Saturday 9 May 2015

JK Rowling hits back at online trolls targeting her in wake of SNP victory

She is no stranger to vitriolic outpourings of condemnation and has been targeted by Twitter trolls repeatedly since nailing her political colours to the mast with a £1 million donation to pro-UK campaign against Scottish independence.
But JK Rowling on Saturday railed against a fresh volley of online abuse hurled at her in the wake of the SNP's historic general election result, exposing some of the most vile trolls and stating that a "personal line had been crossed".
Having expressed personal concerns about the SNP last week, just two days before the nation went to the polls, the Harry Potter author was subjected to a barrage of insults as the party recorded a landslide victory.
She was accused on Twitter of being a "traitor to Scotland" and "Blairite scum".
One person wrote: "All you lefties are finished in this country, especially you JK b----face."
Rowling, who was born in England but has lived in Scotland for 21 years, retweeted many of the bitter messages before taking on one of the worst offenders with a sarcastic put-down.

She later wrote: "I have ignored and blocked abuse from people with an SNP twibbon for months on Twitter, very much taking the view that the abusive ones are not typical.
"This week, though, my personal line has been crossed with being called traitor and s---- the least of the abuse.
"I feel no responsibility to hush up that kind of behaviour to protect the image of any political party. It isn't always fun being a famous woman on Twitter and I believe in standing up to bullies."
Scores of fans then came to her rescue, offering the author refuge in their home countries, prompting her to add: "In the last hour I've been invited to relocate to France, Ireland and Brazil!"

She told a fan who invited her to Sweden because it had a similar climate to Scotland: "I've got to be honest, if I'm leaving Scotland, the climate is something I probably wouldn't want to replicate first!"
Finding her profile flooded with pictures of picturesque places, she wrote: "Looking at those beautiful pictures reminds me how big the world is and how many more decent people there are than not, so thank you xxx"
Rowling suggested that her faith in humanity had been restored and thanked those who had rushed to support her.

Earlier in the week, the writer had defended her support for the pro-UK campaign, stating that she thought the economic case for independence was never made.
She added: "Nevertheless, the dreams of many 'Yes' voters were mine.
"Where we differ right now is that I do not think the SNP is a progressive party. I don't like its record on a number of issues close to my heart. In my view, it has authoritarian and (ironically, given its hatred of WM) very centralising instincts.
"However, I certainly don't believe everyone voting SNP is a blood-and-soil type of nationalist."

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