Poll: Victoria police given permission to fine swearing

[InfiniteSingularity]

New laws are giving Victorian police in Australia to give people $240 on the spot for swearing. What do you think of this?

Personally I think it's a violation of free speech - we should be allowed to say what we want to say. There are laws prohibiting offensive language, but I don't think swearing is offensive. It's not directed at a particular ethnic or religious or any division of humanity, it is only universally offensive. I personally think that if people find something offensive, like swearing, it's their own business, and the law shouldn't intervene.

"Swearing is bad" is an opinion. And I know this is true because I disagree with it; hence, it is an opinion and not fact. You cannot make and enforce a law which is based on an OPINION - that is bias. That is unbalanced, and that is unjust.

 

[Kair]

New laws are giving Victorian police in Australia to give people $240 on the spot for swearing. What do you think of this?

Personally I think it's a violation of free speech - we should be allowed to say what we want to say. There are laws prohibiting offensive language, but I don't think swearing is offensive. It's not directed at a particular ethnic or religious or any division of humanity, it is only universally offensive. I personally think that if people find something offensive, like swearing, it's their own business, and the law shouldn't intervene.

"Swearing is bad" is an opinion. And I know this is true because I disagree with it; hence, it is an opinion and not fact. You cannot make and enforce a law which is based on an OPINION - that is bias. That is unbalanced, and that is unjust.

You can make a law based on opinion, but not on taste or bias. An opinion should change with new information, or else it is not an opinion, but a bias.

"Swearing is bad" is a taste.

 

[Nouw]

Wait what? What good will come of this?

Personally I feel it's bullshit, especially since people usually swear when getting arrested.

 

[The_Yeti]

-but I don't think swearing is offensive. It's not directed at a particular ethnic or religious or any division of humanity-

Maybe you've forgotten the literal meaning of most of the curse-words, which are in fact intended primarily to offend a person of specific intellect, personality, race, and even the stately word atheist, which is in itself a religious slander to brand the non-believers.

 

[DoctorPhil]

America. Land of the free. And land of taking your freedom away.

 

[The_Yeti]

America. Land of the free. And land of taking your freedom away.

You do realize he's speaking of Australia eh? lets face it, if that happened in America 99% of politicians and rappers would go bankrupt in 0.5 seconds.

 

[Nouw]

Snip

Fuck means to have sex, shit means crap and ***** means female dog.

Last time I checked anyway...

 

[The_Yeti]

Snip

Fuck means to have sex, shit means crap and ***** means female dog.

Last time I checked anyway...

thats three of very, very many.

 

[Dimitriov]

America. Land of the free. And land of taking your freedom away.

And Australia used to be one of the nicest parts of America too...

 

[Nouw]

Snip

Last time I checked, those three curse words are the most-used. Of course variants like '************' and 'bullshit' pop up.

 

[Dimitriov]

Curse you double post!

Also I think that this is a ridiculous law.

 

[The_Yeti]

Snip

Last time I checked, those three curse words are the most-used. Of course variants like '************' and 'bullshit' pop up.

Most used indeed, but still only used when intended to offend, unless someone was raised in a home that was soap-bar-less~

 

[Maetrix]

Personally, I have no problem with this law. It's worked in Whistler, BC and is designed mainly for those too obtuse to develop any social skills. It helps the police cut down on belligerent attitudes and like most fines of these sorts, you usually need to go beyond the call of decency to incur a fine.

Part of living in a society is sharing a common level of decency and I for one don't like, nor appreciate, the downward slide that society has taken over the past few years.

 

[Count Igor]

Snip

Fuck means to have sex, shit means crap and ***** means female dog.

Last time I checked anyway...

The original term of Fuck was to push.
You can see how it changed.. [giggle]

 

[Titan Buttons]

it is offencive but it is part of freedom of speech to express ones opinion even if it is an offence to some

 

[Bobbity]

I posted a thread about this yesterday, but everyone ignored me.

This act gives police powers to combat anti-social behaviour, such as abusive swearing, pissing in public, and doing a whole bunch of anti-social shit. They're not going to reel you in for a couple of swear words under your breathe, although it's left (intentionally) vague as to whether or not this law would apply to casually swearing in public.

Personally, I feel that the government is far overstepping its rights here, and that our premier is trying to turn us into a fucking nanny state. It's not just me who thinks that, either.

 

[Tartarga]

Time for a Footloose parody... call if F**kloose.

 

[New Troll]

This is a great idea, as long as it's for actually swearing and not just saying a bad word. There's a huge difference between someone who's vocabulary consists of a lot of negative words than someone who curses due to an incident of excitement (or pain.) Voted both/neither.

 

[Kevonovitch]

when i first saw victoria i was like "uh...what's goin on?" XD (victoria BC, Canada, is like a 3h trip from where i am ) but yeah, thats a really dumb idea :|

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

The fine is a bit excessive. I would need to see the specific details about what constitutes a "swear" and other parts of the law before deciding.