Man has been arrested for posting an image of a burning poppy!

The Poppy represents fallen soldiers who died in both world wars (and all conflicts since), so that you can come on ATS and say what you want when you want and in the language you want...


Peace

Rock Ape

the man's been arrested for posting a picture of a burning poppy on a social media site. NOT for actually burning the poppy.

utterly ridiculous. far too much PC rubbish is going on in this world. whether they burn a poppy, bible, quran, or a log is not something to be arrested for. and CERTAINLY not for posting a picture of it.

our once great island is proving, yet again, that we are run by a bunch of morons.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


I definitely have to agree with you on that last bit.

been thinking about this..........it's not the poppy that should be the issue, it's freedom of expression.

Should we all stop posting and expressing our opinions incase we offend someone or some group?
Why should we all conform to the one way of thinking?I

f I disagree with something, I'm gonna say it, whether it be on fb or to my friends in the bar, what if someone overhears me and is offended? Is that gonna be an offence?

I see plenty of posts of poppys in fb........now what it that was offensive too? Where does it end?

Poppies do not represent anything anymore. Anything they stood for has been lost, much like valentines day in the UK, a very relevant example with a similar outcome. Poppies have been commercialized into a chance for a quick yearly profit, abused by mega-chains and celebrities.

What is wrong with burning them, and how is anything wrong with a picture of them being burnt?
They do not represent anything anymore.

An in-animate object that does not represent it's original meaning cannot take offence to someone when destroyed (unless these people are stupid, and still believe that their "donations" actually go to war veterans and not company profits....).

As is the argument that poppies can represent freedom brought to us by soldiers who lost their lives by fighting for freedom in the UK. What freedom is left in this country when you can be arrested for posting a picture.

One more example why you should not use Facebook at all. It's a voluntary privacy exposing network to weed out people who question society without actually having to spy on them.

reply to post by charles1952

......I'm from the US and we have all that First Amendment, free speech, business. But I understand England doesn't.

We don't have a Constitution as such but we do have a set of laws that guarantee freedom of speech etc - it's a concept that far outdates the USA and the USA is not unique in supporting those values.

England has,

It's the UK and not just England.

I think, decided that offending people is criminal.

Lol, no it hasn't.
It has criminalised hate speech.

.....certainly anti-English insults should be punished as severly as anti-Muslim insults.

As distatasteful as it may be at times insulting someone should never be a crime - I can understand why people think spreading hate should.

reply to post by celticniall


Unfortunately this is the world the politicians and lawyers have created for us...

We're a world of cry babies in a nanny culture. We've had all power taken away and screaming at each other is the only way we think we can get a little attention.

There is no freedom of speech anymore, sad to say.



Rock Ape

This is so Orwellian.

So what if the guy burns a poppy let him get on with it. It has now become a crime to offend somebody on the net .

Bankers get away with mass fraud with no arrests and one guy burns a poppy and there is outrage, come on sheep wake up all this Bull Sh*t just diverts the masses from the real problems at hand IE our corrupt government.

Originally posted by Freeborn

I wonder if there has been an attempt to provide a bit of balance here - there has been much criticism recently of the inequality of sentences recently handed out to - two men received a 12month prison sentence for spray painting a poppy on a Mosque wall, a Muslim was handed a £50 fine for spray painting "islam will dominate osama is coming" on a War Memorial.

You're probably aware of Cameron's vote-grabbing scheme in 2014, now he's run out of Olympic Games and Royal Weddings, and a Falklands style popularity bounce back looks unlikely. Basically, he wants a year long version of Remembrance Sunday.

I can't think of a better way to stoke-up prejudices on both sides and ramp-up the amount of similar incidences.

The fact that this is an issue is disgusting.

Sensitivity and all that, ugh.

Originally posted by LightWarrior11
The fact that this is an issue is disgusting.

Sensitivity and all that, ugh.

Exactly it means the police have absolutely nothing better to do. Surely there must be some crime in their area that needs some police attention?

reply to post by Freeborn

Dear Freeborn,

Thanks very much for the corrections and clarifications. Much appreciated. It's how I learn.

With respect,
Charles1952

Poppy burner gets arrested and yet Tony Blair, the megalomaniac war criminal whose kowtowing to the USA lead to the deaths of 1000s, walks around earning more money in a day than some Britons earn in a life time.

He should of burnt a daisy and projected glory for the war dead onto that,couldnt be arrested then,seriously doh,its only a plastic flower and the police are wrong to arrest him in fact they may be acting illegally.

meh ..

Sky news...

I've heard it's not the most reliable .. take it with a grain of salt..

lets not be tagged as sheeple....people..

reply to post by Merriman Weir


I agree

How dare the war criminal Blair stand there when he should be on trail for crimes against humanity ! The UK is a disgrace

I dont know why these things are even news worthy. So he posts a burnt poppy on the internet...and if he didnt get arrested we would never have known about it unless we were hard core tweeters.

Two things ive learned that i think relevant to this subject:

1: You will never out crazy the internet. No matter what there will always be someone more insane than you on the interwebs. FACT.

2: This one is (perhaps) more pertaining to human nature than mental health. Say you take a group of toddlers and observe them during the course of a day. During that time they will poop. Sure enough in that group there will be one toddler, at least, who tries to eat it. Like my cousin did.

Well, if that is all the toddler did we would say something to the effect "thats just how he is wired" or "thats just what his head said, we cant explain it". As long as he dont throw it around it's not really a problem for others.

reply to post by Merriman Weir


Who knows what stage managed event will be used to bolster Conservative support prior to the next election, (not that they are in any way unique in using such tactics, history shows that most encumbent governments do so), but I suspect there is definately more than an element of truth in your assessment of Cameron's intended programme of memorial services in 2014.

It somewhat disgusts me that people of all political / religious persuassions seek to make capital out of something that should be very much apolitical.

Remembrance Day events are about honouring and respecting the people involved and the sacrifices they made.
Remembrance Day was originally observed on 11/11 to honour the fallen, on both sides, and to recognise the END of war and most definately not to celebrate or glorify war - something many no longer recognise or understand.

I wear my poppy with pride to show my immense respect for our Armed Services and for the values they believe they serve(d).

And part of those values are freedom of thought and speech and as distasteful that I find the actions and beliefs of those who burn poppies etc I support their right to do so.
I suspect that those who do so would gain more sympathy if they expressed their dislike of the UK's foreign policy etc in a different and less disrespectful manner, all they are succeeding in doing is heightening passions against themselves.

reply to post by charles1952

There must be something more? Was there some text accompanying the picture, or something? Some threats?

If he's arrested for just posting a picture of this, then I despair. I really, really do.

He's a dickhead for doing it and it only shows his ignorance, but they can't arrest him for just this?

Can they?