They reinforced the message earlier today with the following tweet:
I agree - there is indeed a difference between opinion and abuse. It's just a pity that our criminal justice system no longer recognises the crucial distinction between perception and reality. Here's an image taken from the helpful little video (apparently aimed at five-year olds) which accompanied the Met's tweet :
"Perceived" is the crucial word here. Perceived by whom? The police? The courts? Or the alleged victim? Here's the definition of hate crime agreed by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service:
Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.
That's right - the victim gets to decide whether an "incident" has taken place. Which presumably accounts for all that hysterical nonsense about a steep rise in "hate crimes" following the Brexit vote. And it's one of the many reasons why all Mrs. May's tough, no-nonsense talk about the need for "embarrassing conversations" following the horrifying terrorist attacks in Manchester and London amounts to nothing more than meaningless posturing designed to appease the anger of most Britons - including every single traditional Conservative supporter (or "fucking Tory scum" as they're often called on social media, apparently without Mr. Plod feeling the need to get his taser out).
Still, I'm so relieved the Met are putting so much effort into rounding up hate criminals. As I live in London, I'll go on worrying about members of my family being maimed or killed by Islamist terrorists - perhaps by one or more of the 200 jihadists who are apparently living among us having been let back into country despite returning from Syria or Iraq, where they'll no doubt have picked up some really useful pointers while fighting for ISIS. But I'll sleep a lot easier knowing that if anyone calls any of us something hurtful online, the police will come down on the perpetrators like a ton of bricks. (Or maybe not, because we don't tick any of the hate crime victim boxes. We're Christians - but since when did our feelings matter? And Jews don't really seem to count these days - especially if the abuser remembers to use the term "Zionist".)
I'll leave you with some thoughts from Brendan O'Neill, the editor of Spiked, who played an absolute blinder before and after the Brexit vote, and is doing the same in the wake of the latest wave of terrorist attacks:
If anyone fancies a genuinely embarrassing conversation, I suggest they contact Mr. O'Neill.
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