politics

Scotland has basically abandoned free speech.

Co-Founder sablier.com and open-source developer. I have a broad range of interests, including longevity, epistemology, physics, and psychology.


Why get worked up about stuff they want you to get worked up about.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act makes it an offense to stir up hatred with threatening or abusive behavior on the basis of characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Racial hatred was already banned under a law dating from 1986.

And JK Rowling can do what she wants but the focus here isn’t on free speech. It’s that people can be assholes to people and have zero consequences.

“The threshold of criminality in terms of the new offenses is very, very high indeed,” First Minister Humza Yousaf said. “Your behavior has to be threatening or abusive and intended to stir up hatred.”

This was already done on grounds for racism in the 80s. Did free speech suffer?