I much rather this guy...

http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html

Thanks for that Houellebecq.

I have been looking for a new career, and now I am a fully qualified Chiropractor, just like I have always dreamed of being.

That little test on the side bar of the spider story has changed my life.

There are many quite public statements that I find grossly offensive. "All men are Rapists" for instance. Such phrases are not only published but lauded and the holders of such views, far from being prosecuted, get elected to the highest offices in the land.

Getting the police to decend upon some hapless chap for being 'offensive' seems a common female ploy, an example of 'Let's you and him fight'. One never hears of women being prosecuted for being offensive.

It is common to encounter very offensive labelling of ordinary people expressing their quite ordinary opinions as 'racists', 'xenophobes' and worse.

In the modern politically correct world there are few deliberate slurs as foul as being labelled a racist or any form of 'hater' and the accusers know that. Presently, the Prime Minister is being labelled as a 'homophobe' because she does not agree with the Marriage Act being changed for gay marriage. It is a nonsense that Julia Gillard hates homosexuals and it obvious that this terrible slur is intended as a sledge to embarrass her at election time.

Similarly, for men the slur of being a woman and child beater is a shocking thing and it would be the rare man who didn't cringe when accused directly or by association of such crimes, especially those men with families. Yet men are obliged to cope with those insults being directed at them as a gender by a government funded campaign of television advertisements. On OLO, this and other gross insults are regularly used to sledge respondents rather than present countering arguments.

It is true that if we are to support freedom of speech we also have to accept the rough, uncouth language of the poorly educated as we are required to put up with the usually more sly rhetoric, stereotyping and personal attacks of their educated 'betters'.

The 'old duffer' has already been held up for public ridicule, he has been inconvenienced by the police and court appearance and he is out of pocket for legal costs. It is astounding that some think he should have been gaoled and given a criminal record as well for doing what they do themselves, but usually in a more cunning, politically correct way of course.

Dear Amfortas,

You claim that one never hears of women being
prosecuted for being offensive.

I'm not sure about that. However, they've
certainly had their fair share of abuse
and discrimination over many years.
Look at history, starting with the Bible.

http://www.cybercollege.com/antiwoman.htm

"In Exod. we see that it is permissable to
sell one's daughter (but apparently not one's
son) into slavery." Just one example.

Then look at the way the Catholic Church feels about
the ordination of women.

You raised the issue of "All men are rapists,"
I don't know of any woman that thinks that.
However, I do know of what women have to go
through in a court of law trying to prove that
she was raped.

Words do hurt. No matter what anyone says.
And no matter how uneducated or ignorant a
person may be, a repeat offender would be
well aware of the harm that his words were
doing, regardless of how much he tries to pass
them off as acceptable language. He doesn't
live in a vacuum. And at 62 years of age he
doesn't quite qualify as an "Old duffer,"
merely an obstinate and an ignorant one.
Personally, I would have let him off with a
warning as well, but if he persisted in making
a nuisance of himself, I'd fine him.

If I may contribute to this discussion,

I saw an aryan looking figure driving his car yesterday with "Boer" number plates. I was offended and ashamed to think
that my country would allow such promotion of unsavoury racially motivated belief through number plates.

I thought of expressing my dislike as I passed, but then decided against this because of
his right of expression in a free society. ( I also wondered if Vicroads had approved Nazi number plates for anyone. )

Australia, (not unlike Sth Africa) is a country with a deplorable history of racism.
To demonstrate how attitudes have changed in our times,
in my own family older members (being of Aussie outback stock)
would use terms like, "sitting up like Jackie",
a term with a meaning to awful to describe today.

And in my experience language and attitudes go hand in hand, and so therefore
it is very important thing to curtail certain senseless forms of expression.

Gaol is not the solution to everything you disagree with ;
but couldn't we just put this nasty old racist up against a wall
and throw vegies at him for a while perhaps, (joke).

Racist terminology in our modern society is offensive and I thought it was illegal ?
The old fellow seems to have used such offensive terminology.