JK Rowling Declares War on Her Nemesis
NewsweekFeb 28
JK Rowling Won't Face Criminal Action Under Hate Crime Law
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The Facts
Police Scotland has responded to Harry Potter author JK Rowling's criticism of Scotland's new Hate Crime law. It said that while they "have received complaints in relation to [her] social media post," they were "not assessed to be criminal."
The social media post in question, posted on X, formerly Twitter, began with Rowling listing several trans-identified biological men, including some convicted of child rape and possession of illicit images of children.
The Spin
Right narrative
This bill was obviously created to punish working-class people with less power than Rowling. So, while Rowling may be safe from veritable thought police, that doesn't mean regular people will be able to call a man a man and a woman a woman. This law protects the delusional at the expense of free thinking, and its vague nature seems to have been written so that, sooner or later, both women and men could face charges.
Left narrative
Nothing in this bill states that what Rowling said, or even misgendering more generally, would be a crime. Not only will the police face a high bar when it comes to who violates the law, but the law itself also protects free speech surrounding these exact topics. Just because hateful rhetoric is reported and investigated doesn't mean that the police will actually handcuff people for speaking their minds.
