Speech in Scotland: gagged, but not silent

The new law against hate speech generates a raucous grassroots response

Yesterday I spent 5 hours on trains to go to Edinburgh and back, in order to attend a free speech rally outside the parliament building. The cause is a “hate speech” law just passed that potentially criminalises even private speech in the home, and is sufficiently draconian that even the mainstream press has flagged it up. I have been a victim of a smear campaign by Hope Not Hate, a far-left pressure group, which attempts to paint me as a radical extremist for asking if some acts by public figures and authorities are truthful, moral, and lawful. Accusing people of “hate” is a standard totalitarian tactic.

I lived in Edinburgh for around ten years, with a break in the middle to enjoy America. My younger daughter was born there, and my children had most of their schooling in the city. Watching Scotland over the last 25 years has seen hopes raised with a post-industrial revival in the 1990s and early 2000s; political devolution from Westminster and a resurgence of national identity; and then a horrendous crash as neo-Marxists and ecofascists took over and ran the place into the ground with Covid. So I could feel the tug on my heartstrings, as being a Geddes also means I have Scottish heritage.

This is now talk that could get you jail time in Scotland, should someone be sufficiently offended and lodge a police complaint.

Part of an officially endorsed culture of rape, paedophilia, and abuse.

I had a chat with this person — I will avoid “him”, “her”, and “them”. I mentioned that I had done some altruistic deeds in the past for a transgender friend (but didn’t raise the detransitioning part out of politeness). Found myself immediately put in a box as an “ally”, but said I respected everyone as we all have our own journey. As most of you know, I have had a wayward life, and transgressed plentifully, even painfully.

When all is said and done, no amount of political or legal wrangling can make a lie into truth or a truth into a lie. Personally I am glad this protestor had the space in which to exercise their own lawful free speech right. There is some irony in the final statement about being a human and not a monster. Human rights are still essentially privileges conferred by the state; the undersell of inalienable rights that exist as a man or woman (and nothing else).

The need to repress speech generally indicates you are trying to make people believe lies, as the truth tends to stand on its own merits.

One speaker emotionally read a famous poem by Robert Burns, “Epitaph on my own Friend”:

An honest man here lies at rest,
As e’er God with His image blest:
The friend of man, the friend of truth;
The friend of age, and guide of youth:
Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d,
Few heads with knowledge so inform’d:
If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.

I know our history is largely fiction and identity is warped, but it still really hurts me to see a place I love despoiled like this.

The subject we are discussing are vile, but the people who come always raise my spirits.

Some of the figures from the day. Lots of professional media. I like to get a different angle, so to speak. Not a “telephoto coward” — get in there with a wide-angle lens!

One of the speakers was a preacher and particularly caught my attention. He stated that it wasn’t about hate at all, but repentance. The ruling clique want to criminalise any discussion of sin and the need to return to the natural order. Outlawing any opposition to moral wrongdoing is designed to normalise the deviance, and eliminate any discussion of whether we need to repent our self-righteous elevation of personal belief above truth and morality.

I am going through a deep rethink of my life and re-examination of my core beliefs. There really is “the way” versus “the world”, the latter having a counterfeit Official Way™ of false morality. The choice is to become obedient and worship life, or do it your way and find death, it is that stark. The paths do divide, and I keep seeing those on the broad one starting off with pleasure and comfort, but suffering later from lack of spiritual exercise.

It is notably the women who are stepping forward and holding up the placards, particularly ladies over retirement age.

Quite a few younger ones around, it being Easter Monday. I ask parents before doing close portraits, but general crowd scenes are fair game; don’t bring your kids to a public rally if you want to avoid them being pictured in the future history books!

Those who knew but did nothing, continuing in their corporate world in the pursuit of worldly rewards, will not be looked upon well in future. Lower even than those who were wilfully ignorant.

If you accept one lie as truth, it will be leveraged to allow any deception to become doctrine. Our children are on the front lines, being indoctrinated so the family self-destructs as the basis for society. The state can then step in as absolute authority over all, including the home.

We have some difficult conversations ahead on demography and destiny. You don’t have to agree with all speech in order to vigorously protect it. Quite the opposite — that it may be objectionable and offensive to some (albeit always peacefully expressed) is why it is important to protect it. Sometimes the collective hallucination needs bursting by a heretic.

They are always guilty of the thing you are accused of. That’s the narcissistic inversion.

Follow John Halley on X, or learn more about his work. Will follow up…

I was only vaguely aware of this case, but you can read the BBC propaganda here. Is there a victim in this “crime” to come forward? Is the man a political prisoner? Is owning a label printer, being for controlled immigration, and awareness of Anglo-Zionist crimes really the issue? Or is it that he’s said things that are not allowed to be said, because they puncture the false consensus that has been build for the benefit of the financial and political aristocracy?

I wonder if they know the difference between universal suffrage and Hellenic government via trial by jury?

I don’t think party politics can solve this kind of problem. Only a spiritual revolution.

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The answer is all of us refusing to turn a blind eye and no longer being complicit because we fear loss of salary or pension.

Who would have thought that we could suddenly be fighting bio-medical dictatorship in Britain whose idols are Baphomet and Moloch? Truth leaves fiction way behind.

I trust you found our virtual visit to a rather damp and windy Edinburgh satisfying. There were old friends in town I hadn’t seen in a long time, but I decided to head straight home. I don’t like having to bite my tongue when in the company of those under the spell of evil and who have uncritically taken the death cult’s poison. It was a work trip, and I have to focus on my own mission first.

Both Union Jacks and Scottish Saltires were shown; this is bigger than nationalism or politics. The future of our children and species is at stake; transhumanism is an existential threat. I don’t write about the AI-driven control and kill grid linked to the nanotech “vaccines”, but I am aware of it. Not my area of competence to comment upon, but that’s what lurks in the background. The horror of it all is beyond comprehension. Very stormy times are ahead.

Time for me to go clean my lenses from the grot that got on them from all the rain and wiping them clear! Some challenging conditions for this kind of photography. More technical duds than usual due to poor light, rushed photos to avoid getting camera wet, and closely packed crowd making moving about harder. Still, a part of a narrative arc stretching over nearly four years, capturing epic social and cultural change. Those who do nothing won’t change anything. You have to turn up and accept the imperfection.

Even if it’s raining in Scotland.

❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️

A new season is here and life goes on no matter what we do