J.K. Rowling Is Daring Scottish Police to Arrest Her for Hate Crimes

The once-beloved children’s author is working herself up over Scotland’s new bias law.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has jumped to defend J.K. Rowling, who is once again using her one wild and precious life to post obsessively about transgender women instead of doing literally anything else with her hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Harry Potter author took to X, formerly Twitter, on April 1 to share her thoughts on Scotland’s new Hate Crime Act, which went into effect the same day. The law criminalizes “stirring up hatred” related to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, trans identity, or being intersex, as the BBC reported. “Stirring up hatred” is further defined as communicating or behaving in a way “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” against a protected group. The offense is punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine, or both.

In response to the legislation, Rowling posted a long thread naming several prominent trans women in the U.K., including Mridul Wadhwa, the CEO of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, and activist Munroe Bergdorf. Since it was April Fool’s day, Rowling decided to commemorate it by sarcastically affirming the womanhood of all the people she named in her thread. In the same breath that she said that a convicted child predator was “rightly sent to a women’s prison,” she also called out a number of trans women making anodyne comments about inclusion, seemingly implying that trans identity is inherently predatory.

read more: them.us/…/jk-rowling-rishi-sunak-social-media-tra…

umbrella,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

she knows this will not happen

Jimmycakes,

This bitch is fucking nuts

Illuminostro,

Narcissism is a helluva drug.

Kedly,

Hmm, ok. I need to start sorting by top instead of Hot

yoz,

She got the money. No jailtime for her. If she was poor she would already br in jail by now.

KingThrillgore,
@KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml avatar

You can’t arrest someone for being an idiot usually

Cube6392,

Sure you can. Manslaughter, reckless endangerment, contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All have a component of “sure you didn’t do this maliciously, but FUCK you should have known better, moron”

Wakmrow,

Very critical support to the cops

AFC1886VCC,

Dedicated her life to drumming up transphobic hate. Pathetic

possiblylinux127,

That law sounds terrible.

can,

Because you don’t like how it’s being implemented or because you just straight up like hatred?

kilgore_trout,

behaving in a way that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive

This is no way to legislate. What is a reasonable person?

HuntressHimbo,

It is actually a very specific legal standard. If you like podcasts, one of the early episodes of More Perfect has a good segment on the reasonableness standard. The case is one about police violence and it is fairly emotional, so just keep that in mind for if you want to listen.

wnycstudios.org/…/mr-graham-and-reasonable-man

possiblylinux127,

Because it sounds like it can be applied to any political view or person. It is just plain censorship. At the end of the day democracy depends on everyone having a voice, even if you find what they have to say hateful.

I don’t support hate speech but trying to ban it is very problematic

frostysauce,

People can’t be trusted to not be assholes with their freedom.

possiblylinux127,

Then go live in China or Russia

Illuminostro,

Go live on the block list, where you belong. Fuck Putin and Hitler, by the way.

can,

The law criminalizes “stirring up hatred” related to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, trans identity, or being intersex, as the BBC reported. “Stirring up hatred” is further defined as communicating or behaving in a way “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” against a protected group.

There’s a difference between saying what you think and being “threatening or abusive”. Note that nothing JK has done so far actually qualifies.

If she directed her audience to harass the ones she mocked that would be different. At a certain point that shouldn’t be allowed, no?

Madison420,

Won’t someone rid me of this meddlesome priest?

It is illegal already, she can’t make comments to her weirdly large base that have the same effect of causing violence or panic or fear thereof.

Hilarious that a chick who made her money off witchcraft and mildly pedophilic children’s stories takes issues with morality of all things.

can,

Hate to ask, but I don’t want to google it, can you elaborate on that last bit?

Madison420,

Think about the plot of the books and get back to me on that one.

Kedly,

An abused boy becomes magical jesus and constantly fights magical hitler while attending magic school… I’m not getting the pedophilic bits unless you think children merely existing equates to pedophilia

Madison420, (edited )

If that’s how you read it.

There’s a teacher in the book who can see through clothes at a children’s school and its held in the book by administration as a good thing to have around… Think about that.

Ed: not enough?

A ghost woman who is canonically age 37 lives in the boys restroom of a children’s school and again canonically watches potter and others bathe… Its so well accepted its in the movies and no one thinks twice about it.

Polymorph potion, be anyone or anything of any age… I didn’t really need to explain that.

Luck potion canonically a psuedodate rape drug.

Love potion a literal and unabashed date rape drug.

Kedly,

Damn, you finally produced some examples, should have started with those! Ill admit most of those are sketchy but man do they not play anywhere NEAR a large enough part in any if the books for you to assume any of us are going to be on the same page as you without those examples already present

Madison420,

I’m not a teacher, Its not my job to help people read.

An adult bathing with children and making inappropriate comments. “That’s not pedophilia!” I think I know now who not to leave kids with.

Kedly,

Lmao, you’re certainly not smart enough to be one

Madison420,

Sure, don’t make an actual argument just insult me personally because you disagree. Neat.

Kedly,

Lmao, I knew you were stupid enough to go there, reread your texts and tell me who started insulting the other party first

Madison420,

You.

I simply said I wouldn’t leave you alone with kids if you think adults bathing with children especially children that are not their own is ok.

Kedly,

Lmao, ok troll. Time to head back to 4chan, I’m done having an argument with someone in bad faith

Madison420,

There’s the issue you’re looking for an argument, everyone else is having a conversation.

Illuminostro,

Yeah, the real problem with are society is boys pretending to be girls, right?

Kedly,

I said SOME of them were sus. Myrtle being one of the bigger ones. I was just saying buddy would have had a better chance at a conversation if they actually brought these points up first instead of just walking into the conversation screaming “PEDOPHILE!”

Madison420,

I didn’t scream pedophile, I said her books had a theme of mild pedophilia.

possiblylinux127,

What you said offends me. You should got to jail for spreading hate speech

can,

You know how people sometimes talk about not interacting in good faith?

HauntedCupcake,

I upvoted you, as the other guy was not reading your post, but disagree with the general stance. What is “reasonable” is still somewhat defined by the current political climate, even if it’s not defined by a single person.

The UK government is currently very pro-Israel, and could easily use this to prosecute pro-Palestine/ceasefire protesters (assuming the existing anti-protest laws don’t get them).

It massively limits the rights of minority political opinions.

Ross_audio,

bbc.co.uk/…/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43478925

This man trained his girlfriend’s dog to give a Nazi salute to some offensive phrases as a joke. Shared it with a few friends on social media.

It was then leaked and the offensive joke that went viral and got 3 million views on YouTube.

Then because of the criminal case for hate speech the EDL (English Defence League) were able to bandwagon on the news cycle and spread some real hate.

So the law meant to prevent hate speech instead platformed a hate group and spread the original joke further to the point where it probably did cause offence. Because if you don’t know the person making the joke, you don’t know what they intend.

All because a Scottish judge was allowed and chose to ignore all context around the actual content.

It is a bad law.

I’m not one of the “can’t say anything these days” crowd, and in general I think there can be limitations on speech that have a positive affect on society.

But the law in Scotland specifically is absolutely trash in stating absolutes about speech when speech is always subjective and always surrounded by context.

can,

That case is bullshit, yes. But still, if you had Rowling’s wealth and influence and wanted to enact policy change, would this be your approach?

Ross_audio,

Not everything I disagree with has to be illegal.

Especially when there are already consequences.

  1. Rowling will face social consequences for her speech. It doesn’t have to be illegal.
  2. Problems with the law usually affect those who do things people or governments don’t like. Not with conforming behaviour.

Clamping down on one freedom to protect another is ultimately harmful.

Usually it’s “to protect the children” which has obviously had a negative effect on the trans community in several countries.

In this case it’s “to protect minorities” and the actual law will punish jokes at the expense of bigots as much as bigotry.

It’s unlikely to be prosecuted but quoting Rowling’s hate speech to draw attention to it in a negative light is just as illegal as saying it in the first place. The law is once again only helping to turn her hate into a news story where she gets cast as the victim rather than the perpetrator.

lightnsfw,

If I had her wealth no one would ever see or hear from me again.

Illuminostro,

Which why social shunning is inconsequential to her.

HauntedCupcake,

That case is ridiculous, but that’s what the law was like before this new bill. The new bill makes it even less well defined

Anticorp,

Especially since just asking genuine and reasonable questions gets you labeled as a bigot these days.

Omega_Haxors,

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=JAQing of…

possiblylinux127,

Or for that matter having a different belief than the status quo

Just because you disagree with something doesn’t mean you get to censor and arrest them

Anticorp,

Right? This could definitely be the first step towards State sanctioned group-think, and the loss of freedom of speech. I’m just as opposed to hate speech as any other progressive individual, but I do not trust these types of laws in the hands of governments that are moving rapidly towards fascism.

can,

I have not once had this experience. Could you share some examples of such questions? I’m curious,

Anticorp,

lemmy.world/comment/6049113

There are several instances just in that sub-thread of that post.

can,

4 months ago

If I had come accross that thread then I would have tried to answer in a friendlier tone. Sure your question was kind of based on a false premise, but did you know that at the time? Probably not. I would have assumed ignorance based on subconscious biases, rather than malice. But there are always going to be some reactionaries on all sides calling people shit. It’s the internet.

Anticorp, (edited )

You sound like a reasonable person then, and an ally to progress and education. That’s just the most immediate example I could think of that I was readily able to access to share with you. This is a common reaction that I’ve seen becoming more common over the last few years, across a number of social issues that a lot of people require more information to fully understand. But they’re not asking questions to get the information because when they do, they get shouted down and accused of bigotry. I’ve seen the same thing when it comes to people trying to understand trans issues. Trying to understand gender pronouns. Trying to understand new attitudes towards racism or social equality. The people who think they’re helping through some sort of twisted interpretation of “silence is violence” are very much hurting these movements by being so loose and free with their accusations of bigotry. They’re pushing people away, and making enemies of potential allies.

can,

I make my best effort to be, thank you. Maybe we need a community somewhere for those questions then. Maybe create it? I’d subscribe and do it my best to answer questions. I understand everyone comes from completely different worlds. So many factors in my life made understanding these issues easier. I can understand how someone else could struggle with some of it.

Anticorp,

I think it would be plagued with the same problem that probably led to the hostility from the person in the comment I linked to, bad actors. I recognize that there are a lot of bad actors that enter these conversations and pose “questions” that are really just preludes to attacks, or often intentionally engineered to stoke hostility. I think the solution might be simple, give people the benefit of the doubt until they show they don’t deserve it. But our different perspectives are becoming so tribalistic that opposing views, or even just ignorance of a specific view is viewed as an outright enemy. That has led to people being dismissive of everyone that doesn’t immediately identify themselves as part of the in-group.

I don’t really see how we will ever build a world that is beneficial for everyone if we’re all committed to an “us vs them” perspective. Even without that perspective, IDK how to build that world because it seems now that different groups have drastically different ideas of how things should be. It used to feel like we all kind of wanted the same things, but just disagreed on how to get there. Now it feels like there are groups who want dramatically different outcomes. How does one resolve that type of scenario? Anyways, now I’m getting pretty far off topic. I’ll just stop there.

Maybe a community like you proposed would be a great bridge between groups. It would be so cool if that worked. I know I don’t have the time or patience to run such a group though. Everything online is such a challenge to moderate these days with State level psychological cyber warfare as prevalent as it is now.

can,

Now it feels like there are groups who want dramatically different outcomes. How does one resolve that type of scenario?

Patience and education?

I’m not sure I’d be up for creating that community either which is too bad because the people who probably could effectively are the ones who probably wouldn’t. If any ever dies try though I’ll participate

TIMMAY,

I hate that we keep having to give attention to this dumb bitch

Cruxifux,

The rich have far too much power in the world.

ArugulaZ,
ArugulaZ avatar

Quick, somebody go back in time and convince JK Rowling to write about a raccoon who shoots rainbow sparkles out of his butt!

hydroptic,

Hopefully the cops oblige her, but I’m pretty sure she’s too rich to actually experience any consequences.

https://sopuli.xyz/pictrs/image/6cadf4fe-ec8e-46e1-9e17-c755c527780f.webp

livus,
livus avatar

They've already said it doesn't meet the criminal threshold and they will not be arresting her.

Bitter old troll still got her 15 minutes of fame I guess.

then_three_more,

Pull a switcharoo and arrest her for wasting police time.

hydroptic,

Ah, figures. Thanks for the source!

Hopefully it’s only a matter of time she does something that’ll cross the threshold.

RamblingPanda,

She got more than enough fame already.

HauntedCupcake,

Just because they refuse to even prosecute Rowling, it doesn’t mean she hasn’t broken the law.

The wording of the actual law is so loose and woolly that I would absolutely include Rowling under it. She’s definitely been abusive/threatening to trans-people, and definitely been stirring up hatred. I think a reasonable person would agree. She should at least be prosecuted.

The problem is that the law doesn’t explicitly specify a severity threshold of said abuse, and the real reason they won’t arrest Rowling is that it would cause way too much hassle for the government and expose how shit the law is, as she actually has enough money and lawyers to fight it.

Imagine a few years down the line when a properly fascist government gets hold of this. The Tories are already looking for a way to arrest pro-Palestine protesters.

This article has more info and what the law actually says www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68703684

livus,
livus avatar

Thanks!

bilboswaggings,

You have to wonder how a guy named Rishi Sunak justifies supporting her.

But I guess it’s done so that people hate on trans people instead of people with a similar name or skin color as his. When in reality everyone just hates him because of his politics and personality

NigelFrobisher,

His ethnicity is “billionaire”.

themeatbridge,

Woulda cost her nothing to just not say anything.

can,

What a sad life this woman leads. All the money in the world and she can’t find a semblance of purpose.

Illuminostro,

She and Musk should go on a trip together. To Mars.

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