First reported on Nov 6th so prior to the Dublin riots. The government are clearly aware of how these laws are implemented and is following British example.
Here's some comment on it [emphasis added]:
'The conviction was
based on the implication, not the meme’s explicit content.
This ruling by Judge Ikram introduces a troubling standard in legal interpretation. By inferring a grossly offensive meaning from a meme and considering this sufficient for a conviction,
the court has ventured into the realm of punishing perceived implications, a move that blurs the lines between actual speech and inferred meanings.
This latest development, where judges adjudicate on the supposed implications of a message,
escalates the risk of arbitrary judicial decisions. The problem is compounded in the realm of digital communication, where context and tone are crucial and often misunderstood.
The concern is that now,
even private messages can be criminalized based on a judge’s own interpretation and mind-reading, rather than the facts at hand or actual acts carried out.
This precedent sets a dangerous tone for freedom of expression, especially online where satire and irony are common, and messages are often private.'
Former UK Police Officer Convicted for “Implication” in “Offensive” Social Media Message Raises Major Free Speech Concerns - Reclaim the Net
Here's something about a possible biological vector for the diminishment of individual thinking. I don't know about it but the guy appears to be credentialed and is plausible. He's interviewed here by Naomi Wolf. He does drift into considerations of deliberate action on the part of the authorities.
Basically, the argument is that our autobiographical memory is directed from the hippocampus - a region in our brain. In Alzheimers, this region is significantly impaired so damage to it is debilitating.
The hippocampus is an archive of our memory. It is the location of index cells which direct the mind to the stored memories. It updates this index set everyday. It creates new cells to do this and the hippocampus grows throughout our lifetimes. It enables us to learn and constitutes a significant part of our identity.
The spike protein inhibits the growth of new brain cells - as does isolation due to a suppression in growth hormones normally created during social interaction.
This causes the hippocampus to become static. The person is bounded and, while they do not suffer the same symptoms of someone with senility, they have reduced mental scope and function.
As the hippocampus has to write up the day's experience, it is forces to rewrite existing index cells which erases previous autobiographical information. Resulting from this, there is a displacement of personality as the new memories overwrite previous experience.
Nehls maintains that the supply of information is critical here and new information, carefully controlled and charged, is an avenue for hacking a person into something analogous to a programmable unit (along the lines of the trauma bond).
So, narratives become enshrined in personality and criticism of them become, rather than an object of debate, existential attacks on core personality.
We have the numerous examples of
NPC memes (probably
soon to be illegal) - this may give us a scientific explanation of the phenomenon.
Dr Nehls was cut short in this interview as Naomi had what seemed a technological malfunction. He should be given another airing and seems to be on the German speaking internet quite a bit. I'd like to see a more systematic treatment. Could be a book selling ploy but might not be. It's interesting at least.