The “Harry Potter” author slammed a newly enacted hate-crime law in Scotland in a series of posts on X in which she referred to transgender women as men.
J.K. Rowling shared a social media thread on Monday, the day a new Scottish hate-crime law took effect, that misgendered several transgender women and appeared to imply trans women have a penchant for sexual predation. On Tuesday, Scottish police announced they would not be investigating the “Harry Potter” author’s remarks as a crime, as some of Rowling’s critics had called for.
“We have received complaints in relation to the social media post,” a spokesperson for Police Scotland said in a statement. “The comments are not assessed to be criminal and no further action will be taken.”
Scotland’s new Hate Crime and Public Order Act criminalizes “stirring up hatred” against people based on their race, religion, disability, sexuality or gender identity.
It’s not “cancel culture”: it’s calling out their horrific beliefs. If gettings called out on having horrible thoughts leads you to becoming more extreme in those thoughts then you’re just a bad person.
Plus JK Rowling is still rolling in millions of dollars. She has every resource and avenue to learn better, and actively chooses not to. Fuck JK Rowling and her transphobic bullshit.
She also has every insulation to not need to. Which is my point. I think she has, or at least had, the capacity to learn compassion for trans people. But it’s really hard to suddenly learn compassion when everyone that genuinely has it immediately starts depriving you of it.
Your final sentence there is precisely the sentiment that she’s received from everyone that understands the compassion she needs to learn. This is not conducive to the cooperation our society needs. The compassion she does receive is actually from very hateful people.
It takes a very rare person in this situation where they’re being attacked and are starting off with a toxic mentality to suddenly stop, rise above, self-reflect, admit their failings, and grow. So people with one bad take are immediately cast into a sea of poison when they don’t know how to swim. It’s happening over and over again. And cancel culture is patting itself on the back the whole time, saying, “See? They were a bad egg!” When they’re just as much to blame for that person’s downfall as the hateful community that fostered it.
But she also has every single resource to escape her line of thinking while refusing to do so. She has never interacting with the trans community in any sort of good faith: so she does not deserve it in kind.
None of this is “cancel culture”: again it’s calling out her horrific thoughts and ideas. Plus those same horrific thoughts and ideas have tangible horrific effects. Fuck JK Rowling.
She doesn’t know she needs to. She can’t humanize the other side. Something I think you can relate to. I’m not at all against calling out JK Rowling and her absolutely toxic viewpoint. I’m actually advocating for it. I’m calling out your toxic viewpoint because “Fuck JK Rowling” isn’t a heroic position that’s just “calling someone out”. It’s a vilifying statement that provides no path to redemption. It’s a selfish position you take to alleviate yourself of the responsibility of putting in the work to try and help the other person understand what they need to. While simultaneously making yourself feel like a champion.
I think if you set aside your ego and think about the times in your life when you got something wrong, you were only able to grow from it if your community (or maybe friends or family) help you to do so.
If you assume everyone that does a bad thing is evil, you’ll lose the fight pretty quick. When you keep pouring your hate into other people because they gave you a chance to do it while feeling righteous, the other side will gladly take them as soldiers. You’re just as responsible for those “horrific effects” as the people encouraging JK Rowling.
Imagine someone with the influence and platform of JK Rowling being on our side rather than pulling this shit. She could be an inspiration to all TERFs if we could make her understand the error of her ways. Even if she never did, I promise you, she wouldn’t be as extreme as she is now if people spent more time talking to her with basic respect and patience. Rather than selfishly using her as a conduit for their anger over the issue, however justified that rage may be.
I understand that a lot of people are traumatized and pissed and it sucks. But we’ve got to talk to each other. I know that in the end you want to make the world a better place. So hear this: any relationship without constructive conversation is doomed. We know they’re not going to pull their weight. So we’ve got to pull double. Don’t tell me it’s not your responsibility, because you’re right. But it doesn’t change the fact that they’re going to go out next election and make their vote. Nor does it change the fact that they’re going to keep donating to horrible institutions. So it’s got to be us. We’ve got to be the adults.
