Charlie Hebdo will tomorrow publish three million pictures of the Prophet Mohammed, this time weeping. Whether you consider this unwise, provocative, heroic or moving, there is a clear public desire to see the magazine rally in the face of utter destruction.
In the UK, the phone-hacking scandal instigated a real swing in opinion towards regulation of the press. Cases of police taking bribes from journalists compounded the issue. At the time, as an anonymous police blogger, I no longer felt sure there would be public support for my type of journalism.
Now...
Most of these people probably had no desire to insult people's religions. But they liked to know they could if they wanted to.
... I now feel ashamed to have feared for my job, when others are prepared to risk their lives in the name of freedom of speech.
Like it or not, the right to "bring the police service into disrepute" (not that I would ever do such a thing), is part of a free society. Police chiefs who would discipline or fire officers who speak their minds, should read the words of cartoonist Luz and feel as ashamed as I.
NB
That doesn't mean it's a good idea to use Twitter to verbally abuse the folks you police. That's just rude, and the best satire should always be as polite as possible.
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First?
ReplyDeleteHa Gadget there's not much competition... :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see your blog back in action. These are dark times for policing, and it'd be good to have a vicarious outlet for our concerns.
ReplyDeleteYay! The first game is back.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have you back!
ReplyDeleteI understand where the "disrepute" rule comes from but I can't help feeling it's often misapplied. You and other police bloggers (yes, you Gadget) have been saying for years that the job is important, the people doing it are fantastic, but that you're being crippled by cuts/targets/whatever the hell else is being thrown down from above. That's not bringing the job into disrepute. It's defending it.
Hah!
ReplyDeleteBeen away a while from commenting as the Gov stopped. Good to see still happening and the first game back in play.
Reacher
I stopped blogging too... I had a little sniff off PSD (they couldn't prove 'owt of course) and... I started working part-time as a teacher...
ReplyDeleteYou're right of course, but since your job pays for your mortgage etc...you shouldn't reproach yourself for wanting to keep it...
The Je Suis campaign has a point -as long as people remember that freedom of speech, like all rights, does come with a responsibility...a responsibility not to deliberately wind people up -because they can... anyway- good to see you back...