- Joined
- Mar 23, 2005
Seems the Politicians at Holyrood want to do that anyway. I came across this article in the economist, but as I have no intention bunging a few quid their way to subscribe I won't get the end of the story, or even the middle. Well anyway I can see it is another look at the world of free speech and the new laws being prepared to be implemented by government. Even in the comfort of your own home you won't be able to question our dear leaders thoughts on certain matters. Well anyway decide for yourself with the little I could read,
In “on liberty”, the greatest defence of free speech ever penned, John Stuart Mill, the son of a Scottish philosopher and economist, condemned the “assumption of infallibility”—being so certain you are right that you take it upon yourself to settle a question for everyone else “without allowing them to hear what can be said on the contrary side”. If only today’s Scottish politicians were listening. The country’s new Hate Crime Act, which is expected to come into force in 2022, will make certain political arguments punishable by up to seven years in jail. It creates an offence of “stirring up” hatred, criminalising utterances that are considered inflammatory or insulting even when they cause no actual harm and are not intended to incite a specific act. And it covers private conversations, even within the home.
As debate in the Scottish Parliament during its passage made clear, it is largely aimed at silencing women who argue that access to single-sex spaces and services should be according to biological sex, not self-declared gender identity. Speech considered abusive of a trans person—someone who does not identify with their natal sex—is criminalised; abusing someone because of their sex is not. A proposal to carve out protection for factual statements, such as that human beings cannot change their biological sex, failed.
In “on liberty”, the greatest defence of free speech ever penned, John Stuart Mill, the son of a Scottish philosopher and economist, condemned the “assumption of infallibility”—being so certain you are right that you take it upon yourself to settle a question for everyone else “without allowing them to hear what can be said on the contrary side”. If only today’s Scottish politicians were listening. The country’s new Hate Crime Act, which is expected to come into force in 2022, will make certain political arguments punishable by up to seven years in jail. It creates an offence of “stirring up” hatred, criminalising utterances that are considered inflammatory or insulting even when they cause no actual harm and are not intended to incite a specific act. And it covers private conversations, even within the home.
As debate in the Scottish Parliament during its passage made clear, it is largely aimed at silencing women who argue that access to single-sex spaces and services should be according to biological sex, not self-declared gender identity. Speech considered abusive of a trans person—someone who does not identify with their natal sex—is criminalised; abusing someone because of their sex is not. A proposal to carve out protection for factual statements, such as that human beings cannot change their biological sex, failed.