Granny bashing?

Pauline Howe (67) looks like any other granny and if she's anything like the grannies in my family I'm sure she spoils her grandchildren rotten and probably detests a "fuss"; unfortunately for this granny her mind has been infected with a meme that causes her to believe hateful nonsense which has no basis in reality, this brain infection is called "Christianity".

Like many of her ilk Pauline has a big problem with Homosexuality, recently, in objecting to a gay pride event in Norwich, she referred to gays as “sodomites” and blamed their “perverted sexual practice” for sexually transmitting diseases as well as the “downfall of every Empire”. Rather than keeping these medieval views to herself Pauline chose to express them in a letter to her council, the council decided to treat them as hate speech and duly sent the rozzers round. In a statement Ms Howe said,

"I’ve never been in any kind of trouble before so I was stunned to have two police officers knocking at my door. Their presence in my home made me feel threatened. It was a very unpleasant experience."

On reflection I'm quite glad that this old lady had an unpleasant experience, perhaps she will be better able in future to appreciate the unecessary offence that her own mumbo-jumbo words cause innocent gay people. However, this case illustrates perfectly why censorial legislation such as blanket "hate speech" laws are inherently stupid and unenforceable. Ms Howe is perfectly entitled to her warped views, she is wrong and stupid but those things are not a crime. Now if she was standing on the pavement as this gay pride march was passing throwing bottles and shouting this nonsense then sure, throw her in the cells for a night but otherwise my own preference is simply to expose her and this way of thinking, mock her and criticise her in ways that are proportional to the humiliation she inflicts onto the targets of her verbal abuse, raise awareness that such superstitious medieval crap is alive and well and residing in the brains of Abrahamic religions followers the world over (not just grannies).

This case has stimulated a predictable response from several Christian groups, who, showing their usual penchant for irony are claiming victimisation and persecution. Here is a statement from the Christian Institute,

"Whether people agree or disagree with Mrs Howe’s views, everyone who cares about freedom should be alarmed at the police action. For democracy to survive people must be free to express their beliefs – yes, even unpopular beliefs – to government bodies without fear of a knock at the door from the police. It’s not a crime to be a Christian, but it increasingly feels like it."

Funny how that "freedom of speech" thing works in some Christian minds isn't it.