Mastodawn

MicroWave Apr 2, 2024

J.K. Rowling will not be arrested for comments about transgender women, police say

https://lemmy.world/post/13840100

J.K. Rowling will not be arrested for comments about transgender women, police say - Lemmy.World

The “Harry Potter” author slammed a newly enacted hate-crime law in Scotland in a series of posts on X in which she referred to transgender women as men. J.K. Rowling shared a social media thread [https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1774747068944265615] on Monday, the day a new Scottish hate-crime law took effect, that misgendered several transgender women and appeared to imply trans women have a penchant for sexual predation. On Tuesday, Scottish police announced they would not be investigating the “Harry Potter” author’s remarks as a crime, as some of Rowling’s critics had called for. “We have received complaints in relation to the social media post,” a spokesperson for Police Scotland said in a statement. “The comments are not assessed to be criminal and no further action will be taken.” Scotland’s new Hate Crime and Public Order Act [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/14/contents] criminalizes “stirring up hatred” against people based on their race, religion, disability, sexuality or gender identity.

GregorGizeh Apr 2, 2024

While i agree with the sentiment i am concerned by this idea of policing how other people talk to each other. It seems completely insane that a government should be able to legally punish people for talking disrespectfully with each other. That is the essence of freedom of speech. People are able to express themselves freely without fear of the state punishing it.

Infynis Apr 2, 2024

Denying somes’s personhood is more than speech. It’s dangerous, and can cause actual harm, especially for someone with such a huge platform, with special influence over children

A_Toasty_Strudel

While I want to agree with the sentiment behind what you said I find it really hard to get behind government legally telling people what they can and can’t say. I personally feel like it’s every skinhead assole’s right to say racist awful shit. I also feel like if you’re going to exercise that right with reckless abandon, you’re gonna get fucked up by some people who don’t take kindly. As detrimental as their regressive views may be, I believe we simply cannot have legal punishments for saying something the government doesn’t agree with. It’s a very slippery slope.

Avid Amoeba Apr 2, 2024

I’m tired of having to do this work and it never ending. Get a law passed and start enforcing. People are being harmed and it shouldn’t be this much work to defend them. Perhaps absolute free speech regulated by individuals was scalable when not every deplorable pos had a worldwide megaphone.

Flying Squid Apr 2, 2024

I personally feel like it’s every skinhead assole’s right to say racist awful shit. I also feel like if you’re going to exercise that right with reckless abandon, you’re gonna get fucked up by some people who don’t take kindly.

Is that what happened in 1930s Germany or the 1950s U.S. South?

Racism is an implicit call to violence. Suggesting that it can also be solved by violence is not borne out by history.

Shake747 Apr 2, 2024

Racism isn’t an implicit call to violence. Violence is one of the ways it can manifest if it’s deranged enough, but most racism is just sorta quiet and often unconscious.

It’s not a good idea for the government tell you what you’re allowed to say - that change has to come naturally from the bottom up, not artificially from the top down

Flying Squid Apr 2, 2024

that change has to come naturally from the bottom up, not artificially from the top down

Cool, when is that change going to happen? Because from what I’ve seen, there’s still a vast amount of racism in this world.

Shake747 Apr 2, 2024

Why do you trust powerful governments so much?

Flying Squid Apr 2, 2024

You didn’t answer my question.

You said change has to come naturally from the bottom up in order to stop bigoted attacks. Bigotry has been around for a very long time.

So… when is that natural change going to happen? Are we talking centuries?

Shake747 Apr 3, 2024

You’re asking me to predict the future, maybe it doesn’t happen. Maybe 1 lifetime? Maybe 2?

Who knows, but all we can do in the meantime is continue to actually talk with people caught in the storm.

If the government tries to force speech, what do you think that will do? Do you think everyone will say “oh ok”, and just quietly live out their lives at home in resentment or in prison for this never to return?

It’s a bandaid to a problem where we’re just supposed to trust that governments will always use this power correctly

Flying Squid Apr 3, 2024

So rather than prosecuting people for fomenting violence with racist hate speech right now, everyone should just wait a couple of generations for it to sort itself out unlike it has for thousands of years.

That seems both likely and reasonable and such a concept could definitely could only come from someone who has been the victim of severe racist attacks.

Shake747 Apr 3, 2024

You’re forgetting that we have technology that connects most of the world now, even across languages. This definitely changes things.

But it sounds like you’d prefer to live under a government like the CCP. That way you don’t have to worry anymore because they’ll take care of everything for you

Flying Squid Apr 3, 2024

It certainly does change things.

It’s enabled bigots all over the world to get in touch with each other and become even more vicious and violent because they can coordinate.

But I’m sure if we pray hard enough to Jesus, no black person or queer person or Jewish person or any other minority will ever be threatened again.

Because it’s either that or Soviet Russia. There’s nothing in between.

Shake747 Apr 3, 2024

It’s also enabled everyone to see cultures and ways of life they would never be able to before. People can share their differences and traditions more openly too. Knowing more about cultures, practices and different people is what opens doors to not being racist

Flying Squid Apr 3, 2024

Knowing more about cultures, practices and different people is what opens doors to not being racist

Can you actually demonstrate this to be the case so far?

Because this sure doesn’t seem to agree with you- div46amplifier.com/…/online-racism-has-the-intern…

Online Racism: Has the Internet Caused More Harm than Good?

Racism and online platforms

The Amplifier Magazine

Shake747 Apr 3, 2024

Not a lot of real world analysis (that’s not a priori) that I could find specifically on race, but here’s one regarding this issue but with prejudice against transgender:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad9713

Flying Squid Apr 3, 2024

That’s about face-to-face conversations. So what does that have to do with your claim that the internet reduces racism?

Shake747 Apr 3, 2024

This is so pedantic it hurts. I don’t know how to dumb this down any further. You win, racism will never end and let’s just put everyone in jail. Enjoy!

Flying Squid Apr 3, 2024

I made neither claim. Why are you lying about what I said?

You claimed the internet reduces racism and your so-called evidence didn’t involve the internet. That’s not my fault.

Telodzrum Apr 4, 2024

You can ignore process all you want, that doesn’t erase it’s existence.

OsaErisXero Apr 2, 2024

So you're saying we should form a mob and fuck her up then, that's your preferred solution to this problem?