

ffs. in supporting this elsewhere, i am told that all assaults are hate crimes and that no victim should be prioritised.
i don't recall ever saying that they should...
and no, not all assaults are fuelled by hate. which is not something people are prepared to believe.

[emilystrange]

oh, and now the issue seems to be in sentencing. apparently it's not right to include extra factors such as race/religion/sexuality motivation when sentencing for crimes committed on those bases.

[markfiend]

No you are right. (IMO at least.)

It's not a case of some victims being "prioritised" it's recognising that some victims have in the past been deprioritised and that this needs to change.

[emilystrange]

i know. i'm just very annoyed with people.

[markfiend]

Don't blame you.

[timsinister]

It's a start, certainly, but as Miss Ems has observed dialogue must occur to decide how we define discrimination, how we charge it and how we punish it.

This is just the first step. Let's see what happens next.

[ribbons69]

If anyone is feeling too calm this evening,feel free to listen to this afternoons Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 via the BBC Iplayer. I guarantee you won't be calm for long. The representative from Greater Manchester Police was brilliant ,and his points came across well,but the phone in degenerated into the classic middle england ignorance and stupidity.The presenter himself said "Why should we care about hate crime aginst Punks when their very image is one of violence etc" However,the point at which I had to leave the radio and walk away for fear of my apoplexy causing me to lose my job was when concerned of Surrey called in and wanted anyone that criticised or made disparaging remarks about the Queen to be arrested for hate crimes "because she works so hard and does so much for the country"

[Pista]

There are times when it's actually a blessing not to have the iplayer in Hungary.

[6FeetOver]

Thanks for posting this, Ems dear. When I'm employed again, I'll be availing myself of some of the merch. The insanity needs to stop.

[NickW]

See Richard Littlejohn has really lowered himself even by his abysmal standards on this subject

[Memnarch]

See Richard Littlejohn has really lowered himself even by his abysmal standards on this subject

Yep. Absolute scumbag.

[emilystrange]

has someone got a screencap of it? i'm not going to the site to read it.

[markfiend]

Come the revolution, Richard Littledick will be the first against the wall.

[NickW]

has someone got a screencap of it? i'm not going to the site to read it.

Alas no and the recent i didn't post a link to the article was to prevent the worse paper in Britain appearing popular

[Pista]

has someone got a screencap of it? i'm not going to the site to read it.

Rather than soil my photobucket gallery, here is the text

And now it's a crime to hate the Sex Pistols
By RICHARD LITTLEJOHN
PUBLISHED: 22:40 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 00:24 GMT, 5 April 2013
Comments (380)
Share

Greater Manchester Police have revised their definition of what constitutes a ‘hate crime’ to include violent incidents involving punk rockers and heavy metal fans.
Not before time, you might think. Round up the lot of them and throw away the key. Or, as my Geordie mate Black Mike always jokes when he spots a Sid Vicious lookalike gobbing his way down the High Street: ‘Gi’ us a stick and I’ll kill it.’
But that isn’t what the bold Plod have got in mind. The new rules aren’t designed to protect society from gangs of punks and heavy metal headbangers.
They’ve been drawn up to protect them from the rest of society.

New rules: Greater Manchester Police have now revised their definition of what constitutes a 'hate crime' to protect punk rockers and heavy metal fans from the rest of society
GMP is becoming the first force to extend ‘hate crime’ status to those with ‘alternative sub-culture identity’. In future, these groups will be granted the same special treatment as racial, religious, gender identity, disabled and sexual minorities.
The police are also pressing for a change in the law which would mean anyone accused of violence or abuse towards one of these ‘vulnerable minorities’ would receive a stiffer sentence.
Which in the case of Black Mike could mean five years in The Scrubs if his trademark ‘Gi’ us a stick and I’ll kill it’ crack is ever overhead by a passing off-duty copper or vigilant member of the public.

More...
Police to classify attacks on goths and punks as hate crimes in a bid to recognise 'alternative subcultures' after killing of girl with 20 piercings in her face
Taxpayers are 'funding lifestyles' for jobless layabouts like Mick Philpott, claims George Osborne
Child-killer Mick Philpott received the equivalent of £100,000 salary in benefits and wages which he forced wife and live-in lover to pay into HIS account
The absurd GMP Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said: ‘The launch of this new strand of recordable hate crime is a major breakthrough.
‘We must recognise the impact that alternative sub-culture hate crime has on its victims and the wider community, we can offer better support and risk assess the potential for repeat victimisation.’
Manchester cops are to be given special sensitivity training in handling complaints from punks, ‘metallers’, goths and ‘emos’.

The absurd GMP Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said: 'The launch of this new strand of recordable hate crime is a major breakthrough'
I’ve been trying to imagine the training session at GMP headquarters.
‘Now then, listen up. OK, yesterday we learned about goths. This morning we’re going to talk about dealing with emos.’
‘Emus? Has one escaped from Chester Zoo, guv? Isn’t that a job for the RSPCA?’
‘Not emus, Hollis, emos.’
For the uninitiated, goths look like they’ve just wandered off the set of a Hammer horror movie.
Think Morticia from the Addams Family. Emos look pretty much the same to me, but they’re said to be a lot more sensitive. Emotional, geddit?
I’m assuming most people can spot a punk a mile off. The heavy metal brigade dress like Lemmy from Motorhead; long hair, dirty jeans, scruffy T-shirts and leather jackets.
If you’ve ever been to a heavy metal concert, the audience won’t have struck you as all that ‘vulnerable’. Upset one of them and you’ll probably end up with a motorcycle chain wrapped round your head. And that’s just the women.
According to the latest figures available, in January there were 25,411 crimes reported in Greater Manchester, including 2,500 burglaries, 10,800 incidents of anti-social behaviour and another 2,500 involving violence.
I wonder how many victims of violent crimes were drawn from the goth, punk, heavy metal or emo communities? Precisely. So why this sudden emphasis on members of ‘alternative identity sub-cultures’?
All this was sparked by the tragic death of 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster, who was attacked along with her boyfriend in a park in Bacup, Lancs, by a mob who took exception to her goth clothing and stark make-up.
That was back in 2007. Since then, her courageous mother has been campaigning tirelessly for such senseless attacks on people with ‘alternative lifestyles’ to be treated as ‘hate crime’.

The change was sparked by the tragic death of 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster, who was attacked along with her boyfriend in a park in Bacup, Lancs, by a mob who took exception to her goth clothing and stark make-up
It is perfectly understandable that a grieving mum would want her precious daughter’s memory kept alive. But there is always a danger in changing the law on the basis of a single case, however horrifying.
This is not to belittle the sad loss of Sophie Lancaster — or the sheer barbarity of the attack on her — but the laws to prosecute her killers were already on the statute book.
Are we now saying that attacks on punk rockers, goths and emos are more heinous than, say, a violent mugging of someone who doesn’t belong to a ‘vulnerable minority’. Is one life worth less than another?

'Hate crime': Are we now saying that attacks on punk rockers, goths and emos are more heinous than, say, a violent mugging of someone who doesn't belong to a 'vulnerable minority'?
Violent attacks on anyone because of their skin colour, religion or sexual proclivity are repellent.
Those responsible deserve exemplary punishments. The motivation behind the crime is something a court can take into account when passing sentence.
But once you start giving preferential treatment to people on the basis of their dress sense or musical tastes, how many other ‘alternative sub-culture identities’ will this be extended to include — mods, teddy boys, New Romantics, skinheads? That’s the problem when you single out any individual group under the law. There’s no limit.
To be honest, I’ve always been uncomfortable with the idea of a ‘hate crime’ statute. How do you decide what is a ‘hate crime’ and what isn’t?
More to the point, who decides what is a ‘hate crime’?
Increasingly, the definition is being expanded to include ‘hate speech’, which the Left pretend covers any criticism — however legitimate and justified — of the behaviour of one of their favoured client groups.
The truth is that most ‘hate speech’ comes from the Left these days, as they seek to demonise, prosecute or ruin professionally anyone who challenges their intolerant orthodoxies.
You would expect this new initiative to find favour with the former Met Police chief Ian Blair, who worshipped at the altar of ‘diversity’ and embraced every passing Left-wing political fashion.
Yet, speaking on London’s LBC Radio yesterday, he said trying to equate crimes against punk rockers and heavy metal fans with hatred directed at genuine minority groups was a bridge too far.
And when even Ian Blair says it’s bonkers, trust me. It’s bonkers.

[markfiend]

Horrible bastard

[Pista]

I chose a slightly different arrangement of words that would most likely overload the swear filter on here

[markfiend]

Well I did tone it down...

[EvilBastard]

As regards hate crimes - in the US (at least) a hate crime need not involve physical violence. Per Wiki, hate speech is "any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group."

Does this mean that 's comment that the severed heads of the members of a "goth" band might be displayed on spikes outside a venue qualifies as a hate crime, or incitement to same?

It's a serious question - yes, most of us are smart enough to recognise the difference between something said in jest and something meant in earnest, but if he'd said the same about muslims or homosexuals there would have been outrage, and might well have led to prosecution. His antipathy towards goths is well-documented, and could in theory be used to justify legal proceedings at some point.

Are we ready for that? His incarceration could put the release of the new album on even more indefinite hold.

[RockNRoll Mercenary]

If we beat that c*nt up would it count as a hate crime?

[emilystrange]

i feel a bit sick now.