Between the brazenness of the criminal, the indifference of the police and the utter uselessness of the MPs, I don't think I have enough coins to stuff into the 'Peter Hitchens was right' jar.
A long, long time ago (before I started writing about politics properly) I interviewed PH for a long-dead magazine. I think about it a lot; he was polite to a fault, interesting and interested. He was wasted on me, really.
Maybe I’m a cynic, but I find it hard to believe the MP’s quoted in the piece are more concerned about what “Mizzy” did, but are more keen to force through their agenda on the public. The things this oaf did are already illegal regardless of whether they’re on social media or not. Sadly, I do think you’re right in that it’s far easier to say that than go into why he feels like he needs to do this and why he feels he can get away with it.
Taking on the issues of criminality means addressing much bigger issues than social media hosting it; much, much easier to talk up something you're already got coming down the pipeline (and are massively in favour of).
‘But the problem is not that you can view these videos on Tiktok or Youtube. It is the fact that ‘Mizzy’ is committing crimes. The fact he is producing ‘content’ should be totally irrelevant, both to the law and to lawmakers; laws already exist to prevent this behaviour.’
I’d push back on this a bit - as Charlotte Gill said on Twitter, this scumbag has tens of thousands of followers, and furthermore the incentive when producing such content is clearly towards more and more extreme acts, as this pushes views; she referred to such ppl as ‘crime influencers’, and such people will inspire copycats. I would argue this is an aggravating factor and stamping this out requires he receive additional prison time in recognition of this.
I don't think I disagree with that actually; but I think his platform/standing/influence is a secondary problem. The primary problem is the content of the content itself, and that where the focus of the MPs wasn't. Scully tagged Tiktok, but didn't bother tagging the Met. How does that help those girls?
My thought when someone says, “There ought to be a law against it” is always - what law, how will it work and who will enforce it. Also what are the downsides of the said law? (Yeah I’m a laugh a minute!)
Between the brazenness of the criminal, the indifference of the police and the utter uselessness of the MPs, I don't think I have enough coins to stuff into the 'Peter Hitchens was right' jar.
A long, long time ago (before I started writing about politics properly) I interviewed PH for a long-dead magazine. I think about it a lot; he was polite to a fault, interesting and interested. He was wasted on me, really.
Maybe I’m a cynic, but I find it hard to believe the MP’s quoted in the piece are more concerned about what “Mizzy” did, but are more keen to force through their agenda on the public. The things this oaf did are already illegal regardless of whether they’re on social media or not. Sadly, I do think you’re right in that it’s far easier to say that than go into why he feels like he needs to do this and why he feels he can get away with it.
Taking on the issues of criminality means addressing much bigger issues than social media hosting it; much, much easier to talk up something you're already got coming down the pipeline (and are massively in favour of).
‘But the problem is not that you can view these videos on Tiktok or Youtube. It is the fact that ‘Mizzy’ is committing crimes. The fact he is producing ‘content’ should be totally irrelevant, both to the law and to lawmakers; laws already exist to prevent this behaviour.’
I’d push back on this a bit - as Charlotte Gill said on Twitter, this scumbag has tens of thousands of followers, and furthermore the incentive when producing such content is clearly towards more and more extreme acts, as this pushes views; she referred to such ppl as ‘crime influencers’, and such people will inspire copycats. I would argue this is an aggravating factor and stamping this out requires he receive additional prison time in recognition of this.
I don't think I disagree with that actually; but I think his platform/standing/influence is a secondary problem. The primary problem is the content of the content itself, and that where the focus of the MPs wasn't. Scully tagged Tiktok, but didn't bother tagging the Met. How does that help those girls?
My thought when someone says, “There ought to be a law against it” is always - what law, how will it work and who will enforce it. Also what are the downsides of the said law? (Yeah I’m a laugh a minute!)
I'm exactly the same - always ask who and what!
Great post. Small typo - should be "systematically fail in their duties," not cuties!
thanks - or maybe I'm just really concerned with anime police cuties! UwU!