That’s an extremely un-American take on the subject. You’re just a hop, skip and a jump away from making government criticism in general illegal. Being inside a courtroom is a different matter altogether. At that point there is high-stakes business to conduct and limited time to do it with. If the judge can’t keep things in order, nothing would ever get done.
If you support Italian fascist laws like that, why not have a law making it illegal to be mean to anybody?
@samul What’s the penalty for playing NWA in public?
Let’s imagine Italy somehow produced your version of NWA’s breakthrough album from my awesome 1980’s childhood. A few kids from the roughest parts of Lombardy form a rap group and their breakthrough hit is however you say “Fuck the Police” in Italian. Edit: I googled it.
Fanculo la polizia
Could you play that in public, in the presence of officers? Or would that be Contempt of Cop?
It’s starting to seem as if your government officials are massive pussies who can’t handle someone being mean to them…
Absolutely no to the first, 100% yes to the second.
You wouldn’t be arrested though. Depending on how long the responding officer hasn’t gotten laid for, they would either tell you to shut it off in a very pissed off way, or ask you your documents, threaten you in some mafia like way (I am not making anything up, I’ll post an anedoct in a bit), then leave.
(I was trying to be funny with the first answer, I did understand the spirit of your question haha)
I had no idea Italy was policed by petty tyrants dressed up like dictators who busy themselves by checking random people’s papers until today. I always enjoy learning new things in threads like this.
I am not American, but as far as I know it’s not illegal to insult anybody. I’m fact, it’s a constitutionally protected activity. In order to commit the crime of disorderly conduct, you need to speak “fighting words,” which according to the sources I’ve been able to find, need to produce an effect that’s more than just “annoyment” or “inconvenience.” I imagine threats fall under this category. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve never been to the US and I’d love to get educated on the matter.
Insulting somedoby shouldn’t be a crime if we’re claiming to have freedom of speech. It baffles me that, where I live, this applies to everybody but law enforcement.
Here’s something you can do in America: if someone calls you a racial slur, you can get away with punching them, or worse. You can have issues with freedom of speech in Italy but don’t assume it’s perfect in the USA.
I’m a lot of things. Most Italians don’t know anything about fascism. I had an Italian professor who I would also annoy by wearing black shirts to class.
You may get arrested, but you won’t be charged with anything and likely will be able to sue for false imprisonment. Or you could look at it like the cop probably saved you an ass whooping. Hate speech has to directly incite imminent criminal activity or consist of specific threats of violence targeted against a person or group. Calling someone names doesn’t count.
