JK Rowling, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk are fuming over Scotland’s hate crime law. Here’s why.
www.politico.eu
A legal shake-up aimed at protecting minorities angers high-profile opponents on freedom of speech grounds.

It was no April Fool’s joke.

Harry Potter author-turned culture warrior J.K. Rowling kicked off the month with an 11-tweet social media thread in which she argued 10 transgender women were men — and dared Scottish police to arrest her.

Rowling’s intervention came as a controversial new Scottish government law, aimed at protecting minority groups from hate crimes, took effect. And it landed amid a fierce debate over both the legal status of transgender people in Scotland and over what actually constitutes a hate crime.

Already the law has generated far more international buzz than is normal for legislation passed by a small nation’s devolved parliament.

  • DreamlandLividity@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Israely bombs sometimes hit Hamas, not just civilians. Does not make them good. Just like (supposedly) doing a good thing in this one case does not make it a good law.

    And it was confirmed Rowling won’t even be prosecuted. Because of course these kind of laws don’t apply to the rich and famous hatemongers. They apply to the poor schmuck making a bad taste joke.

    • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      They apply to the poor schmuck making a bad taste joke.

      Being trans because you can’t live with the body you were born in is not optional. It’s often the choice between being able to live, or ditching life in that body, though I don’t expect you to know that.

      But unlike being trans, making shitty derogatory jokes about people unlike yourself IS optional, and an overt exercise in personal privilege.

      Right now, trans people are under extreme threat to both peace and life, and it’s just getting worse. I already know you don’t give a shit because your sympathy is clearly with people mocking them, but in truth you’re punching down on people you know nothing about, happy to make mirth out of what is incredibly painful to others, in a way that is clearly beyond your ability to comprehend.

      Instead of requiring that the rest of us excuse your need to mock others you think can’t hit back, maybe examine your own life choices – with the specific goal of understanding what the fuck is so malfunctioning in YOU that you need to punch down on entire groups of humans.

      I suggest this because the only difference between a trans person and a cis/het like myself is that often their difference is physically visible, while yours only comes into view when making shitty anti-trans cracks or writing about how it’s only a joke, only “bad taste,” and how very disadvantaged you are because others see it for the twisted hatefulness it really is.