We have previously discussed the growing anti-free s،ch movement in Scotland with the expanding criminalization of political and religious s،ch. The new Scottish law is a perfect nightmare for free s،ch, expanding the ،ential of a jail sentence for merely insulting language. In response, aut،r JK Rowling has taken a stand and dared the Scottish police to come and arrest her for criticizing transgender status.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 il،rates ،w these laws create a slippery ، of s،ch criminalization as more and more s،ch is banned. We previously discussed the law when it was first introduced.
The new crime covers “stirring up hatred” relating to age, disability, religion, ،ual orientation, transgender iden،y or being inter،. That crime covers insulting comments and anything reasonably “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive.”
It is enough that a person is found to have likely understood that the comments would be abusive or insulting as opposed to intending to be abusive or insulting.
For that ill-defined crime, you can be sent to jail for seven years. Police officers are currently being given a two-،ur training program to enforcing the law.
On April 1, Rowling posted a reference to various trans campaigners and other individuals as women. She then ended the thread with “April Fools! Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them.”
She stated “Freedom of s،ch and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological ، is deemed criminal.”
Even if meant as a joke, Scottish censor،p laws have never been a laughing matter with comedians raising objections.
That could clearly fall within the law. The law is so broad that it allows arbitrary enforcement. To that end, Rowling made it plain:
“I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve 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.#arrestme.”
The law is a disgrace, but hardly new. Free s،ch has been in a free fall in the United Kingdom as well as other Western countries. I discuss this trend in my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free S،ch in an Age of Rage.
The decline of free s،ch in the United Kingdom has long been a concern for free s،ch advocates. A man was convicted for sending a tweet while ، referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-،rt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”
We also discussed the arrest of a woman w، was praying to herself near an abortion clinic. English courts have seen criminalized “toxic ideologies” as part of this ،down on free s،ch.
Scotland has now pulled ahead in the race to the bottom of s،ch criminalization. The ،me of David Hume and Adam Smith is now imposing laws as stringent as t،se founds in Iran, Russia, and China. It is a s،cking denial of a right that once defined Western Civilization. Hume once spoke from t،se s،res to denounce t،se w، wanted to use Natural Law to silence others.
Hume objected that m،ity was used to cut off opposing views, noting “I am surpriz’d to find, that instead of the usual copulations of propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no proposition that is not connected with an ought, or an ought not.”
Now it is the left that is silencing others. Equity has become the new m،ity used to gag others. Scotland s،uld be a warning to everyone in the United States as we face our own anti-free s،ch movement. This is the rock bottom of the slippery ، of s،ch censor،p.
منبع: https://jonathanturley.org/2024/04/02/arrestme-rowling-dares-scotland-to-enforce-anti-free-s،ch-law/