Scotland’s new authoritarian era

The SNP’s hate crime bill comes into effect on April Fools’ Day, but this is no laughing matter.

I wonder how the emperor felt when that child pointed out that he was wearing no clothes? Hans Christian Andersen only tells us that the emperor suspected the child was correct, but stoically continued in his procession “more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all”.

But what happened next? If the emperor was of the tyrannical mindset, he would have doubtless strung up a few members of the laughing crowd as a warning to others. “The greatest enemy of authority”, wrote Hannah Arendt, “is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter”.

And this is why the best response to the Scottish National Party’s new hate crime bill is surely to mock it. These draconian new measures are an affront to free speech, in keeping with a party for whom the phrase “nanny state” might well have been invented. Let’s not forget that it was the SNP that attempted to assign a state guardian to every Scottish child through its failed “named person” scheme. If they don’t trust parents with their own children, why should they trust anyone to speak their minds?

I have written previously on my Substack about the need to abolish all hate speech laws; they are simply not compatible with the values of a liberal democracy. In Scotland, as in Ireland, the state authorities are entirely beholden to the new religion of Critical Social Justice (or “wokeness”, if you prefer), and so it is unsurprising that First Minister Humza Yousaf has tornadoed onwards with his blasphemy codes. He is the high priest of this dominant cult, sacrificing the freedom of his citizens to appease his intersectional deities. 

The front cover of today’s Herald confirmed our worst fears. “Police told to target comics under new hate crime law”, ran the headline of the lead story. Like some kind of elaborate trolling exercise, the SNP has decreed that the new laws should come into effect on April Fools’ Day, and the Scottish police are currently being trained on how to trawl for evidence of hatred. They seek to quash this ubiquitous emotion, a feat that not even the most hubristic of despots would attempt. They will soon discover that human nature is not so easily reprogrammed. 

According to leaked training materials, police are to keep an eye on comedians and actors who might violate the section of the new law that covers the “public performance of a play”. When questioned in parliament about this aspect of the bill, Humza Yousaf claimed that it was feasible for the far-right to stage a theatrical performance in order to stir up hatred. I don’t know any neo-nazis myself, but I’m pretty sure they’re not fans of amateur dramatics.