Joe Rogan was surprised by the number of reports of arrests in the UK for online speech while speaking to a British comedian on Wednesday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“Over the past year, more than 12,000 people have been arrested in the UK over social media posts. If you read some of these social media posts, you will see that they are not scary at all,” Rogan said. He went on to say that these were not calls for violence, but rather statements like, “Immigration comes into this damn country and creates all this crime,” which then resulted in “knocking on the door. ‘You’re going to jail.'”
“I worry that Americans sometimes think we’re angry,” said Rogan’s guest on the episode, Andrew Doyle.
“We do!” Logan replied. “We know now that, yes, we thought you had lost it.”
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Rogan was referring to a report in the UK’s The Times, which said “police are arresting more than 30 people every day for offensive posts on social media and other platforms.” The report added, “Detention data obtained by The Times shows that police arrest around 12,000 people each year under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.”
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Rogan said: “We also believe that your leaders are deliberately trying to destroy your country. They appear to be trying to bring in as many immigrants as possible, pandering to them rather than the British people and doing so publicly so that everyone knows what they are doing and then causing chaos in the streets as a result.”
“Yeah. I mean, people have a phrase, ‘anarchy,’ where, you know, you punish those who don’t break the law, but you protect those who do,” Doyle responded.
Doyle noted that UK laws prohibit “grossly offensive” speech, adding that he in turn found those laws themselves to be grossly offensive.
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The Times reports that law enforcement arrests 12,000 people each year under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.
Rogen scoffed after the comedian mentioned an incident in which a man was arrested for causing “anxiety” over a satirical image he made.
“That’s the problem. You can find anything offensive. If you’re extremely sensitive, you can find anything deeply offensive.”
After noting multiple examples of legislation targeting offensive speech in the UK in recent years, Doyle observed that even the threat of police coming to warn people can have a chilling effect on speech.
“I would say 12,000 arrests a year is worse than people think, it’s terrible. But if you’re not committing a crime and the police are checking you out on a routine basis, that’s even worse, isn’t it?” Doyle asked. He went on to point out that in Scotland, police have a database of offensive jokes and there are bills in place to prosecute people who make comments in their own homes or in pubs.
Doyle marvels at the current state of things in modern times, noting, “You’ve seen viral videos of people having police come knocking on people’s doors and say ‘You said this online.'”
“That’s crazy,” Rogan agreed.
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In a recent incident that attracted international attention, shortly after the riots, the London Underground police chief threatened to extradite and imprison American citizens for making offensive comments about political issues in the UK.
Original source of the article: Joe Rogan says Britain is ‘lost’ as statistics reveal 12,000 people arrested over social media posts
