"Non-crime hate incidents" and UK police's slide into opinion enforcement squads?

[Magical Realist]

e.g. praying in public

Matthew 6:5-7

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward".

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly".

[Syne]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/miRgXBKWTgM

[confused2]

I'm not sure but I think some of our North American friends might be misrepresenting what is covered by "Freedom of speech" in the US. Apparently defamation (what you are claiming is 'free speech') is notoriously difficult to successfully prosecute in the United States because the court system demands that the plaintiff prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused intended to harm her or him. In reality it seems a rich American can call a poor person (say) a pedophile with impunity but it would be very unwise for for a poor person to do likewise to a rich American.

[Syne]

In the US, defamation is only difficult to prove against someone who is a public figure, because public figures are widely open to public opinions and criticism. Basically it's the opposite of a rich person being able to freely defame a poor person. The poor person can defame a rich public figure pretty freely, but the influence and reach of a public figure defaming a poor person would be fairly easy to prove as damaging. And most states have some form of defamation per se, where the damage of certain types of false statements are presumed without any proof required at all.

But what's happening in the UK isn't about defamation at all, as defamation targets an individual. What's happening in the UK is just plain ol' censorship... you know, like fascists are wont to do.