Well, that’s putting it right out there. “Just don’t talk about political issues and you’ll be fine. Except issues around women, of course; that’s always permitted.”

Me: Did I commit a crime?
Him: No. But you have upset a lot of people in the trans community.
Me: I do not believe Trans women are women. How do I state that without it causing upset?
Him: Why would you tweet that? Why do you feel the need?

— Harry The Owl – Limerick Criminal (@HarryTheOwl) March 26, 2019

Wait a second. Why the trans “community”? Why is UK officialdom so quick to use that word whenever they want to shut up dissenters and impose conformity? The BBC used to babble about “the Muslim community” in exactly the same way when what it actually meant was “the very conservative end of the spectrum of people from majority-Muslim bits of the empire.” The Islamist, Rushdie-threatening MCB always spoke for “the Muslim community” in the BBC’s eyes, and liberal or secular or ex-Muslims never ever did. This is that all over again. Not all trans people think the entire world has to be bludgeoned into agreeing that men are women if they say they are, but Inspector Shutup wants us to think they do, so he calls them “the community.” To intimidate a dissenter.

And to ask a staggeringly impertinent question. “Why would you tweet that?” Er, none of your fucking business?

Me: I can’t believe you, a police inspector, are questioning my involvement in politics. What right have you to do that?
Him: You do have the right. I’m just asking why you feel the need to engage in hate.
Me: Hate? Where’s the fucking hate?
Him: Maybe it’s the wrong wording.

— Harry The Owl – Limerick Criminal (@HarryTheOwl) March 26, 2019

“You do have the right. I, a police inspector, am just asking you why you feel the need to engage in hate.”

Me. Ok. But I’m angry that you are ringing me and asking me why I’d want to be involved in politics.
Him: You have every right to be involved in politics. But why would you tweet your views when it upsets the trans community?

— Harry The Owl – Limerick Criminal (@HarryTheOwl) March 26, 2019

Wait wait wait wait. Inspector School 101: first day of class: the police are not there to grill people about why they utter dissenting opinions on Twitter. That’s not only not their job, it’s a billion miles AWAY from being their job.

I’m not saying everybody has the Absolute Right to say absolutely anything and everything on Twitter; I think threats and harassment and abuse should be against the rules of Twitter and dealt with by Twitter. I think police involvement should be confined to credible threats (and no I haven’t the least idea how one separates credible from not credible). The idea that it’s the job of the police to impose the most extreme flavor of trans ideology on everyone who uses Twitter is beyond ludicrous, and horrifying.

I am devastated.

— Harry The Owl – Limerick Criminal (@HarryTheOwl) March 26, 2019

Meanwhile…have the UK police ever phoned a man who spends most of his waking hours harassing women on Twitter to tell him he should stop doing that? Maybe, maybe, but I think it would be front page news if so, and we would have heard about it.