The Harry Potter author described several transgender women as men in a series of social media posts.

JK Rowling has challenged Scotland’s new hate crime law in a series of social media posts - inviting police to arrest her if they believe she has committed an offence.

The Harry Potter author, who lives in Edinburgh, described several transgender women as men, including convicted prisoners, trans activists and other public figures.

She said “freedom of speech and belief” was at an end if accurate description of biological sex was outlawed.

Earlier, Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf said the new law would deal with a “rising tide of hatred”.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 creates a new crime of “stirring up hatred” relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex.

…

Ms Rowling, who has long been a critic of some trans activism, posted on X on the day the new legislation came into force.

  • Dojan@lemmy.world
    1042·
    8 months ago

    It seems billionaires have really wacked out midlife crises. Instead of buying expensive cars and cheating on their partners, they come out as terfy nazis, build hate platforms, and crash companies. I mean to be fair, at this point the sample size is only two, JKKK Rowling and Musk, but it’s still surprising that it’d happen twice.

    • otp@sh.itjust.works
      78·
      8 months ago

      Bill Gates started a charity.

      Steve Jobs killed himself because he thought he knew better than his doctors. Well, that’s wacked out too, but at least it’s not being a Nazi…

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        408·
        8 months ago

        Bill gates didn’t start the charity as a midlife crisis.

        It’s a tax dodge and a lot of other ways of protecting his money while also doing a little reputation washing/ morality banking

        • otp@sh.itjust.works
          14·
          8 months ago

          Wasn’t he 45 when he started the charity? That sounds like a perfect candidate to be a midlife crisis, haha

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
            236·
            8 months ago

            Just because it was midlife doesn’t mean it’s a crisis.

            He started the charity as a shelter for his obscene wealth. That is all.

            • otp@sh.itjust.works
              162·
              8 months ago

              I’m not obscenely wealthy, so I don’t have the experience…but it seems plausible that a billionaire midlife crisis could be “Where am I going to put this ridiculous amount of money that I’ve earned through less-than-ethical means?”

                • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
                  12·
                  8 months ago

                  I mean, the main motivator for the endowment was always Malinda Gates. I’m sure it functions as a tax shelter, but I doubt that was really the main motivator. He’s already given over several times what his tax burden would have been, and if we compare it to other NGOs whose sole purpose is truly preserving or raising money, they really aren’t comparable.

                  I’m in agreement that no one should have hundreds of millions of dollars, let alone billions. We can discuss the validity of NGO as a concept, but as far as NGO go, the gates foundation has done more actual aid work for 3rd world countries than most governments.

                  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    34·
                    8 months ago

                    We can discuss the validity of NGO as a concept, but as far as NGO go, the gates foundation has done more actual aid work for 3rd world countries than most governments.

                    most governments don’t have nearly the same revenue. This is like saying corporations have done more to help homeless people than homeless shelters (to whom the corpos donate money.)

                    The reality is that a lot of the way things are, are caused by people like- and including- bill gates.

                    While there are many NGOs that exist to do good things- and are very good at aid- the gates foundation is not one of those.

                    I think you’ve bought into the reputation washing the foundation has done for the Gates, and severely underestimate just ho sociopathic they are…. And just how profitable the foundation is for them personally.

        • gmtom@lemmy.world
          72·
          8 months ago

          It’s a tax dodge

          Have you ever worked with the Gates foundation? Because calling it a “tax dodge” like that is completely baseless, they’re a really reallyngood charity, like honestly one of the best in the world, and also that’s very ignorant of how taxes work.

          • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
            25·
            8 months ago

            They do good work and help people? That’s great! They do the best work out of all charities worldwide? That’s even better!

            Still a tax dodge. You really want to help the world, donate. The money being out of their control is kind of the point…

            • gmtom@lemmy.world
              22·
              8 months ago

              How is the money being out of their control the point?

              The point is to save lives and help people, which the Gates foundation does incredibly well.

              And it’s not a tax dodge, he’s literally just not selling his Microsoft shares for cash, getting taxed, and then giving the money to the foundation and instead just giving the foundation the shares directly.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
            14·
            8 months ago

            and also that’s very ignorant of how taxes work.

            You could just google it and alleviate your own ignorance of all the scummy ways both the foundation and the trust are used to avoid taxes (and other expenses.) here’s a forbe’s article with the stuff they’re actually allowed to talk about. The “good work” you’re so keen to point out… is part of the grift.

            Specifically so schmucks like you pounce whenever some schmuck like me says “they’re not that nice.” That’s the part about “reputation washing”. he gives some money - literal pocket change for somebody that makes nearly 11 million per day.

            you don’t get that fucking rich by being “nice” or “decent” or even human, really. this is about Bezos, but it puts their wealth into perspective. Decent humans, with that kind of wealth could solve global housing. Or they could solve the food shortage. he hasn’t even come close to that. No. The foundation isn’t a force for good, even if it occasionally does good shit.

            for example, the Rich Douche exploited the pandemic to make money, by investing in vaccine companies. And refusing to release the IP on the Vaccine. Because that would hurt his the foundation’s profits.

            • gmtom@lemmy.world
              41·
              8 months ago

              My dude, I have worked with the foundation to help create diagnostic tools for deseases that would otherwise gone unnoticed in developing countries.

              The work we have done has saved thousands and thousands of peoples lives. So you can take your.

              The “good work” you’re so keen to point out… is part of the grift.

              And shove it right up your arse. If saving peoples lives is a “grift” to you because bill Gates didn’t sell his shares in Microsost before he gave them to his trust, because obviously the shares will keep increasing in price, then honestly I don’t fucking care.

              And yes I know Bill Gates did shitty things and screwed a lot of people over in his early carrier to become so rich and I’m not excusing that. But the Gates foundation isn’t part of that and has done way too much good for humanity as a whole for some ignorant chucklefuck with no first hand experience of what they do to dismiss it as a “grift”.

      • vividspecter@lemm.ee
        111·
        8 months ago

        Steve Jobs killed himself because he thought he knew better than his doctors. Well, that’s wacked out too, but at least it’s not being a Nazi…

        Steve Jobs was always a piece of shit, and he had that diet well before he got cancer. But yeah the fact he continued to double down in the face of death shows how much of a narcissist he was.

    • thyme
      91·
      8 months ago

      I think a factor with some of them, probably both the ones you mentioned, is that they can’t handle criticism. So when they get any push back they double down. Then they get drawn into conservative nonsense that reinforces their beliefs. Then it’s a downward spiral as they get radicalized far beyond their original positions.

      • Dojan@lemmy.world
        31·
        8 months ago

        To be fair, you just described my mother to a tee. She’s a narcissist and has managed to alienate everyone from her life.