The Highwire with Del Bigtree - JK ROWLING STANDS UP AGAINST SCOTLAND’S NEW HATE SPEECH LAW

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

All eyes are on Scotland with the passage of their new and highly restricted ‘hate speech’ law. Since its passing, thousands of complaints have been made to the police, and even JK Rowling was threatened with jail time for defending women’s rights. As Ireland and Canada attempt the same legislation, Jefferey Jaxen and Del break discuss implications for citizens who are subjected to laws of this nature.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

One of the biggest stories I'd say in the world when it comes to free speech right now happened this week. And it came out of Scotland. Check this out. All right. A controversial new law aimed at cracking down on hate speech is now in effect in Scotland. A Scotland's new hate crime and public order act comes into force today that criminalizes threatening behavior based on age, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity. The maximum penalty if you break this law is an unbelievable seven years in prison. One complaint has already been filed ahead of the law going into effect in two weeks. It was against J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, who has been vocal in her criticism of the transgender movement.

I'm currently out of the country, but if what I've written here qualifies as an offense under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment. Very same day that police say they're not going to arrest her, I think. 3,800 cases the police are now looking at in 24 hours under this new hate crime law in Scotland. They're going to be completely overwhelmed. Protesters gathered outside Holyrood, voicing concern with the bill they say stifles free speech and can be exploited by those looking to silence particular groups. We just know that we're stronger together.

Let's stand together and take back democracy together. What are we going to do, everyone? Thank you very much. Let's stand together. Let's beat these people and let's make Scotland free together. I mean, it's amazing. What a really horrifying story this is. We've been reporting on it. It's getting scary. Now threats to people like J.K. Rowlands. I imagine they're going to pass up the opportunity to arrest her since she can probably afford somewhere between a thousand and a million of the world's best lawyers to turn any precinct coming after her into her own mansion. But they'll go after the little people, right? The ones that can't defend themselves, and that's what's so scary about this.

You know, the elites then, you know, walk around in this authoritarian world in a different way than the rest of us. Yeah, and so Scotland has done what Ireland and Canada and other countries have only been trying to do with proposed legislation. So they've greenlit this legislation. And if we go right to the law, this is a hate crime and public order. You can see here a list of the protected characteristics. And you can see like age, disability, 50% of that has to with sex, transgender identity, sexual orientation, sexual characteristics. And a lot of people pointed out, there's no provision in this bill to protect women from hatred,

just these characteristics. But it also goes further here. It goes into defense. So it's up to the person. You're basically guilty until proven innocent. It's up to you to prove that your behavior would not fall into this law. And if you don't, you could be looking at a fine of imprisonment up to seven years. And then it goes on to say this, finally, that sheriffs and sheriffs can enter your home.

If there is reason to believe, then you can get a warrant. If there's a reason to believe that you are, quote, stirring up hatred through material behavior in your home. So, I mean, this is overturning, you know, centuries of law in the UK by doing this. And as it said in that in that news clip, over 3,800 complaints in the first 24 hours. Well, there's over 4,000 complaints in the first two days once this thing has activated. These are the complaints because this now falls under the Scotland police. They have to investigate this.

And they now have the powers to do this. And as you saw at J.K. Rawlings, she put out this tweet here among many others that people are saying were controversial. She said, in 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, then on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls. And along other tweets, she was reported and a lot of people were looking at her to get arrested, but obviously she will not be under arrest. She has said that if anybody is challenged by this law, she will retweet those words. She will say those words on her account if people are persecuted by this law.

So she has stood behind, you know, free speech in this conversation 100%. So really interesting space that's happening right now in Scotland. The world should really pay attention to this. Absolutely. And we've talked about it. So much of it is what you might do with information that's on your computer that you haven't put out yet. So you have pre-crime as a part of all this. You know, these were science fiction movies just maybe a decade ago.

And now it's right upon us across the world. incredible reporting, Jeffrey, so many interesting things to be looking at and really, as we sort of look at, you know, I mean, hope all the people that are new to us recognize the difference of when we're making a statement of fact that we know about or when sometimes we have hypothesized as we were with the P. Shuttle insert, but then proved to be one of the most important conversations years later. And all of that, we are always under attack. Imagine if, you know, here in America, you know, that the things that we have said on the show that would be considered, I suppose, a hate crime simply because we're pointing out different perspectives than the narrative that our government and our mainstream propagandists are sharing. So we've been under attack. We've been shut down. We've been censored. We're experiencing all of that. But still millions of people, and I think it's drawing even more attention. And for everyone out there, look at the work that Jeffrey Jackson does. you should at least tell your friends, hey, even if you only watch 30 minutes of this show, check out what Jeffrey Jackson is talking about because it's the current news, but with reality and facts that we're not getting. It's not that bumper stickers, you know, sort of propaganda. We're getting from mainstream agencies. Jeffrey, you're amazing what you do. It's really just an

honor and pleasure to have you a part of our team here at the High Wire. Thanks, Della. And this is what it's about. This is the new age of media. This is open debate. This is the truth as we find it. And we're using truth as the guide. And this is how some of these conversations that are a little touchy. This is how we get to the core of this. This is how we settle disputes and conversations because they're boiling pots. And for the government to come in and put a lid on them using legislation, I feel like that's just going to create more conflict and division.

So we really need to have more dialogue around some of these touchier subjects or these controversial subjects. So appreciate being here every week. And I look forward to next week, we're going to, next week, we're going to, knocked out of the park. All right, fantastic, Jeffrey.