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submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

JK Rowling has challenged Scotland's new hate crime law in a series of social media posts - inviting police to arrest her if they believe she has committed an offence.

The Harry Potter author, who lives in Edinburgh, described several transgender women as men, including convicted prisoners, trans activists and other public figures.

She said "freedom of speech and belief" was at an end if accurate description of biological sex was outlawed.

Earlier, Scotland's first minister Humza Yousaf said the new law would deal with a "rising tide of hatred".

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 creates a new crime of "stirring up hatred" relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex.

Ms Rowling, who has long been a critic of some trans activism, posted on X on the day the new legislation came into force.

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[-] BertramDitore@lemmy.world 212 points 7 months ago

OR, and hear me out, you could just not be a total asshole? Maybe have a baseline of tolerance and respect for the people who made you a billionaire? No? Then fuck right off and accept the consequences of your hatred.

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 104 points 7 months ago

It seems billionaires have really wacked out midlife crises. Instead of buying expensive cars and cheating on their partners, they come out as terfy nazis, build hate platforms, and crash companies. I mean to be fair, at this point the sample size is only two, JKKK Rowling and Musk, but it's still surprising that it'd happen twice.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 78 points 7 months ago

Bill Gates started a charity.

Steve Jobs killed himself because he thought he knew better than his doctors. Well, that's wacked out too, but at least it's not being a Nazi...

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 61 points 7 months ago
[-] Sabata11792@kbin.social 18 points 7 months ago
[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

McAfee is not worth cracking

[-] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 6 points 7 months ago

That dude's videos are extraordinary.

[-] sagrotan@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

At last this guy was entertaining, not only disgusting like these modern "billionaires". Pff.

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

John McAfee’s poop hammock is perhaps the best story about him.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 40 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Bill gates didn’t start the charity as a midlife crisis.

It’s a tax dodge and a lot of other ways of protecting his money while also doing a little reputation washing/ morality banking

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 14 points 7 months ago

Wasn't he 45 when he started the charity? That sounds like a perfect candidate to be a midlife crisis, haha

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 23 points 7 months ago

Just because it was midlife doesn’t mean it’s a crisis.

He started the charity as a shelter for his obscene wealth. That is all.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 16 points 7 months ago

I'm not obscenely wealthy, so I don't have the experience...but it seems plausible that a billionaire midlife crisis could be "Where am I going to put this ridiculous amount of money that I've earned through less-than-ethical means?"

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago
[-] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 12 points 7 months ago

I mean, the main motivator for the endowment was always Malinda Gates. I'm sure it functions as a tax shelter, but I doubt that was really the main motivator. He's already given over several times what his tax burden would have been, and if we compare it to other NGOs whose sole purpose is truly preserving or raising money, they really aren't comparable.

I'm in agreement that no one should have hundreds of millions of dollars, let alone billions. We can discuss the validity of NGO as a concept, but as far as NGO go, the gates foundation has done more actual aid work for 3rd world countries than most governments.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

We can discuss the validity of NGO as a concept, but as far as NGO go, the gates foundation has done more actual aid work for 3rd world countries than most governments.

most governments don’t have nearly the same revenue. This is like saying corporations have done more to help homeless people than homeless shelters (to whom the corpos donate money.)

The reality is that a lot of the way things are, are caused by people like- and including- bill gates.

While there are many NGOs that exist to do good things- and are very good at aid- the gates foundation is not one of those.

I think you’ve bought into the reputation washing the foundation has done for the Gates, and severely underestimate just ho sociopathic they are…. And just how profitable the foundation is for them personally.

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[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 months ago

I didn't say that

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

It’s a tax dodge

Have you ever worked with the Gates foundation? Because calling it a "tax dodge" like that is completely baseless, they're a really reallyngood charity, like honestly one of the best in the world, and also that's very ignorant of how taxes work.

[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 3 points 7 months ago

They do good work and help people? That's great! They do the best work out of all charities worldwide? That's even better!

Still a tax dodge. You really want to help the world, donate. The money being out of their control is kind of the point...

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

How is the money being out of their control the point?

The point is to save lives and help people, which the Gates foundation does incredibly well.

And it's not a tax dodge, he's literally just not selling his Microsoft shares for cash, getting taxed, and then giving the money to the foundation and instead just giving the foundation the shares directly.

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[-] Hobbes@startrek.website 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

All that may be true, but it does a lot of good too.

[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Steve Jobs killed himself because he thought he knew better than his doctors. Well, that’s wacked out too, but at least it’s not being a Nazi…

Steve Jobs was always a piece of shit, and he had that diet well before he got cancer. But yeah the fact he continued to double down in the face of death shows how much of a narcissist he was.

[-] thyme@leminal.space 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think a factor with some of them, probably both the ones you mentioned, is that they can't handle criticism. So when they get any push back they double down. Then they get drawn into conservative nonsense that reinforces their beliefs. Then it's a downward spiral as they get radicalized far beyond their original positions.

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

To be fair, you just described my mother to a tee. She’s a narcissist and has managed to alienate everyone from her life.

[-] OwlHamster@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago

You can add Markus Persson to that sample group

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago
[-] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 12 points 7 months ago

So you would like it to be enshrined in law that it is acceptable for whoever holds power to arrest people whom they believe to be assholes?

[-] BertramDitore@lemmy.world 39 points 7 months ago

No, not even a little bit. There is a difference between being an asshole and committing a hate crime. Hate crime laws, when properly crafted and enforced, are an important component of a functional society. They can act as a deterrent, but they are also a way for those materially harmed by a hate crime to get justice. Free speech is never a universal right, anywhere in the world. There are always legitimate restrictions to ensure the public's overall health and safety.

[-] bostonbananarama@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

No, not even a little bit. There is a difference between being an asshole and committing a hate crime.

I'm not sure there is a difference with this law.

Hate crime laws, when properly crafted and enforced, are an important component of a functional society.

I'm not sure that's true. Freedom of speech is an important component, and sometimes that means tolerating distasteful speech.

They can act as a deterrent, but they are also a way for those materially harmed by a hate crime to get justice.

What constitutes harm though? The UK tends to include offense (or offence) as a harm.

Free speech is never a universal right, anywhere in the world. There are always legitimate restrictions to ensure the public's overall health and safety.

Absolutely, but being offended by a bigot probably shouldn't be criminal without some component of advocacy for violence.

A person commits an offence if they communicate material, or behave in a manner, "that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive," with the intention of stirring up hatred based on protected characteristics.

[-] GnomeKat 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

We don't have to tolerate the intolerant, they refuse to abide by the mutual contract of tolerance so they don't deserve the protections of a tolerant society.

JKR isn't just doing a little bit of free speech she is a billionaire advocating for hate on a massive platform and donating to hate groups, she has influence and power. She is absolutely advocating for the restriction on trans peoples rights, that is violence. Especially in a time when anti trans hate is on the rise we should be even more skeptical of claims of free speech, right now across the world hate crimes against trans people are going up and our rights are being stripped away.

Arguments about free speech are just a way to ignore the issue and do nothing as transphobia continues to thrive and spread. Stop defending hate.

[-] aidan@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

Until the intolerance of the intolerant is applied to not tolerate you... You see hate crime laws being used to defend religions from criticism for example.

[-] GnomeKat 2 points 7 months ago

Oh my what ever might that be like, having to deal with intolerance. I never have to deal with that nope. Nope it's definitely not a daily occurrence for pretty much all trans people.

But the transphobes get to advocate for my erasure and that's just free speech.. yep makes sense.. totally fair and balanced

[-] aidan@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

What? I think you missed what I was saying. For example they could argue criticism of their religion is itself intolerant and should therefore be illegal.

[-] GnomeKat 1 points 7 months ago

So.. we should just let bigots get their way and let them continue to successfully advocate for the rights of trans people and other minorities to be stripped away because they might also try to do a religious theocracy?

[-] aidan@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

That is what freedom of speech is. I really don't like what a lot of people say, and I think a lot of it is harmful

[-] GnomeKat 1 points 7 months ago

Well I think that's a cop out to do nothing and act moral while letting other people get hurt and suffer.

Freedoms should only go so far as to not encroach on other people's freedoms, hate speech goes too far, advocating people's right to healthcare to be stripped away is too far, advocating we be classified as sex offenders just by existing is too far.

I don't care what your abstract notion about free speech is, it's just a fanciful notion that has never actually been realized and doesn't work in practice. Meanwhile real people are getting hurt now and you choose to defend the speech of those advocating that violence. It's wrong.

[-] aidan@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Well I think that's a cop out to do nothing and act moral while letting other people get hurt and suffer.

You can do a lot without being authoritarian. The question is if the government can do it with threat of violence, and I don't think that's ok. To point a gun at someone for saying* something I disagree with.

Freedoms should only go so far as to not encroach on other people's freedoms,

Agreed, but advocating it, definitely not. If so anyone advocating draft, or imprisonment for a crime I believe unjust, or according to some people- taxation, or banning unpasteurized milk. Would all be to some people advocating infringing on their rights.

[-] bostonbananarama@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Arguments about free speech are just a way to ignore the issue and do nothing as transphobia continues to thrive and spread.

No, arguments about free speech recognize that there is no more important right that a free society can have. If a group can dictate that the language that they find distasteful is criminal, then so can any other group.

Without protections for free speech, what happens when an authoritarian like Trump determines that support for trans people is actually misogyny, or that support for POC is racist against white people and then criminalizes that speech? These are arguments they already make.

You're talking about prior restraint which, at least in the US, has always been harshly scrutinized. As it should be. A line needs to be drawn, but promoting violence should be that line, not merely that which is distasteful.

[-] aidan@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

What is the difference?

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

You know it doesn’t work that way but spout nonsense anyway.

[-] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

That's already the law. Look at Florida.

[-] Kalysta@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

Are you seriously arguing against hate crime laws??

this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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