Victoria Police is warning action will be taken against anyone who uses the Nazi salute in public, now that the gesture has become illegal.
So fucking sick of this 'what if you this" "but whatif you that" 'won't someone pleeeeaaase think of the innocents!!' like a nazi salute is easily mistaken for something else.
You mistake is assuming the law is being applied in good faith.
Of course hailing a tram is obviously different than a Nazi salute to anyone.
But the objective is not to detect Nazis , it's to find an excuse to harass and intimidate people.
This is just another tool in their belt.
With a new law, you should always think of how it's going to be like if applied by the most bigoted racist police officer in existence. And what mechanisms you have in place to stop that officer.
We had literal fucking nazis demonstrating and throwing salutes with no way to gut the little cunts for it. It pissed a LOT of people off. There was a whole damned thing about banning iconography and salutes that has been going on for over a year. Which you would know if you were aware of what actually goes on down here.
We want this fucking law because we don't tolerate nazi shits.
The cops can get you for looking funny, they don't need fake hitler salute claims
I also agree that society should tolerate freedom of speech. But when that freedom of speech is being used to weaponize and remove others’ freedom of speech, we should not tolerate that.
Paradox of intolerance is largely irrelevant. Democracies don't collapse because of free speech, they collapse because the public loses faith in them (justified or not).
If you run around making wild statements, the public isn't going to automatically believe you unless it corresponds with some personal experience or observation. This is why libertarian and socialist movements (and Nazi movements) crash and burn in the US. There claims just don't correspond with how people perceive there country.
If you're using the Nazi salute to hail a tram, you're definitely doing it wrong.
First of all, the tram will stop if you're just standing at a stop, so it's unnecessary, and if you insist on hailing, you could do it without stretching your arm all the way.