Naked Rambler walks free from prison - and walks away nude

[Bob]

http://news.stv.tv/tayside/111276-na...medium=twitter

[nimrod]

Gough, 53, who completed a 657-day sentence on Monday, revealed that he had spent the vast majority of his time in solitary confinement in maximum security Perth Prison.

Just for being naked, is that justice or an abuse of power?

[Stu2630]

Just for being naked, is that justice or an abuse of power?

I think in his particular case, it was justice.

Mr Gough has distanced himself from naturism and British Naturism has distanced itself from him. Most of the public admiration he won when he first came to notice has long since turned to irritation by his pig-headedness. I would not be in the least surprised if he doesn't find himself in custody again within a very short time.

Stu

[labrat93562]

i hope they finally leave him alone.

[sunnysmile_fl]

Clearly it is an abuse of poweer and alls it's doing is further making Gough more and more resentful for Society and especially more resenful for people whose jobs it is to uphold the Law.

[Bob S.]

The authorities were being preemptive and acting before even a chance for anyone to even see him to file a complaint. That is beyond wrong. It will be so much easier on their part to just let him go. Let him finish the walk and then go home.

Bob S.

[nimrod]

I think in his particular case, it was justice.

It was a rhetorical question. Six years and solitary confinement in a maximum security prison for being nude in public, in what world is that justice?

[Stu2630]

It was a rhetorical question. Six years and solitary confinement in a maximum security prison for being nude in public, in what world is that justice?

You are misrepresenting what has happened. He wasn't caught naked in public and sentenced to six years in solitary confinement. He has been naked in public countless times, in spite of repeated warnings and various ways of keeping him out were considered - but he would not co-operate. He also stripped naked on a plane and he continually committed a contempt of court by refusing to dress before appearing. He WANTED to be locked up as he sees himself as some kind of martyr.

He was not in solitary confinement so far as I am aware, but in a segregated part of the prison away from regular inmates - he would associate with others who, like himself, would be given a tough time if placed among the main prison population. In other words, it was for his own protection.

Look at it another way. Suppose a grafitti artist kept daubing obscene words on a wall close to a primary school and was arrested for a minor charge of damage or defacement. In spite of efforts to get him to stop, he insists he is going to continue and then, when placed in front of a judge, he uses the same profane words to that judge. He is going to go to jail - and to keep going to jail until he stops because, in a democracy where there exists rule of law, the law has to win.

He now has another opportunity to go on his way and make his life - but I suspect he has every intention of blowing that opportunity and getting sent to prison again because he sees that as his mission - to force society to bend to his will - to change its rules to fit in with what he wants them to be and he really couldn't care less if other people want something else. This is staggeringly selfish and egotistical, hence I am content to see him remain in prison until he breathes his last.

Stu

[nudeyooper]

Yes, Stu, he broke the law, was in contempt of court, and has paid dearly for his determination. It is his cause, and it appears he is dedicating his life to that cause. He follows others that have changed history and the way we humans think about and deal with others who are different than we are. I do not necessarily agree with his cause, but would love the freedom to be nude in more places. I do admire his determination to give all that he can give for a cause in which he truly believes. Protesting while nude gets attention that no other protest gets. I know of no cause that I hold dear enough to protest for in that way, are there any that you are that passionate about? Simply put, would you protest nude to change laws that require people to be clothed everywhere they went?

[Stu2630]

Yes, Stu, he broke the law, was in contempt of court, and has paid dearly for his determination. It is his cause, and it appears he is dedicating his life to that cause. He follows others that have changed history and the way we humans think about and deal with others who are different than we are. I do not necessarily agree with his cause, but would love the freedom to be nude in more places.

Of course you would love the opportunity to be nude in more places, that is entirely understandable, but I don't believe you would want to inflict your nudity upon others who you know are likely to find it objectionable.

Mr Gough is repeatedly and persistently breaking the law - he will countenance no compromise - so he gets locked up. That is up to him. But when people here ask me "is that justice?", then I have to respond that yes, it is justice - Mr Gough has chosen to do what he is doing and to pay the price, so his incarceration is his own doing.

I do admire his determination to give all that he can give for a cause in which he truly believes. Protesting while nude gets attention that no other protest gets.

He needs to rethink his cause - it is philosophically unsound. In a civilised society, we are all beholden to behave in ways that are socially acceptable, and that has to mean conforming to some extent and being willing to make compromises. Gough couldn't care less how others feel about his nudity - he is trying to railroad through a change that he wants, but that millions of others don't want. That is profoundly undemocratic.

I know of no cause that I hold dear enough to protest for in that way, are there any that you are that passionate about? Simply put, would you protest nude to change laws that require people to be clothed everywhere they went?

I can't really envisage that, but I would always be willing to discuss, argue and to give and take, but Gough isn't playing that game. He is trying to blackmail the authorities to get the change he wants in a way not dissimilar to the way terrorists operate, only at a lower level. That is reprehensible.

Stu