Meet the British comedian arrested for tweeting “Punch him in the balls”
This week, five heavily armed police officers apprehended and arrested a suspect at London's Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. Many might even assume that the use of such force — five armed officers for just one suspect — in a city that is drowning beneath endless waves of violent crime that routinely go unpunished (and even un-investigated) would indicate that the revolting criminal they arrested was, as Donald Trump would put it, a seriously bad hombre.
Except ... they arrested a 57-year-old comedy writer for the unforgivable crime of making anti-transgender posts on social media.
Graham Linehan, the comedian and writer of British comedy shows "Father Ted" and "The IT Crowd," was arrested after flying back from Arizona, according to the Metropolitan police, on suspicion of inciting violence "in relation to posts on X."
These posts? "If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and, if all else fails, punch him in the balls," on April 20; "A photo you can smell" on April 19, referencing a transgender rally, followed up by: "I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F—- em."
First off, let's look at this from the perspective of freedom of speech — you know, the thing every Western country except for the United States pretends to give a damn about while falling over themselves to reenact George Orwell's "1984." Even if one were to ignore that Linehan is a comedian — which legally and ethically provides speech with even more wiggle room — his speech only constitutes incitement for those whose IQ is somewhere in the double digits.
The fact that his posts were hilarious only helps his case.
But let's look at this on a deeper level: an attitude of two-tier policing. This is the same United Kingdom — historically responsible for the spread and protection of the principles of Western civilization that includes freedom of expression — that routinely arrests white people for online thoughtcrimes while ignoring, for example, Muslim grooming gangs, urban knife crime or Islamic Jihadism.
Funnily enough, "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," "free Palestine by any means necessary," and "death to the IDF" don't count as incitement of violence. I wonder why?
Perhaps Prime Minister Keir Starmer's different attitudes toward the English flag and the Palestinian flag are a clue?
As not-so-Great Britain continues to voluntarily circle the drain of its own self-destruction, we must remain grateful for the infinitely wise Founding Fathers who understood the sheer importance of freedom of expression, guaranteed by the First Amendment. But we must also understand that we are surrounded by many of the same people who have hijacked Western civilization in Europe from within and who would like nothing better than to tear up the First Amendment in their pursuit of power.
Because the First Amendment exists to protect so much more than anti-transgender jokes. It exists to protect the freedom of thought that is necessary to defend ourselves against tyranny: the kind of tyranny that is slowly taking over former bastions of freedom like the United Kingdom.
So my suggestion to Graham Linehan? Come back to the United States. The water's great, and the freedom isn't too shabby either.