Jacob Hersant, 25, was sentenced to one month in prison for performing a Nazi salute after lawmakers in the state of Victoria outlawed it.
Summary
Jacob Hersant, a self-described Nazi, was sentenced to one month in prison, becoming the first person in Australia jailed for performing an outlawed Nazi salute.
Convicted in Victoria for making the salute outside a courthouse in October, Hersant’s act followed new legislation banning the gesture.
Magistrate Brett Sonnet justified the sentence, citing Hersant’s intent to promote Nazi ideology publicly.
Hersant’s lawyer argued that his actions were nonviolent and claimed they were protected as political expression, stating plans to appeal the ruling on constitutional grounds.
I don't care that he's a Nazi. I care that what I consider to be his inviolable rights have been violated. His political shit should be as free to express as any other. Imagine it Trump goes and makes it illegal to indicate yourself as a Democrat. Wouldn't be surprised if he did that after seeing your attitude, because I'm sure you're more reasonable than him and doing it anyhow.
Tolerance of intolerance is not a path to freedom. Choosing to do nothing will only mean that rights and freedoms will be destroyed. Call this the lesser of two evils if you must.
If you let intolerance fester, it will grow and take control, then it will start hurting and squeezing others. It'd be foolish to sacrifice freedom in the name of freedom.
Are you worried about being jailed for Nazi views? So you should be, and consider yourself lucky. I'd rather have you jailed for a month to hopefully learn your lesson that we don't take to hatred and violence lightly, than to allow you a platform to gather support so you can hurt and kill millions.
Nobody is hurt by a gesture. Sticks and stones. You want these people hiding themselves? I imagine it's better they stay in the open. I'm sure someone is out there making a list.
We can't use the same tactics that would be used to suppress minorities to go after them because we become them that way.
I have not once heard of legislation here that genuinely violated people's rights other than Victoria's snap lockdown of a group of apartment buildings during COVID, which got the government into a class action lawsuit.
Saying you value free speech, then saying that people who can violate others rights should also have freedom of speech in that regard, seems like you don't know anything about what free speech is all about.
In Australia, and likely in most other countries, rights come with responsibilities. Our freedom of political communication, as outlined in the Victorian Human Rights Charter, doesn’t allow us to infringe on others’ rights to feel safe. Public expressions of neonazism can intimidate and threaten community safety, which limits that freedom. Just as we can’t harass or incite violence, any form of expression that undermines others’ rights to safety is restricted.
I myself also believe freedoms shouldn't be tarnished by outrageous legislation, but I don't believe this is an example of that, as it protects other people's rights more than the ones prosecuted.
Yeah, I get it. You support hate speech and Nazis under the guise of free speech. I wouldn't be surprised if date rape is the only way you will ever get laid.
Yes, people have a right to identify how they like, think what they like, and communicate what they like so long as that communication isn't a threat on another individual or cause a panic.
I'm not a Nazi, but that guy is and you're obviously persecuting him.
And how come one wanting to have a say on their lives is equated with one wanting to have a say on other people's deaths?
Tolerance is about letting other people be and giving them rights, not about letting you decide on other people's being and letting you take their rights.
This is so dead simple existence 101 that one can assume but malice (or an ungodly amount of crayzo ideology) from you.