She’s such a scumbag. Had it all and ruined her name and art for what? To be hateful? Shame on her and shame on HBO for handing her more money and fueling her hate.
And for filler treatments apparently.
Imagine getting all that wealth just to use it to hurt people
You are describing most of the billionaires.
There is a difference between abusing people to generate money and spending money to hurt people
Most of the Billionaires do both.
My intuition says you’re right, but I’ve learned to question it from time to time. I don’t know any billionaires myself, nor have I read much about them, so I don’t really have any facts either way. Got any sources I should look into?
The 1st thing always come to my mind is Nestlè. But there are many others, doing worse. Like Chevron, Elon Musk and others.
And this is why we boycott these cunts. Stop reading the books, stop watching the films, stop buying the merch, and stop playing the games. Every dollar you spend goes towards funding hate. All of these “separate the art from the artist” people can fuck off. If you actually believe that, YOU are the problem.
You can’t with her. She will have infinite money until the day she dies and will keep spending it on hate. Some people are too far ahead to boycott successfully and unfortunately she is one. Hopefully she pays in the next life
Just because you’ve given up doesn’t mean anyone else should. You don’t have to be able to solve the problem to at least stop making the problem worse. Tiny incremental progress is better than perfection, because the latter doesn’t exist, and if it did, it would be made out of lots of tiny incremental progress.
You also have to remember these people have a voice because we give it to them. She can be as rich as she wants, but we keep paying attention to her and she’ll keep being a bad influence on humanity. There is this weird thing with humans where we tend to assume people with money are worth listening to, when 999 out of 1000 of them are fucking worthless pig fuckers.
You also have to remember these people have a voice because we give it to them.
In some ways, sure, but these people also have a voice because owning-class mass media gives it to them. You can literally buy a figurative microphone. Pay for a platform. We don’t assume people with money are worth listening too, they’re simply the ones talking on every channel.
And they only have power because we listen. Engagement drives profit. Fox News isn’t profitable because they tell the truth.
Rowling doesn’t get paid when you buy used. Got the entire set of movies or books? Sell them to a used book store or donate them to the library. Give them away on Craigslist. Make it easy for people not to buy them new. Also, boycott new media like the HBO series by cancelling your subscription or calling out the actors online for participating.
I turned my wife into a nerd and now we go to half price books.
You can’t separate the art from the artist, but I can damn well ensure that none of my money goes to them.
Secondhand all the way baybee
I turned my wife into a nerd
reads this in Life Of Brian
“A nerd??”
“I got better”
Oh come on, that is “the quest for the holy Grail” and you know it!
derp. you’re right.
I blame it on being turned into a newt
A newt!?
A witch! Witch!
I think im gonna give my old books to the library…
Not that I see any chance of it, but I’d love to see her get sued into oblivion (i.e. by the people directly harmed by her) as we’ve seen with the likes of Alex Jones.
Watching such a fall from grace would be enormously satisfying.
… you can consume without her profiting….
With brown butter and asparagus.
I fear the fungus in her house spoiled her meat. But it’s worth a try.
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Not only that, but he doubled down on it! I can’t remember the exact quote but it was something along the lines of “that judge was jealous. Everyone wants to fuck a 13 year old.” FFFFFUUUUCK. Goddamn these rich fucking cunts. I don’t think there is anything that gets me more charged up than hearing about a fucking pedophile that got a lenient sentence. The only purpose they can serve this world is to be made an example of. A brutal, sadistic example.
Tom Cruise is another example I fucking love to give. His movies keep Scientology afloat (in the case of sea org, literally). His movie’s profits fund slavery and abuse. STOP WATCHING HIS FUCKING MOVIES.
He drugged and raped a 13 year old child.
I hope everyone here is sane enough to understand that that is a lot worse than what JK Rowling is doing here.
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Funding a hatred campaign with the sole purpose to dehumanize a certain part of the world’s population isn’t that much better, though. Her actions have a lot more victims.
Polansky is disgusting and so is Rowling, but in a different way.
Trolley problem nuance, and morons are downvoting you
My kid’s school do a trip to Harry Potter World. I think it will be next year for him. I really don’t want to give my money to that vile woman, but I also don’t want him missing out. Looks like it’s time to start petitioning the school to go somewhere else.
That’s a phenomenal idea. If they push back, you could always involve your local paper. It kinda depends on where you live and the political leanings, though. If you are in the red, it may not do any good.
I would beg my kids not to eat at Chick Fil A, but inevitably hanging out with friends they would end up there on occasion well aware of their stance on various issues. Whenever they did eat there, I would make a $50 donation to GLAAD. I felt it was a small gesture to at least bring some balance to the Universe.
I just find this argument to be ridiculous. If you grew up with the bookes and movies and own them what harm are you doing by still enjoying those memories?
Enjoy the memories the books gave you, reread them if you still have the books if you want, but don’t buy more new stuff from that author.
Don’t buy tickets to the Harry Potter experience, don’t watch the new series or get the new game.
Because you are going to talk about them. You are going to let others borrow them. They may decide they want a copy of their owm. Or they may talk to others about it, and those people may decide to get copies of their own. Do you see how this works?
Could always pirate them
“Seperate the art from the artist” is great… when they’re dead. As always, you have to consider where the money goes. While she’s alive it goes to her, and she uses it to do evil.
What would happen if some TG activists and/or allies set up a combined small publishing house and retail store that sold copies of her books without permission or royalties paid, perhaps even DVDs of her movies?
It doesn’t matter. Keeping her in the cultural zeitgeist is the same as giving her money directly. We live in a connected world. Word of mouth is engagement, and engagement drives profit. Talking about her works to friends, family, or strangers on the internet keeps her relevant. The most gracious thing we can do is to force her into obscurity. Every other solution that benefits humanity involves cutlery and an iron will.
The activists and/or allies might get sued by Rowling and her publisher(s) (and whatever production company(/ies) that make her movies) would argue that the activists are stealing money from Rowling.
If they are right, Rowling suffers.
If they aren’t, it might undermine their arguments about copyright.
Either way, the political left (and much of the libertarian movement—the non-richies, in this matter) wins.
What a miserable person. I can’t imagine having her wealth and using it to try to hurt people.
I can think of quite a few people that I would go out of my way to destroy.
Starting with a few politicians.
But you’d possibly be making life better for people in general, depending on which politicians you chose to destroy (and in what way you destroyed them.)
I think this is the line her convoluted logic follows
#piratepotter don’t let a dime go to Rowling or those trying to benefit from her.
Or just read other books, watch other movies, and so on. Like, Harry Potter is genuinely not even that good
What?? The only books that exist are:
- Harry Potter
- 1984
- AO3 fanfics
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy *
~* All five of them. Six if you count Mostly Harmless.~
Six if you count Mostly Harmless.
I think you mean six if you count 'And Another Thing … ’
‘Mostly Harmless’ was the 5th book.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- Life, the Universe and Everything
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
- Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
- Mostly Harmless
This is according to The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide from 1996. I will certainly be checking out And Another Thing.
~So I guess there are seven books to the trilogy.~
Edit: Ooooh, that explains it. And Another Thing wasn’t written by Adams. No wonder I never heard of it.
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe is just a short story.
Yeah, that’s the one I wasn’t counting as a book, but from that list I can see why some would count it.
‘And Another Thing…’ was fun, and I feel it belongs on the shelf right next to the others. I hope you give it a shot, and also enjoy it.
I’d recommend Dresden Files series if you want something with a wizard in it.
I’ll add it to my reading list. Thanks!
While you’re at it, if you haven’t done so check out any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchet. Very good reads.
Ooh… +1 for this…
Read them some time back and would definitely read again.
There’s also atlas shrugged.
It’s like the sorting hat for terrible people.
Oh good one but that’s a trick question, because nobody has actually read it in full.
Wait! You aren’t supposed to finish Atlas Shrugged?
🤷♂️
Tap for spoiler
🌍
🤷♂️
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family guy made 2 cutscenes about her being problematic.
Read the A03 Harry Potter fanfics where Harry is a trans egg
The really good a/o I’ve been following hasn’t been updated in almost two months 😭
Agreed.
Got kids? Percy Jackson (and the other Rick Riordan written) series are great. Older kids? Get them reading chuck wendig or Margaret Killjoy.
Introduce yourself to Kafka and Marquez and Butler and Morrison and so many other great great writers who make JK Rowling look like the utter hack she is.
Margaret Killjoy
Definitely seconding this recommendation. I’ve really liked Margarets Killjoy’s more adult sci-fi/fantasy output, for a long time. The Free Orcs of Cascadia is a personal favorite.
But she recently wrote a YA fantasy novel called The Sapling Cage which is really wonderful.
THE GIRL FROM BEHIND THE BASTARDS?!
(Actually legit the only place I’ve ever heard of her. I will have to look into her writing!)
She’s got a couple of different podcasts. Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, which is a radical history podcast on the same podcast network as BTB, and Live Like The World is Dying which is a show about prepping.
My first exposure to her was actually by listening to an interview she did for the guerilla radio station operated out of The ZAD, which is in France, and is the largest Anarchist autonomous zone in Europe.
Honestly, just pick up any other book and give it a go, if that doesn’t work drop it and pick up another one. Nothing depresses me more than those people - adults - who finish reading the last Harry Potter book and then pick up the first one and start over again. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Rick Riordan as far as getting kids into reading, that all happened a little after my time though (and I was already big into reading as a kid)
I just finished The Staircase In The Woods by Chuck Wendig. Holy shit, what an epic book. I am going to read more Chuck because I loved it so much.
As someone who doesn’t have the nostalgia goggles for HP, it’s always insane to me how many adults still love that shit. They’re YA novels… Like read a grown-up book, and maybe you’ll realize how mediocre they were.
It’s like Disney Adults…
Not even a grown-up book! Read a different magical fantasy book aimed at children or teenagers. And see how good those are, too. Many of them were written before Harry Potter.
I do think HP is good at the pacing and mystery aspect of it. The magical world isn’t really that alluring, unless you are a 12 year old kid in 2001 who never read another book until now.
The pacing goes down the toilet in the last three books.
i used to read mtg books.
Yeah it’s wild looking at the books with adult eyes at the house elves and goblins and so on.
gently pushes Katalepsis by Hazel Young your way
Btw: The Magicians TV series was fun to watch (haven’t read the source materials yet).
YES!
The books are also good, but very different. The show creators made an excellent adaptation of the world and its energy and feeling, but changed characters and plot to something more suitable for a show. Both are great though.
I had someone recommend Rivers of London as an alternative magic learning protag series, and I’m enjoying it, but it’s more noir detective than Harry Potter. Which works in its favor IMO.
If anyone wants a suggestion may I suggest Yojou Senki/The Saga of Tanya the Evil, it’s really good once you get past the fact that the English version devolves into technical documents at times. But the author apparently plays Hoi3, which honestly explains a lot about the books in general.
The world would be fine without Harry Potter, and better without JK Rowling.
Don’t even pirate it. She doesn’t deserve your mindshare.
There are many better authors out there who are also better humans.
Y’er a pirate, Harry
bitch, sit down.
literally tho
Family guy foreshadowed rowling in 2 cutscnes in the old seasons.
one of them was allegedly about peter, the sorting hat said" housing for registered sex offendors"
and the other 1 is peter saying: now its a problematic writing jk rowling, and then it goes to scene with the sorting hat saying to the girl, about how she is she is “trans” but the hat refutes that.
The difference between not being keen on trans people and making a few shitposts versus actively devoting time and money towards oppressing them is HUGE.
This isn’t just someone with an alternative opinion we’re talking about. It’s someone using more wealth than a lot of us will never touch, to fuck over an already marginalised group. She’s pure fucking evil.
It’s loathsome because she has chosen to use her vast wealth to punch down.
Sadly I’m still going to hear “Oh she gives to LGBT Charities, she just doesn’t agree with transpeople on EVERY little thing, doesn’t mean she’s a transphobe.”
It’s one thing to still support someone despite them having some problematic opinions on the side. I do it, you probably do it, it annoys the shit out of me to know that this thing that I like is made by someone who shares opinion with which I strongly disagree with, sometimes that are even against me, personally, as a trans person.
But not understanding something, being ignorant and being kind of an asshole about it, is very different than what this hateful bitch is doing. She has dedicated her entire life to make people like me fucking miserable. And it’s working!
I’m having a very hard time reconciling the fact that lots of people love Harry Potter and some people in my entourage are the same and they will support and pay for stuff made by this horrendous person regardless because this universe means that much to them. My sister is like that. I’m having a very hard time with that. I don’t want to be that person… but fuck this hurts.
The worst part is that most people don’t know about it. Most people don’t know how much of a hateful, awful person J.K. Rowling is. And I have to admit, those people in my life, I’m genuinely afraid of telling them. Because I know that there is a chance that I’ll tell them everything, and that in the end, they won’t change a thing. Because my rights as a human being matters less to them. And I don’t want to find that out…
I hate everything about this.
I’m not trans, but I feel your pain. It sucks, a lot. Why do people have to be so hateful?
Low IQ and a lack of hobbies
I think that you shouldn’t tell people to stop enjoying what they love but to stop buying and funding her campaign.
It is hard to convince people to give up on their interests but it is reasonable to tell them where the money goes.
I myself I am mostly pirating all stuff. I could even help someone pirate it and do it for them. I think they would understand and agree to it. I would add that If they buy something from hp we are not friends/family anymore but if you ask me to pirate it then we could watch it together.
That’s my advice on how to approach this in a reasonable manner and if you need help pirating any hp stuff PM me and I will explain how to set everything up
First, let me start with saying I am sorry. Currently, the world seems very preoccupied with cocks and vagina’s and who should have what. (Kinda weird, but yeah).
I love Harry Potter. It was the first series of books that really resonated with me. It is really sad to see that someone, who came from nothing and gained it all. Could live the dream, have all the money and affection, is such a massive cunt.
Yet somehow, it doesn’t make me stop loving Harry Potter. When reading the books again, it reminds me of my childhood. Me reading at 2:00 in the morning underneath the blankets with a pocket light in me mouth to not let anyone know I am not sleeping. Daydreaming about such a world where magic exist.
The solution, I am afraid, is something I cannot provide. Money buys news, news poisons the minds. I stand for humanity, and all humans. No matter which configuration. And if someone wants to have a nice pair of tits and cunt instead of a dick, go on and have your merry life.
…
I don’t know if this is helpful or not. What is your solution?
I don’t know, there’s a lot of racism and anti-Semitism in those books as well. I mean the money obsessed long nose goblins? Cho Chang?
They’re good stories, but they do reflect the work of a fundamentally biggoted author.
In general the entire series is mean-spirited. You can see the roots of Rowling’s hate in how she describes any of the series antagonists.
It is important to separate art and artist.
People get a lot of comfort out of religious text knowing next to nothing about the author(s).
This also means you can hate on JK Rowling without making any connection to HP.
You can separate the art from the artist for sure but when people are buying HP branded stuff, they are directly contributing to this.
Totally agree. Although in today’s digital world there is no need to spend any money on HP.
I’ll admit this is easier for me because I was never a huge HP fan. But I don’t even pirate it because I don’t want to increase its cultural impact. I don’t even want to seed the torrent, and leeches suck. I want Harry Potter to disappear because even after Rowling dies, the profits will go towards a transphobic foundation.
In some cases piracy increases total revenue by getting more people interested in the product.
The product itself isn’t bad. But you do have a point.
Let’s compare Orsen Scott Card and Rowling. I’m never going to be pressured into taking kids to an Enders Game theme park, but piracy will make Univeral theme parks (and therefore Rowling) lots more money. Disney made more money from selling Churros than streaming.
No. I’m so tired of this. You can like the IP but you can’t spend a single dime on it without funding transphobia. That’s what we are talking about here.
Edit: The IP also should just die. Its popularity fuels hateful policies and attitudes against my existence.
Edit: This comment on it says it succinctly: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/26719393/14648789
And this is why I pirated Hogwarts legacy…
For me the whole IP has been so tainted by her behavior that I can’t even enjoy it if I didn’t pay. I get a gross feeling from it, like I’ve stepped directly into some filthy place and must be careful not to let anything touch me.
Understandable
If you are going down that road then there are much big targets to aim at. Are you also applying the same anger (and logic) to organised religion?
The same arguments apply and they are multiple times more powerful than Rowling.
Yup, fuck organized religion
Yeah okay, you are not being genuine. That much is clear now. This is a post about J. K. Rowling using profits from her IP to fund transphobia. People run in to defend the franchise, we try to explain how giving her money means more policies against us is bad, and then you object to that?
Ofc we are talking about HP in the HP post. Why would I talk about religion here? She gave a significant meaningful amount of money to fund hate against me, and she continues to be influential and use her and her IPs popularity to make peoples lives harder.
Why do you think I don’t speak up against any church or organization funding hate and bigotry? You are not being genuine.
giving her money means more policies against us is bad, and then you object to that?
No, you went further and are hating on people liking HP. You are attacking the art not the artist. I am defending art in general. I am not defending Rowling at all or encouraging funding for her. Everyone should pirate anything HP related.
Why would I talk about religion here?
Because you are confusing the art and the artist. That precedent should not be allowed no matter the topic. (By equating religion to art I can make my point quicker. Note I’m not choosing any religion in particular)
Why do you think I don’t speak up against any church or organization funding hate and bigotry?
Do you also try to stop people from believing in that religion? From reading those religious books? No. The art is separate.
You are not being genuine.
I’m highlighting how art and artist are separate. No-one should feel guilty about enjoying a fictional book.
No, you went further and are hating on people liking HP.
Where did that happen?
The IP also should just die.
It is important to separate art and artist.
I completely disagree, both on a subjective selfish aesthetic level, and on a moral level.
On the aesthetic side, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice by making this separation. You’re missing out on this whole other dimension a piece of art has to offer you; namely the context that the author operates in. Star Wars gains this whole other rich level of interpretation if you consider the fact that George Lucas lived through the invasion of Vietnam and other forms of US imperialism and completely opposes it, for example. You’re missing out by ignoring the author.
On the moral side, the argument is more obvious, I think. By ignoring the author you’re denying yourself the opportunity to spend your money and support folks in a way that aligns with your own morals. In my case, I consider trans people people, and think they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Since I know J K Rowling completely disagrees, I know that if I spend money on her, I will be putting money in the pocket of someone, and platforming them, who actively works against my morals. And I’m thankful for being able to know that spending money on her goes counter to my own morality.
Obviously if the authors views are reflected in the work then there isn’t a separation. HP is badly written with many failings, but it is enjoyable and not anti-trans itself. The art does not reflect the beliefs of the author.
On the moral side, no money needs to be given directly or indirectly to Rowling.
The art does not reflect the beliefs of the author.
It really does though. The moral universe of Harry Potter says a lot about J K Rowling as a person, and there are many parallels with her own life. Morality in the Harry Potter universe is not inherent to an action, but to an actor. Is bullying bad? Depends on who does it. If a bad guy does it (for example the Dursleys), then it’s bad. If a good guy does it (Hagrid), then it’s good! There’s a parallel with the abolition of slavery about half way through the series, and it’s only one character doing it, and they’re the butt of the joke. And of course there’s Cho Chang and Blackie Shackleslave or whatever she called the one black character. The work speaks volumes about her, and vice versa. And you’re depriving yourself of this deeper level of analysis. You’re missing out.
There’s a YouTuber called Shaun who’s done a thorough analysis of her work and its parallels with her dealings with nazis and fellow transphobes. It’s worth a watch.
J K Rowling can go suck a fuck.
It would have been so easy for her to shut her mouth and keep supporting the feminist causes she did support, and instead she’s spent so much time and political capital attacking the ideas she doesn’t support.
It’s fucking asinine. Her mother clearly never taught her to shut the fuck up if she has nothing of value to say.
Pirating Harry Potter stuff is now not only a moral thing to do, but almost a moral obligation.
I have always hated Harry Potter. I hated Harry before it was cool to hate Harry.
I’m a mother fucking golden hipster God!
I’d say just don’t engage with it at all.
If someone talks about it, pretend ignorance. Like total ignorance of any aspect of the stories.
Or, if someone mentions it, just say you don’t give bigots money.
Editing to expand: by pirating you are perpetuating the cultural impact. The majority of people pay for access to this media, and by engaging with it you make it more costly for other people to skip it.
Even if you pirated, speaking about the movies will encourage other people to watch it, and they might not pirate it. It’s indirect, but it could still give that transphobic doll money
Maybe once they are dead, because history is history. But otherwise…
Just pirated the whole movie series lol
Rowling donated £70,000 (roughly $88,200) to the anti-trans group For Women Scotland in 2024 after it lost its challenge to a 2018 Scottish law that legally recognized trans women as women. The group appealed its case to the U.K. Supreme Court, which ruled last month that trans women aren’t considered women under the nation’s Equality Act.
Rowling responded to the decision by posting a picture of her having a drink and smoking a cigar, with the text “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Setting aside the question of the cause itself, I’m not sure that taunting people is a good way to effect social change.
kagis for image
JK Rowling smokes cigar as she celebrates court ruling on yacht in the Bahamas
Yeah, that seems likely to antagonize people.
I am glad she smokes
I was gonna say that some people who smoke cigars use them on a very occasional basis, but it sounds like she’s had a very long-running nicotine habit:
https://blog.lucy.co/10-people-who-smoked/
- J. K. Rowling
Not only did J. K. Rowling create the Harry Potter universe, she did it while smoking so much that she experienced symptoms of nicotine overdose [1]. Rowling had been smoking since her teen years where she was frequently caught smoking at bus stops with boys in leather jackets [2]. But the author quit smoking in 2000 with a combination of nicotine gum and the popular game, Candy Crush, to keep her mind occupied when she’d otherwise be giving in to cigarette cravings [3].
I suppose she un-quit at some point.
EDIT:
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0600-times-treneman.html
The only time I see her inhale is around a Marlboro Light. She claims this was to be a non-smoking day. I’m not sure how this squares with five cigarettes in two hours.
https://thefriendlyeditor.com/2015/06/16/rowling-writing-harry-potter/
Rowling has been open about her struggle to write book four, which nearly caused her to have “a nervous breakdown”:
That was the period where I was chewing Nicorette. And then I started smoking again, but I didn’t stop the Nicorette. And I swear on my children’s lives, I was going to bed at night and having palpitations and having to get up and drink some wine to put myself into a sufficient stupor.
2024:
https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1797759158688854150?lang=en
I’ll be a smoker til the day I die, even if I never have another cigarette. If I could choose one drug I could take forever without consequences as long as I gave up all others - caffeine, alcohol etc - it would be nicotine.
Even her drug choices are deplorable!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it becomes a three pack a day hobby for her and a number of higher ups who are currently screwing everything up. Menthols, too. Gotta speed run this shit.
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Honestly, that photo is what sets me over the edge. Don’t get me wrong, I already hated the bitch and hoped she died horribly and soon, but that picture makes me want to take the timeline into my own hands. I’m not a violent person, but sometimes exceptions must be made.
Yeah, that’s just dumb.
Roughly a similar move was made by the far right finance minister in Finland. When she was faced with the challenge of communicating the need for austerity, did she use empathy? No, she went for twitter posts where she laughed aloud with scissors in hand.
Let
Harry
Potter
Die
Just let it go.
They won’t and its crazy. I know people that just CAN’T because they made it part of their personality.
The amount of people with Deathly Hallows tattoos is crazy. My partner is among them
I know a trans person who still consumes HP media. I didn’t respect them before they came out and transitioned and I sure as hell not going to start now. They’ve always been a selfish Adult Child and they’ll never stop being one.
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The artist is not the same as the work.
The world of Harry Potter, the books, the movies, future shows or whatever involve a lot more people than just this fucking idiot shit writer. And a shitty person can anyway create a good thing that helps people.
Now in this case where the author is still alive, let people enjoy harry Potter stuff, while asking people to not send money her way. Help people pirate her books if they really want to read them, pirate the shows and movies. Better yet, make those involved in the shows and movies voice their opinion against her, make the money going to those works support trans people to counter JK. Make her see her works support the causes she hates.
Alienating people for liking some book series, movie or show that was made, paid, produced, written or whatever by some asshole won’t help the situation. In other words, in this case, harry Potter is not the problem, it’s the author.
Harry Potter is part of the problem. I am totally onboard with the idea of ‘The Death of the Author’, which is the concept that something like Harry Potter is much more than just intellectual property owned by a person. It’s a shared cultural experience which is so much bigger than one person it becomes impossible to say the author owns it.
However, J.K. is using the profits from her intellectual property to hurt people. Harry Potter is being used as a tool to hurt people. As much as I hate to say it, Harry Potter is part of the problem. At least for now. So pirate it, consume her IP without ever paying her a penny.
Also she’s not Trans rights are human rights but she wrote pollyjuice potion into her world…
Read them with a little media literacy. Birth/Blood nature keeps coming up and was one the reasons I was getting uncomfortable with the story and dropped half way though. Hagrid is naturally angry. Voldemort is evil because he was a rape baby. House Elves are natural
slavesservants. The Weasley family will always be poor(even when Harry should be paying rent or at least buying them a new car). Hell, the Irish character keeps blowing things up. This mind set in her writing reflects to JK’s views on trans. You are the way you are at birth.This. Not only is JKR a sorry excuse for a human being, she didn’t even write good stories. Ursula K LeGuin wasn’t keen on them either:
“I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the ‘incredible originality’ of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid’s fantasy crossed with a ‘school novel,’ good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.”
Shaun pointed out how mean spirited the books were as well. I remember back when there was a mini satanic panic targeting the HP books and Philip Pullman came out and said that his books were way more anti-religion and that he should have been getting that attention.
The first book was… fine I guess. Nothing ground breaking and the weirdness was still shallow and hadn’t created a pattern yet. I was really surprised that Voldemort became the reoccurring villain. He’s just a boring villain.
Removed by mod
Let it go, let it goooo
Harry Potter defenders: “JK Rowling just said mean words online she hasn’t actually harmed trans people!”
What JK Rowling is doing with the money:
Someone dear to me is heartbroken and perennially conflicted because she absolutely loved Harry Potter growing up, and is also keenly aware of how shitty JK Rowling is. Now as an adult the Harry Potter franchise is one of the things that gives her joy in an otherwise very hard life she has had.
I’m not giving any more details about her. All I’m asking is, give these people a break, please. Not everyone is in a position in life to be an activist on everything, and while it might sound silly, things like HP are a big part of some people’s childhoods and taking those away from them can be devastating.
Ok but harry potter “defenders” and jk Rowling defenders are not the same. You can appreciate the world of HP while not agreeing or supporting their shit creator.
Even the original cast don’t support hp anymore because they aren’t a bunch of assholes and don’t have rocks for brains.
But by consuming Harry Potter IP, you’re actively putting money in her pocket, which she uses for her anti trans cause. Unless you pirate the content
I pirate all content, I see no reason to discriminate.
There hasn’t been a new Harry Potter book in decades, and Fantastic Beasts basically took cyanide when Crimes of Grindelwald came out, only thing keeping this franchise alive is fanfics
The game was pretty successful financially, although it luckily wasn’t at all able to stay culturally relevant and there is a new hbo show coming out soon that was even promoted by german state media.
Lots of people still watch the movies on streaming. As little as a few weeks ago, my wife suggested we should watch one of the movies. She has no particular contact with the LGBTQ+ society, and didn’t know anything about JK Rowlings behaviour. I’ve had a few colleagues that are gay, but I never had meaningful exposure to the queer community either, until I stumbled into roller derby a decade ago.
So I assume a lot of people watch HP, not of malice, but unknowingly or with indifference to who JK Rowling is as a person
I still have people swearing to me that she “Supports the trans community” and “Donates money to pro-trans causes” and that people are “targetting her unfairly”
Sad thing is, they’re being serious and arguing in what they believe is good faith. They legitimately don’t realize who she is, they’re too smitten by the debunked story of a homeless woman who wrote Harry Potter on old napkins.
Anecdote: As a member of the generation that grew up with HP, no one I know is supporting the IP financially. We grew up with the books and movies and that’s it. This is just one of many cultural issues that’s dividing the left. Cool I guess?
Edit: typos
This is just one of many cultural issues that’s dividing the left. Cool I guess?
We’re pretty united against bigotry. Get with the program or stop dividing the left.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Honestly, having to listen to people babble about Harry Potter just feels like a slap in the face. Like, I know people who have the best intentions in regard to supporting trans people, but they’ll still happily make endless references to this garbage in front of me as though it wouldn’t immediately bring to mind someone who is actively engaged in trying to get others to agree that I shouldn’t exist. Some of them also buy merch that I guarantee puts money directly in her pocket.
It bothers the shit out of me.
I understand why this is so painful, and I really appreciate you sharing how you feel. I grew up with HP, and while it was part of my childhood, I don’t support the author’s views at all. I get why seeing people casually reference the series or buy merchandise can be upsetting when it feels like it’s indirectly supporting someone who actively harms the trans community. That said, I think it’s important for people to be able to talk about the series and its impact on them without automatically being labeled a bigot. Acknowledging the harm the author has caused doesn’t mean we can’t still discuss the cultural impact of the books. People should be more mindful, but I don’t think we should shut down conversations about it entirely. Thanks for sharing your perspective—I’ll keep this in mind moving forward.
The very first comment is all about actively supporting J K Rowling with money, so this is not just about people talking about HP, but funding someone who is actively using their money and influence to harm us.
As others have mentioned publicity and support in general for HP is also bad, as it makes people more likely to buy HP merchandise. New shows, merch, and games are still being produced and sold. We aren’t shitting on HP for fun. We are telling people that this actually really and truly hurts us.
I would never call someone a bigot for talking about Harry Potter. It does absolutely reduce my opinion of them, though. I keep it to myself, but I see it as pretty thoughtless.
I grew up watching The Cosby Show. Big part of my childhood etc. I’ll leave you to join the dots.
No one is. This is an article about how she uses profits from the HP franchise to fund transphobia with people running in to the defend liking the franchise while completely ignoring the context of the post.
Edit: For reference, liking or not liking the franchise isn’t what the post is about, so running in to defend it is gonna be read as supporting funding the franchise.
yes you can but i will still judge you because it’s a terribly written series
I found it very fun, interesting and captivating when I read those books (that is, when I was maybe 13-16?). If it was “terribly written” it wouldn’t have made the success it did, and also the target audience is generally not made of literary critics.
So I don’t think there is much to judge, especially since many people’s good opinion on the story is based on their lived experience with it, from when they were younger etc. And you can’t erase that from your life because the author turned out to be an asshole 15 years later.
“If it was “terribly written” it wouldn’t have made the success it did”
Dan Brown’s millions beg to differ.
If people like HP stuff they might want to try Dianna Wynne Jones’ stuff: earlier, better, and didn’t have the same fortunate exposure.
The DaVinci code sold 80 millions copies. The first HP book alone sold 120 millions, and the whole series 600 millions, being the most sold series of books.
Not only they are one order of magnitude apart, but I think they sold for different reasons.
I haven’t read Dan Brown’s stuff, but I also doubt it’s terribly written by the way. Books that capture the interest of a population more and more unused to read can be shallow, banal, inconsistent, whatever, but not terribly written. Casual readers can hardly finish a terribly written book. In any case, HP books are children’s books. Children or teenagers are not literary critics, it’s not about reading “great literature”, however you define that.
I also can’t help to notice the coincidence that all the HP critiques started appearing in the last years, when the author went bananas. A series this popular, which ended in 2007, and suddenly 15 years later people notice that it’s “terribly written”? This smells more to me of a damnatio memoriae than genuine critique.
You haven’t read it, but that’s what you reckon? Okay.
As to the other point: JKR’s stuff is trite and derivative, but I do think that some of its “problematic” aspects are likely just because it’s regurgitating European fantasy tropes, which themselves may (originally or later on) encode antisemitism and so on.
And when it comes to it, subjecting any popular series to close reading with an eye for affront is likely to show up its flaws. Just think of all the janitors who blew up with the death star.
But Brown’s stuff is utter garbage (not to mention just ripping off “the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail”, which was pretty awful to begin with) - if you have the chance to pick it up second-hand I’d encourage you to see if you can finish it.
I actually disagree that a book is “problematic” because it touches, presents, includes etc. any topic that morally we disagree with. Not every book has to be a manifesto or a depiction for a moral and just society, which is why I find most of the arguments against HP to be weak (some points were listed in a sibling comment thread).
subjecting any popular series to close reading with an eye for affront is likely to show up its flaws
I am quite sure this is true for any book (especially fiction), in fact. Which is why I think it’s an activity that makes sense only to justify the pre-existing opinion about the book, rather than having a value in itself.
if you have the chance to pick it up second-hand I’d encourage you to see if you can finish it.
To be clear, I know that Dan Brown stuff is garbage. I just have seen people who I think never read a book in the previous 10 years read that one (in translation though, so who knows…). So the book must at least be interesting and intriguing to keep the attention of people who are not used to read. For me this means not fitting in the “terrible writing” category, but maybe we mean different things by that.
she was an asshole back then and you can see it all over her books. i think i was probably lucky enough to be a bit older than the target demo to find HP even remotely interesting but kids at the time were super generous and kind with the books and interpreted them in good ways that jowling kowling rowling clearly never intended. which is why she retconned diversity into her books for example.
i completely believe in the death of the author, but also won’t stand for praising a shitty author’s shitty books just because people headcanoned a lot of good things into it to make them suck less.
Honestly, I read the books translated + I could not and still cannot relate with the issues that I often see raised against the book (like the way diversity is represented). Especially when I was a kid, those issues were so not in my mind that I would never ever flag as issues.
To make an example: for me as a kid, slavery was something that mostly had to do with the roman empire. The whole debacle about house elves etc. is completely disconnected from real societal probelsm, recent history etc. I have always rooted for the elves because that’s what I was pushed to do emotionally, but without really ever reflecting on slavery as a whole. I am picking this example because it’s one of the most used ones to critique the book.
In general I also believe that authors can build worlds that do not represent their views, I find a lot of the critique I have read a stretch and I am especially suspicious that most of these critiques started appearing recently. I believe people started with the thesis (she is an asshole) and then backtracked the analysis trying to find anything at all in the books that could support the conclusion (rather than viceversa).
Either way, all of this is relatively irrelevant. People can like or dislike books - especially fiction - freely. For me the book is mostly associated with a vibe of being young, thinking about those stories, relating with the characters etc., not with the actual books content. So it’s more about thinking back of childhood/past than appreciating the literary value.
well the critique is not about the world building. i mean the world building is bad too but that’s not about the morality of the world. the critique is about what the books present as good or bad.
there are many examples of this.
body shaming and misogyny/transphobia: bad people are fat, good people are at most “plump”. bad women have mannish features, like big physiques, square jaws and mustaches.
slavery is good, actually: the problem with slavery in the books isn’t that it’s portrayed at all, it’s that it’s portrayed as good for the house elves except for one weirdo freak who wants to be free for some reason. also house elves even as a term is yikes imo.
zero concern for diversity: it’s not that the book just lacks it but the fact that the very few token characters who were put in are just cardboard cutouts with downright disrespectful names. the Asian girl is cho chang because i think the editor may have vetoed the first ch-ch name she came up with. the black guy is called kingsley shacklebolt because “tyrone escapedslave” was too on the nose i guess. the british wizarding school is for some reason more populous than schools that represent much larger populations, and it has a proper name while all others are called “wizard school” or “magic place” very badly translated because she couldn’t be fucked to engage with another culture even on a surface level. she also disrespectfully dismissed some regional beliefs about magic because why not.
good people vs bad people, not good deeds vs bad deeds: you can see throughout the book “good” and “bad” people doing the exact same things but represented as good and bad depending on who’s doing them, not what they’re doing.
status quo above all: challenging systemic problems is never a solution, even slavery, and any change must only involve individuals. whatever you may gather as “challenging authority” for example is always about the people using the authority, and not whether the authority itself should exist at all. the main protagonist becomes a fucking cop at the end. and the books end in literally everything being the same as it started, sans the threat of voldy, and “all is well” despite the same abusive systems, castes and slavery still existing. because status quo is good and systemic change is bad.
it keeps going, and it gets worse if you go beyond the HP books. it’s not what’s in the world, it’s how she presents them.
And I can acknowledge that while also having nostalgia for books that I grew up with as a literal child. Judge away.
boo former child
I disagree. Sometimes you can’t separate the art from the artist when they are actively using their wealth and influence to oppress an already marginalized group. Just take a look at what recently happened and is happening to Tesla.
This is why the new tv series will be hated by all. They had a chance to remake and sanitize the series away from the grimy hands of JK and instead they doubled down. So if anything this remake might be even more offensive.
The wild thing is that growing up I had all the conservatives and bible people trying to stop us kids from reading the demonic Harry Potter novels. Now that they realize the author is one of them, they suddenly love the books about witchcraft!
Unfortunately, they won’t be hated. A lot of people don’t actually care all that much about trans people :(
Or anyone else for that matter
Just like the best selling game of the year, Hogwarts Legacy.
I don’t think Hogwarts: Legacy doubled down, though? It’s definitely sad that she made money off that game being sold, but she didn’t have any hand in the writing. The game has trans characters and allows the player to be trans as well.
My comment was only to point out that the mainstream does not care about JKR’s take on trans people and that anything Harry Potter will print money, which is the opposite of OP’s take on things.
she does profit from the IP being sold. and people were like defending the game and her transphobia.
They will cast Snape as black and the audience will wonder why Harry immediately hates him.
Are you not aware that Snape literally has been cast as black? Because if not that’s hilarious coincidence.
The potters being violently racist is cannon.
That’s the confusing thing to me, clearly the left audience is done with JK, but the show is also pissing off the right with “woke casting”
They had a chance to remake and sanitize the series away from the grimy hands of JK
Did they really? My impression was that she used her copyright control
