28-year-old Markus Meechan needs a hobby, or at least some sort of activity to keep him occupied and away from his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha. With all the spare time he’s got laying around, Markus decided now was as good a time as any to teach Buddha how to do a Nazi salute upon hearing the words “sieg heil,” because if there’s one thing I fantasize about doing in my free time, it’s teaching animals to respond to Nazi lingo.
Ignoring how distasteful that is for a minute, I have to admit it’s sort of funny in that this is just a horribly thought-out prank. Like, in what situation did Markus expect his training to come to fruition? How often is the dog around people who say “sieg heil,” or even the phrase “gas the Jews” (which, according to the video, gets poor little Buddha all hyped up like he thinks he’s going on a walk or something)? And think of how much time he put into training this dog to respond to those commands – a week? Two weeks? That’s 14 days spent for literally zero reward. The whole thing serves no purpose other than as subject matter for a YouTube video, and a reason to arrest Markus on suspicion of a hate crime:
Markus Meechan, 28, spent the night behind bars after police swooped on his home in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and arrested him on suspicion of a hate crime.
He was later released and a report sent to the procurator fiscal in relation to an alleged breach of the electronic communications act of 2003.
…Police said the arrest should be a warning that videos which cause offence will not be tolerated.
Detective Inspector David Cockburn said: ‘This clip was shared online and has been viewed almost one million times.
‘The clip is deeply offensive and no reasonable person can possibly find the content acceptable in today’s society.”
‘This arrest should serve as a warning to anyone posting such material online, or in any other capacity, that such views will not be tolerated.(via)
Markus says that he only taught Buddha Nazi commands to annoy his girlfriend and has since apologized to the Jewish community for any offense he’s caused, even going so far as to make another YouTube video of his apology:
[H/T Metro]