{"id":9573,"date":"2024-04-11T22:27:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T02:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=9573"},"modified":"2024-04-11T22:27:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T02:27:32","slug":"j-k-rowling-bewitches-scotland-author-incapacitates-hate-crime-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=9573","title":{"rendered":"J.K. Rowling bewitches Scotland: Author incapacitates hate crime law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">J.K. Rowling bewitches Scotland<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Author incapacitates hate crime law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>National Post<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>11 Apr 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Amy Hamm<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/t.prcdn.co\/img?regionKey=pxfVcxw69NzyzpYRo8ptSA%3d%3d\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>A protester holds a cut-out of Harry Potter author and outspoken women\u2019s rights advocate J.K. Rowling during a rally against the Hate Crime and Public Order Act in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Saturday.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>J.K. Rowling is making headlines again: that quarrelsome, difficult woman \u2014 who just can\u2019t for the life of her keep her mouth shut about women\u2019s rights \u2014 has neutered new hate crime legislation that came into effect in Scotland on April 1. Using only her words! Is any further proof required that the woman is a bona fide witch?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scotland\u2019s new law threatens up to seven years in prison for \u201cstirring up hatred\u201d against identifiable groups, including (not limited to) the religious, disabled, or transgender. Females, however, receive no protections under this new law. Critics \u2014 most notably Rowling \u2014 called hooey on its professed purpose and argued that what the law actually intends to do is to limit freedom of speech. And in particular, speech defending the sex-based rights of women. On X (formerly Twitter), Rowling was clear as a bell on this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls. The new legislation is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women\u2019s and girls\u2019 single-sex spaces, the nonsense made of crime data if violent and sexual assaults committed by men are recorded as female crimes, the grotesque unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports, the injustice of women\u2019s jobs, honours and opportunities being taken by trans-identified men, and the reality and immutability of biological sex,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scotland\u2019s new law did not pass in a vacuum: it is but one example of similar legislation that is being pushed across the West, including in Britain, Ireland, and Canada. In the U.S., attempts at such laws have been thwarted by America\u2019s First Amendment. Sadly, us common law citizens have no such equivalent protection. Instead, we are left hoping that sports stars or benevolent billionaires like JK Rowling will not only push back, but in doing so will also remind us all that our freedoms are precious and must be vigilantly protected. We need troublemakers like her to flout draconian legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And flout she did: Rowling posted a provocative thread with examples of Scottish transwomen who\u2019ve done heinous things \u2014 threatened violence against women; been convicted of rape (including of minors), indecent exposure, or possession of child pornography \u2014 and then ended up in women\u2019s prisons; bragged about stealing and wearing their sister\u2019s underwear; and replaced women in sports or professional roles, including as head of one Scottish rape crisis centre. Rowling even made jokes along the way \u2014 such audacity \u2014 concluding with a taunt for Scottish police to arrest her: \u201cI\u2019m currently out of the country, but if what I\u2019ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 3,000 complaints were lodged with Scottish police the first day the new law came into effect. India Willoughby, one of the transwomen called out in Rowling\u2019s thread, was quick to cry \u201chate crime.\u201d Police \u2014 arrest that witch! Alas, Rowling continues to speak, and not from the inside of a prison cell. Scottish police released a statement on April 2 that, despite numerous public complaints about her words, no action would be taken. And just like that, Rowling gelded her country\u2019s Hate Crime and Public Order Act. Her powerful spell apparently affected U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as well, leading him to profess that no one should be criminalized for stating biological facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which is, after all, what Rowling did; the point of Rowling\u2019s provocation, clearly lost on many people, is that each of the persons she exposed is a biological male. It\u2019s not that they identify as transgender that she takes issue with \u2014 though they all do \u2014 it\u2019s that they are biological males whose feelings and desires have been placed ahead of women\u2019s dignity and safety. In order to take a stand against convicted double rapist Isla Bryson residing inside of a women\u2019s prison, one must be able to point out that Bryson is not a female, and poses an enormous safety risk to incarcerated women. To do so is not a condemnation of transwomen; it is a condemnation of Bryson and the absurd laws that allow \u201cher\u201d to opt out of going to male prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Facts and objective reality might sound hurtful to some, but they are indisputably not \u201chate.\u201d It is essential that we can all speak to biological facts without being criminalized or imprisoned for doing so. And Rowling just granted permission for every man and woman in Scotland to speak the truth. What remains to be seen, however, is if police will apply the law equally and refuse to punish the average citizen for sharing the same verboten (at least to gender activists) views. On this point, Rowling issued another provocation to Scottish police. Upon the news that she was being spared arrest and prosecution \u2014 or burning at the stake \u2014 she said: \u201cI trust that all women \u2014 irrespective of profile or financial means \u2014 will be treated equally under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s hope so. Across the pond, us Canadians face the prospect of similar legislation being enacted. Like Scotland\u2019s \u201chate crime\u201d act, the Trudeau government\u2019s Online Harms Bill \u2014 headed for a second reading in the House of Commons \u2014 also seeks to censor and possibly imprison outspoken, anti-establishment citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, we don\u2019t have a powerful witch like Rowling to smite our unjust laws. Here, it is going to require a collective effort to thwart Canada\u2019s totalitarian creep. Ladies, get your broomsticks ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ACROSS THE POND, US CANADIANS FACE THE PROSPECT OF SIMILAR LEGISLATION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Article Name:J.K. Rowling bewitches Scotland<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Publication:National Post<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Author:Amy hamm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start Page:A9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>End Page:A9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J.K. Rowling bewitches Scotland Author incapacitates hate crime law J.K. Rowling is making headlines again: that quarrelsome, difficult woman \u2014 who just can\u2019t for the life of her keep her mouth shut about women\u2019s rights \u2014 has neutered new hate &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=9573\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5081,5467,2241],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9574,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9573\/revisions\/9574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}