> Reporting on court proceedings can get you arrested.
No, interfering with trials will get you arrested.
> a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler.
It wasn't the Nazi salutes that caused the trouble, it was broadcasting the repeated use of the phrase "gas the jews".
He tried to use the "it was just a prank bro" defence in court, and they rejected it because i) to show it to his girlfriend he didn't need to put it on youtube, ii) there's no evidence she even saw it and iii) "gas the Jews" isn't funny.
The point is that the US has more freedom. His "it was just a prank bro" defense wouldn't even be needed. Because the US has freedom, people can make videos like that all they want. It doesn't matter if there is a girlfriend to show. It doesn't matter if you happen to think "gas the Jews" is or isn't funny.
Well, you'd best never have a thought that offends anybody ever in your rapidly-changing culture. Someday that could be you going to prison for your 2019-era wrongthink.
He got fined for it. He was stupid - in my eyes, the judgement was stupid too I agree - but that's it. Equating this to some Orwellian novel though confuses me though. That's some Fox News/Daily Mail level of pulling at straws. We're not living in the 1400s where speaking bad of the king could get you locked up or beheaded, or the early 1900s where that kind of joking was not only allowed but encouraged. It's not quite true classical liberalism, but it's also nowhere near Oceania Thought Police. It's certainly much closer to the former than the later.
What I'm struggling to understand is why we're trying to compare fining a person for a joke, versus the systematic imprisonment of four times as many people per capita as that in the UK, and exponentially more if you compare the US to the rest of Europe[1]. 46% of the population is in for non-violent crime. Hell, according to cut50, just under 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars, up 500% in 30 years. [2] More flag waving and anthem chanting doesn't change that, as much as that may upset the patriotic sensibilities of so many.
No, interfering with trials will get you arrested.
> a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler.
It wasn't the Nazi salutes that caused the trouble, it was broadcasting the repeated use of the phrase "gas the jews".
He tried to use the "it was just a prank bro" defence in court, and they rejected it because i) to show it to his girlfriend he didn't need to put it on youtube, ii) there's no evidence she even saw it and iii) "gas the Jews" isn't funny.
Also, you can own a gun legally in the UK.