The Independent reports on the verbal abuse flung at J K Rowling for daring to oppose Scottish independence, but it does so without ever mentioning sexism or misogyny. Hi, sorry to bother you, but calling a woman a bitch or a cunt or both because you disagree with her is sexist and misogynist, both.
Senior figures on both sides of the Scottish Independence debate have called for an end to online vitriol in the wake of the torrent of abuse directed at the Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
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…nationalists who Rowling described as “Death Eaterish” for “judging [her] ‘insufficiently Scottish’” scrambled online to tell her to “get to f***”, calling her “politically corrupt”, a “b****” and a “c***”.
Very informative; thank you.
But they get the clergy involved, which always helps.
The Right Rev John Chalmers, leader of the Church of Scotland, called for people debating the referendum to “stick to facts” in the weeks ahead.
He told the Herald Scotland: “Personal insults have no part in the discussion about Scotland’s future. Some of what I am hearing from both sides in the campaign represents my worst fear as decision day draws closer.
“I urge both sides of this debate to turn the volume down, stick to facts and principles and remember that on 19 September there will be no ‘us and them’, only us.”
No I think it’s “us and bitches” isn’t it?
This sort of personal abuse has no place in a liberal and democratic environment, which is clearly what the abusers do NOT want for Scotland. They appear to me to want some sort of rigid, mindless conformity, and right across a very narrow political spectrum. Clearly,- the very the last thing they want for Scotland is people like JK Rowling, who have a strong track record of imagination, of thinking for themselves, and of rising to prominence from poverty and obscurity.
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IMHO they should confine themselves to practising up their chanting for the next big soccer game.
It’s the thing people don’t seem to get – even the ones calling for a cessation of vitriol, regardless as to whether vitriol has a place in the wider dialogue. It doesn’t matter if a woman is Genghis Hitler, she isn’t a B or a C or any number of sexist bullshit terms. They are irrelevant to anything besides misogyny.
But those words totes mean something different in the UK, so Shut Up™.
Did anyone actually read her letter? Because it’s very measured and thoughtful. She doesn’t throw anyone under the bus, but rather methodically lays out the thought process that led her to support ‘Better Together’.
Obviously as a Yank I’ve got no skin in the game either way, and I know that passions can run high on this sort of geopolitical event. Even so, I can’t explain the vitriol except by assuming that it’s really just a reflexive reaction to ‘woman saying something I don’t agree with’. Which really, truly, sucks.
I live in Scotland and the news feed on my own Facebook called her various things – “cunt” mostly. I would say though there’s the usual misogyny when any woman opens her yap the Cybernats are notoriously abusive including quite a lot of anti English stuff,. The Guardian left the comments thread under the original and now it’s too big to load. I got sight or some of the earlier stuff and there was fury against her, also patronising the silly lassie. Before this she was generally admired for donating to charity and her vocal support for the welfare state.
As you say, her piece on independence was thoughtful and in fact pretty much explained my own reasons for voting No. This is a nationalistic debate and you are touching some deep and self-identifiying issues. Though Scottish nationalism is nothing like some blood-and-soil ethnic cleansing kinds it still raises a lot of passion – and a lot of bad history.
Are you deriding people who are asking for an end to the online hate directed at Ms. Rowling?
I admit that my comprehension skills aren’t exactly top notch, but that is how I read this post. I’m obviously missing something.
No, absolutely not.