For tweeting no. For making vile racist comments over the medium of twitter yes. There is a difference.

Well, that's the thing: even in the US, as bad as it has become, saying vile racist comments on the internet wouldn't get you put in jail.

Is the guy a scumbag? Obviously. Should people go to jail for speaking their mind? That's probably where we diverge and think each other are crazy, but the key is: if you can be put in jail for, say, racism then a corrupt government need only make disagreement be framed as racist, for example. It's safer to just allow anyone to say what they want (with obvious exceptions like yelling "FIRE!") and point out why their argument is stupid.

Might have been referring to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-1173678...

For some balance, the USA didn't let someone into the country because of their tweets: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093796/Emily-Buntin...

Do you realize that this comment is misleading? People make this sort of argument all the time, and I think it's one of the reasons that we waste so much time on irrelevant points. It's basically a game that people play.

Has anyone given it a name? It would be nice to call people out on this.