Hate crime cartoon or hate speech cartoon.
In the UK there is a law protecting five groups of people, such as ethnic minorities or gay people, from crimes that may be linked to hatred of their group. The government is thinking of extending the definition to include more groups, such as women and old people.
The concept of hate crimes sounds a bit Orwellian to me, but if there is such a law I don’t see why it can’t just include everyone.
There’s also an argument that the entire hate crime rationale is flawed (other than by its Orwellian overtones) and that no-one should be protected in this specific way – is beating up a gay man because he’s gay a worse crime than beating up a straight man because of his accent (which nearly happened to me once)? Now you’ve got to guess what sort of accent I’ve got without seeming prejudiced.
Drawn: 23rd September 2020
Cartoon reference number: a846
