Why doesn't the UK send JK Rowling to jail already for transphobia? (Quora)

In those parts of the world where it is still legal to express an opinion differing from the prevailing orthodoxy, there seem, these days, to be an awful lot of people who wish it were not.

Probably because they are incapable of answering criticism with rational argument, they readily resort to abuse. A very common form of abuse is labelling your critic with some neologism, usually ending in “-ist” or “-phobic”. This is intended to put an end to uncomfortable debate, by effectively declaring that people to whom such labels are attached have no right to an opinion and should be socially ostracised. Sadly, there is a reason why those employing this tactic find debate uncomfortable.

Intolerance of dissent is self-reinforcing, since unused faculties are liable to atrophy. Those who persistently refuse to engage in rational debate, and who only converse with people who agree with them, will come in time to be unable to engage in rational debate. They will declare themselves to possess a truth, but if challenged to prove it, they will have no reasons, only feelings.

In this particular case, I suspect that a very large proportion of those expressing condemnation of JKR have never troubled to read her original (widely publicised and carefully chosen) words, but rely on second-hand reports from others. Sadly, many of those others will fall into the same irrational, name-calling category as themselves, and their reports will spread a great deal more heat than light.

As mentioned above, there are plenty of places where freedom of speech is already forbidden. Before we allow our society to be numbered among them, perhaps we ought to give a little more thought to whether we really want all dissent suppressed.

Or one of these days, the voice being silenced will be our own.