Woke* Wins Big in the UK, as Misogyny and Censorship Make Strides

[icehorse]

(My definition of woke* is below)

I wish this was an April Fool's joke, but it's not.

Several woke strategies seem to be working together to legally empower misogyny and censorship. The thread below details a series of bad men taking advantage of gender self identification to horrific, misogynistic ends, and then of how new censorship laws are making it harder for women to fight back.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1774749954629652873

*woke: First off, I'm happy to use a different term than "woke". Perhaps "critical social justice"? I'm open for suggestions. The history of woke is quite complex, but as a simplification I'll say that woke includes a belief in intersectionality and of the oppressed vs. oppressor worldview. Again, just as a simplification, the woke seek to defend the most oppressed in our society, and intersectionality provides a mechanism to place people in a degrees of oppression hierarchy. So straight white men are the least oppressed, women fall somewhere higher on the oppression hierarchy, black women are more oppressed than women, and as an extreme example, we might say that a disabled, trans, black person might be the most oppressed of all.

Again, I understand that the above is a simplification, but I think it should suffice for this thread.

 

[Revoltingest]

Misogyny:
Treating trans women as women.
Allowing them to use women's lavatories.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Rowling must be loving it, that much of the cast of the Potter films came out against her previous comments though - for being a different and perhaps more-amenable-to-change generation.

 

[RestlessSoul]

No idea what point is being made here, can someone summarise, in English if possible?

 

[Altfish]

BTW, this is just in Scotland, not the UK.

 

[Yerda]

Several woke strategies seem to be working together to legally empower misogyny and censorship. The thread below details a series of bad men taking advantage of gender self identification to horrific, misogynistic ends, and then of how new censorship laws are making it harder for women to fight back.

Can you summarise?

 

[icehorse]

BTW, this is just in Scotland, not the UK.

The law is so vaguely and broadly written that if someone says something anywhere in the UK that gets "published" in Scotland, and the Scottish officials conclude that the thing that was said might, and I quote: "stir up hatred", the speaker could be charged.

 

[Altfish]

The law is so vaguely and broadly written that if someone says something anywhere in the UK that gets "published" in Scotland, and the Scottish officials conclude that the thing that was said might, and I quote: "stir up hatred", the speaker could be charged.

What if someone from (say) Holland or USA says something that was published in Scotland?

 

[icehorse]

No idea what point is being made here, can someone summarise, in English if possible?

Can you summarise?

Two things are working in harmony in the UK:

1 - For a while now people in the UK (and elsewhere), have been able to self-identify as whatever gender they choose. If you click on the X link in the OP and scroll to the top, you'll see that JK Rowling has called out a number of bad men who have taken horrific advantage of this self-id idea to abuse women and girls.

2 - As of April 1st, 2024, Scotland has established a new "hate crime" law. If someone says something that the authorities determine might "stir up hatred", then the police can arrest the speaker, or add a "hate crime" incident to their record. It's amazingly subjective. Further, people can rat each other out, no evidence is necessary, the report of "stirring up hatred" will go on the alleged speaker's record, AND the alleged speaker might not even know they have this black mark on their record. But, if they ever go to apply for a job, employers will be able to see this black mark on their record.

So, JK Rowling is on record for saying that trans women are men. She did it very deliberately in the link in the OP. Trans activists have attempted to disrupt JKR's life, saying that when JKR says trans women are men, she is "stirring up hatred".

The question now is whether the Scottish police will have the temerity to arrest her. IMO, JKRs statements yesterday are a brilliant piece of protest against this horrific, authoritarian, Orwellian new Scottish law.

 

[icehorse]

What if someone from (say) Holland or USA says something that was published in Scotland?

Good question. The new law is vague and ambiguous on many points.

That said, Canada has a similar law being discussed in its parliament.

 

[Revoltingest]

My theory....
Scotland was feeling sorry for USA looking weak
on civil liberties. You know....SCOTUS trying to
theocratize the country. So it passed this law to
make USA look a wee bit better in comparison.
Scots are known to be overly caring.

 

[Yerda]

Two things are working in harmony in the UK:

1 - For a while now people in the UK (and elsewhere), have been able to self-identify as whatever gender they choose. If you click on the X link in the OP and scroll to the top, you'll see that JK Rowling has called out a number of bad men who have taken horrific advantage of this self-id idea to abuse women and girls.

2 - As of April 1st, 2024, Scotland has established a new "hate crime" law. If someone says something that the authorities determine might "stir up hatred", then the police can arrest the speaker, or add a "hate crime" incident to their record. It's amazingly subjective. Further, people can rat each other out, no evidence is necessary, the report of "stirring up hatred" will go on the alleged speaker's record, AND the alleged speaker might not even know they have this black mark on their record. But, if they ever go to apply for a job, employers will be able to see this black mark on their record.

So, JK Rowling is on record for saying that trans women are men. She did it very deliberately in the link in the OP. Trans activists have attempted to disrupt JKR's life, saying that when JKR says trans women are men, she is "stirring up hatred".

The question now is whether the Scottish police will have the temerity to arrest her. IMO, JKRs statements yesterday are a brilliant piece of protest against this horrific, authoritarian, Orwellian new Scottish law.

I haven't read the details of the bill, was hoping a preferred law blogger would go into a bit of detail. I've been exposed to too many instances of moral panics/culture war hysterics regarding legislation to take anything non-legal professionals have to say seriously. You'll probably recall Jordan Peterson made himself famous railing against a Canadian law that he believed was the end of free speech and would lead to mass incarceration for misgendering. Well, we can see prisons aren't overflowing with the "free speech" martyrs yet.

Also, I try to avoid Rowling's opinion on any given subject as her brains were devoured by twitterworms years ago.

If I come accross anything from a legal perspective I'll share it.

 

[icehorse]

I haven't read the details of the bill, was hoping a preferred law blogger would go into a bit of detail. I've been exposed to too many instances of moral panics/culture war hysterics regarding legislation to take anything non-legal professionals have to say seriously. You'll probably recall Jordan Peterson made himself famous railing against a Canadian law that he believed was the end of free speech and would lead to mass incarceration for misgendering. Well, we can see prisons aren't overflowing with the "free speech" martyrs yet.

Also, I try to avoid Rowling's opinion on any given subject as her brains were devoured by twitterworms years ago.

If I come accross anything from a legal perspective I'll share it.

There is a new-ish thread in this same forum with "Scotland" in the title. The OP has a copy of the Scottish government's explanation of the new law.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I wish this was an April Fool's joke, but it's not.

If you accidentally click anywhere on that twitter post, it opens twitter. Is there any way to prevent this? I'm adding a twitter.com entry to my local hosts file, because I don't like being sent to twitter in this browser profile. I don't like that this entire blurb acts like a twitter button, and I don't want any twitter cookies in this profile. Technical.

First off, I'm happy to use a different term than "woke".

If possible. This term has been nothing but confusing from the beginning of BLM. I don't think 'critical social justice' will work though. I notice that JK does not use 'Woke' it in her twitter post.

The Scottish 'Hat Crime Act' is representative of the ease which Europeans have with being governed and trusting their governments to look after their rights for them. They don't have gun rights etc. They're just begging to have their speech rights taken away, and now that speech is electronic its becoming easier to take.

 

[Yerda]

There is a new-ish thread in this same forum with "Scotland" in the title. The OP has a copy of the Scottish government's explanation of the new law.

I don't know enough about policing and prosecution to be able to infer much from the wording of a bill. And I've seen people mistakenly claim that "bill X will lead to arrests for Y" enough times to expect that I'm also dumb enough to make the same error.

 

[icehorse]

I don't know enough about policing and prosecution to be able to infer much from the wording of a bill. And I've seen people mistakenly claim that "bill X will lead to arrests for Y" enough times to expect that I'm also dumb enough to make the same error.

Understood. But let me ask you this, can you spot subjectivity when you read it?

I think one of my main concerns with this bill is how ambiguous and subjective it is, in application.

 

[icehorse]

If you accidentally click anywhere on that twitter post, it opens twitter. Is there any way to prevent this? I'm adding a twitter.com entry to my local hosts file, because I don't like being sent to twitter in this browser profile. I don't like that this entire blurb acts like a twitter button, and I don't want any twitter cookies in this profile. Technical.

I generally feel the same way about twitter / x, so how about a series of screen grabs: