The power of platforms

The commotion over Allison Pearson’s non-hate crime investigation by Essex Police for a deleted tweet highlights the unequal power enjoyed by those with a public platform. In her critique of police time wasted on a thought crime instead of real crime echoes identical objections by drivers who fall prey to the extortion racket otherwise known as “speeding”. You are driving in perfect safety but are zapped by a hidden copper wielding a concealed radar gun. Don’t the Police have more important things to do? we cry, slapped with points and fines for the non-crime of contravening an arbitrary limit that has nothing to do with context. While Pearson gets five-star, expenses-paid legal representation – resulting in a Police retraction, case dismissal and a change in the law – Jill and Joe Bloggs suffer abuse at the hands of a system that ignores their silenced screams. Yes, even Courts forbid any challenge to statutory law. While the powerful overturn vexatious law, the masses must submit to it.