Three officers turned up at the home of Sir Benjamin Slade after a member of the public reported that they felt threatened by the image, which appeared in The Telegraph, of him dressed in camouflage and holding a semi-automatic rifle.
So this “member of the public” this tiny minded, terrified of their own shadow, twattish twerp felt “threatened” by this picture? For fuck’s sake, what are we coming to?
This is the resurgence of the Gestapo and the Stasi where people run to the oppressive state over every tiny slight, over every tiny infraction – real or imagined – where we become afraid to be ourselves in case some petty minded informer is waiting to rush off and report us to the police.
No rational, reasonable person could feel threatened by an image of someone holding a gun. Pictures don’t tend to cause physical harm.
I’m not sure what is worse…
The member of the public threatened by the picture…
The police responding to that ‘threat’…
… or the fact that the police have fuck-all better to do than harass the guy for no obvious reason….
A picture could cause harm if it’s put in a heavy glass frame and smashed over the head of the prat who made this complaint.
Stupidest part of all of this is the photo, apart from being the standard out-of-focus crap, is of something like a shetland pony with its head down grazing. It isn’t a bloody cat at all, fer goodness’ sakes!
“This is the resurgence of the Gestapo and the Stasi where people run to the oppressive state over every tiny slight, over every tiny infraction – real or imagined”
Agreed. In The Nazis:A Warning From History the myth of the Gestapo officer on every corner was debunked. Whole swathes of Germany had a literal handful of Gestapo, most of whose time was spent sifting letters from the public shopping neighbours. In one case they examined a woman was dragged off to a concentration camp after being informed on for merely being a lesbian and having arty friends.
Sadly, I’m sure that too many British people would have behaved just as badly in similar circumstances.