Death of the Author 2: Rowling Boogaloo

[@LindsayEllisVids]

Pee is stored in the balls.

[@David-ki2xt]

why are you like this

[@CheezIt0046]

David Why are you like this?

[@TheRealZyconis]

The real hot take is always in the comments.

[@appleslover]

As *someone* would say " it depends on what you mean by pee"..

[@appleslover]

BUT LINDSAY YOU'RE NOT GIVING THE BALLS THE RIGHT OF *FREE SPEECH* ..

[@DeltaJim]

"Tolkien's not on Twitter" Let's be honest, he COULDN'T be on Twitter if he was still alive. Every tweet of his would end with "1/315".

[@greenergrass4060]

Given Tolkien's very conservative views, He would definitely shutdown the SamFro shippers real quick ,and hunt after fanfic writers , thats for sure.

[@allie6160]

Could somebody explain to me why she referenced Tolkien? Was he a bigot?

[@evelenkeating5719]

@@allie6160 There's so much to unpack with Tolkien I'm pretty sure she covered most of it in a separate video somewhere.

[@alexanderwill2847]

Tolkien pretty awesomely once told off a racist publisher who was asking if he had “Aryan heritage”, but there’s some other stuff in his letters that’s more typical of his generations views. Suffice it to say, it’s probably for the best that he’s not around to use Twitter, but hey, maybe he would pleasantly surprise us.

[@huskarl5366]

@@allie6160 how anyone who faught the nazis and risked his life for your very right to exist can even be considered a "(insert modern insult)" is laughable and downright insulting

[@justinkreager4197]

I just love how Rowling tweeted praise for Stephen King and then promptly, like within a day, deleted those tweets when he made a statement supporting trans people.

[@dzonbrodi514]

yeah was some funny shit

[@dzonbrodi514]

@Die Tägliche Dröhnung Internet The fact that you say something doesn't make it true.

[@fizzysherbert2202]

It didn't really happen like that though did it....

[@MsAbixxx]

Edoc She’s actively bullying and questioning a community for their lifestyle. Saying that only biological sex is real and seems to very adamantly want to prove that, since she recently talked about whistleblowing in the NHS and how she wants to create a huge medical scandal. She’s taking this too far.

[@stephenweber886]

​@jackaljade jackaljade If it truly bothers you, start a discussion about the video on a forum they do not moderate. Regardless, discussion specifically about trans people is not what this video is about. The video is discussing how to interact with the Harry Potter series, specifically if Rowling's views do bother you and you are not comfortable just ignoring them and separating the art from the artist. Finally, this is her channel, if she does not want to allow comments that may insult, degrade, or make any of her viewers uncomfortable, it is her right. This is her professional home, and she can kick you out of her house if she doesn't like the way you talk about things.

[@iamtheV0RTEX]

"I don't like to talk about my personal feelings because I like to pretend I don't have any" damn ain't that a mood

[@CJCroen1393]

I was like "Same." when I heard that XD

[@The_Worst_Alien42]

The part where Lindsay predicts that her social circle will become more insular and that she'll be love bombed by the far right is now more relevant than ever.

[@ZagTheRaccoon]

This has aged flawlessly honestly. This could have come out last week and felt entirely about whats happening right now exactly. Fully comprehended the scope of the ethics and consequences of the situation.

[@The_Worst_Alien42]

@@georgecrumb8442 I want to respond to this, but so much of it is incomprehensible gibberish that it's hard to know what to say. For the record I don't advocate 'canceling' JK Rowling, I don't think there's any point, she's a billionaire, it doesn't really have any effect. What I do believe in is condemning her views so that ordinary people can see why she's wrong and why her agenda doesn't derserve a seat in the theatre of debate. Also there's a false equivalency here: Lindsay got bullied off of KZbin for comparing Raya to Avatar, which is not a hateful position even if she's wrong. JK has offered to bankroll the legal fees of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, a far-right activist who lets nazis attend her rallies. I feel like we should be allowed to treat her with some measure of scorn.

[@AammaK]

Increasingly so, and yet there are still people who are shocked when something new she does reaches the mainstream awareness. None of it should come as a surprise by now.

[@phastinemoon]

Especially since it WAS actual lovebombing (as in, the technique that cults use in order to further radicalize members and dissuade them from changing course)

[@noone9472]

@@AammaKI mean the whole nazi denial was on some other level though

[@camilaluna4568]

In the words of Daniel Radcliffe: "If these books have taught you that love is the most powerful force in the universe, capable of overcoming everything; if they have taught you that strength is found in diversity and that dogmatic ideals of purity lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a specific character is trans, non binary, of fluid gender, gay or bisexual; if you found something in those stories that reached you and helped you at some point in your lives ... then that is something between you and the book you read, and it is sacred. And, in my opinion, no one can touch that. It means whatever it means to you, and I hope these comments don't taint you too much."

[@darcybhaiwala7057]

That was ridiculously meaningful to me

[@ivannierez7731]

It's all settled then. Powerful words.

[@hiddenechoes]

My Harry Potter has spoken

[@ashleighcalvert8937]

Exactly. The lessons taught can’t be taken from you and are the exact thing that are showing us this is wrong

[@darklymoonlit]

I was about to comment that the most wholesomely funny response I've seen to all of this was someone Tweeting basically "Now that we know JKR is terrible can we just collectively agree that Daniel Radcliffe wrote Harry Potter?". I can't in good conscious give JKR my money anymore, but I can and do still love HP for so many reasons, not least of which is how powerful its message about the strength of love is. And I'm so grateful that at least some of the people involved with it still see that, recognize how important it is, and realize that siding with bigots is in direct opposition with that.

[@xww6849]

Calling JK Rowling “Joanne” is the funniest thing in the world to me. Okay, now that I have one of the top comments, I’d just like to say that for any people that don’t want to deal with bigots today, maybe don’t read these comments. I think the REALLY shitty ones are gone, but there were a bunch of weird TERFy comments with a bunch of likes a while ago. No one needs to deal with that shit.

[@SoniaSephia]

For now when JK Rowling response with more TERF bullshit, lets just reply with, "Ok Joanne!"

[@Serge165]

JOann Rowling is getting a wonderful painting courtesy of me, her and some of her TERF friends taking it easy in a communal roman semen bath. I'd past a link to the twitter thread here ,but that's advertising. Just know, it's real and its almost done.

[@amaeliss7827]

calling rowling joanne is like calling voldemort tom

[@ethanrichmond3992]

I do it all the time lol

[@devildham]

I was gonna go with "Jesus, Karen!!!" Rowling.

[@Vladstronsy]

The best part of this will always be the line; "I can't believe Rowling's Patronus is Maggie Thatcher."

[@greenyawgmoth]

Well that line certainly brightened my day.

[@timf7413]

That's pure gold.

[@arlostein1000]

Hoping any Potter fans over the age of 19 to realise that Rowling's work was always very right wing and traditional conservative Brit. None of her personal beliefs are that surprising

[@luciesimpson6437]

​@@arlostein1000 Yeah, but that always read like a bit of harmless patriotism. Not that that's strictly 'harmless', I know, but there is a world of difference between realising that Harry Potter is suspiciously keen to evoke a rosey-tinted, nostalgic idea of British culture that wouldn't be out of place under Churchill, and loudly proclaiming - rationalising - right wing extremism (ala Churchill). I suppose my opinion is influenced by the factor of growing up with Harry Potter after emigrating, so as a child, nostalgia about the "idea of England" was innocent, not strange and insidious, but still.

[@scribblescribble]

@@arlostein1000 I was 18 or 19 when Half-Blood Prince was released, and it was in reading that book that the traditional values became an obvious pattern: No couples in the series had children out of wedlock, and the majority of marriages were based in mutual love and respect. The only exceptions were Voldemort's and Snape's respective parents, and the exclusions were part of the narrative to explain why both were so drawn to the Dark Arts. I agree that her beliefs aren't surprising. Perhaps fans feel more betrayed to find that someone who wrote such influential books espousing the power of love, accepting outsiders, and reaching across the barriers of bigotry is not practicing what she preached.

[@steffanalun8055]

"You are trying to find an academic solution for an emotional and ethical problem." This is such a brilliant video, and I just wanted you to know that *that sentence* is the point where I decided you were my new favourite cultural commentator.

[@heatherlee2967]

It's certainly an interesting take. It made me really think about this issue. Love these hot takes

[@ellw7830]

this line goes for so many things that are being Discoursed (tm) in general

[@artbargra]

Another great quote of hers (from the "Bright" video) is "you cannot logic someone out of a mindset they didn't logic themselves in", or something like that. Either way, it's a brilliant quote.

[@Sandrilyonaify]

I never got into Twitter, doesn't seem like I'm missing much. Every time something happens there feels like you fell in a pile of garbage.

[@grabush77]

I agree with this comment so much i wish i could like it twice.

[@sergentharker7182]

If you've ever been to the local city dump, that's basically Twitter, except with more culture because the guys working at the dump might talk about clerks or something

[@joemartin7451]

stay out of it. every statement made by a celebrity is guaranteed to trigger people on twitter.

[@BoredPotato0]

I second this sentiment

[@Loki-pz1uk]

It is the death star trash compactor of social media

[@EWCello]

“my formative fav author is problematic and I am having trouble reconciling that” *laugh/cries in HP Lovecraft fan*

[@Tareltonlives]

That actually helped me a lot with this.

[@PlatyNews]

To be fair the fact that he is dead for a LONG TIME helps a lot. Also the fact that there are some pretty good fanfiction with his lore made by non assholes is good too

[@MethCrystal666]

I expect you've already seen hbomberguy's Lovecraft video, but if you haven't then OMG go watch it!

[@mboatrightED300]

He's been dead for 80 years and he's not on twitter.

[@OneFoxTwoFox]

And I was wondering when someone was gonna bring up Lovecraft. I love his world, his fantasy. And i took a hard swallow to say i read majority of his work. But pretty much done. I would recommend some but HARD PASS on The Rats in the Walls. Guy is disgusting...end of conversation.

[@thehopeofeden597]

To quote Daniel Radcliffe: If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life - then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you.

[@elisabethwhat7842]

I just love him for saying that. 💖 True hero

[@FloppsEB]

i think that is an excellent take on "death of the author" - it's a great quote on it.

[@BrowncoatAllywang]

These books taught me that enforcing and maintaining the awful status quo of your society is good as long as you aren't a literal Nazi. Remember when Hermione was like "hey guys slave labour is bad" and everyone was like "pfft shut up Hermione, they enjoy it".

[@YGroadcapitain]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5_WZ2RqZ7eNa8U

[@eoincampbell1584]

@@BrowncoatAllywang And then the fandom got angry SPEW was cut out of the movies, like guys be critical a second. Thankfully now we can drag the books for all their flaws without as many people upping their arms.

[@mmarrrow]

Learning Orson Scott Card was a homophobe actually made a ton of sense for me, because we read Ender's Game in my seventh-grade English class at an Evangelical middle school, and I was always mystified by how something so cool managed to end up on the curriculum

[@FumbleSquid]

It was one of my all time favorites in middle school (wasn't on any reading list, I just happened to read it). The gutpunch I felt from the twist at the end of Ender's Game did happen to mirror the gutpunch of finding out he was a peace of human garbage in a depressingly ironic sort of way. Rowling's coming out as a bigot mostly just gives me anxiety because she's elevating really harmful ideas at a pivotal turning point.

[@emjenkins464]

Its probably because he's mormon, which arguably adds an extra layer to the issues with purchasing his work. It's likely that a chunk of your purchase will go into tithing, putting money into the churches pocket...

[@anxiousleighwaiting]

As I am watching this, there is a tweet going around that essentially says that prior to JK Rowling, female authors were unheard of. People are just responding with lists of famous female authors ie. Agatha Christie. Bronte sisters ect.

[@ava_marie_v]

Well thank God people are educating that person. It's pretty disrespectful to ignore the work of a bunch of women before Rowling, especially considering one of them started the sci-fi genre.

[@digitaljanus]

*facepalm* Women literally invented novel-writing.

[@ailish2284]

Who’s Mary Shelley? Never heard of her she came before Rowling

[@annejeppesen160]

JANE!!!!!! (Austen if you hadn't guessed it)

[@anyakathryn6822]

dianna wynne jones was writing incredible childrens fantasy books before jk rowling even came on the scene, and as far as i know she's not a terf.

[@PaleJulia]

"Tolkien has been dead for 50 years, he's not on Twitter" As a huge Tolkien fan, now to think about it, I'm really thankful he is

[@tonyparker7349]

I don't even think he'd be into Twitter. He'd just be busy inventing new languages.

[@SaraNightfire1]

C.S Lewis would be in the same boat, especially in me too movement. In the original series, he was really sexist about women. It was a sign of the times, I'm just being fair. The 1940s didn't have women in wars publicly, but I doubt he'd change much since then.

[@elha7982]

Imagine Lovecraft on twitter...

[@damesayo4656]

@@SaraNightfire1 As someone who read all of theirs works I must disagree. If they were in our times, they wouldn't be who they were. Lewis had his issues,but he was open-minded. He questioned himself and his beliefs.I truly doubt he would tolerate his own ignorance.

[@Prodigial]

@@damesayo4656 Tolkien and Lewis would both 100% be right-wing, and there's nothing wrong with that lol. If you've truly read all their works you would know that.

[@gendergoo1312]

So you're saying the Harry Potter franchise is Rowling's horcrux

[@ihateunicorns867]

7 books, dude.

[@NankitaBR]

That is the reason she wrote 7 books

[@CJCroen1393]

She made seven books and killed so many people in them. COINCIDENCE?

[@jaycejohnson6846]

LMAO XD

[@coRynnstar]

👀

[@Animeartist124]

It's so funny that a few months ago we were at this point where we were still saying things like "I don't think JK Rowling believes she's transphobic", and now she's promoting merch stores that sell mugs that say "Proud Transphobe" lol

[@TheEwqua]

She is? WTF?!?!

[@autumnox2174]

@@TheEwqua Yep Yep. She had posted a link to some sort of merch, which is fairly normal, but if you went to the rest of the website you could find pins saying shit like 'Transmen are my sisters'

[@Tottosmile]

@@julianasilva6946 trans men are men. Men usually prefer being called brothers. it becomes especially important for trans people since their gender identity is already being questioned. Donkey Kong says trans rights

[@liviwaslost]

This kind of stuff shouldn’t exist. Products that promote hate or bigotry shouldn’t be allowed at all.

[@patchwurk6652]

@@julianasilva6946 How about this, dicknozzle, you explain WHY it's wrong or irrelevant. You're a nobody rando on KZbin, what crackhead universe do you live in where you think you can just Decide what is or isn't wrong or relevant by fiat?

[@chibiktsn3]

"Tolkien has been dead for 50 years and isn't on Twitter," might be one of my favorite things you've said. It's also true.

[@awfulwoman]

Waiting for an @CorpseOfTolkein twitter to pop up and start spitting hot takes

[@phoenixfeather1691]

I think it would be just full of Legolas pictures and discribtions of how awesome he is

[@vontosmagicmurderbag2611]

@@awfulwoman It would be mostly long tweetstorms about Elvish etymology.

[@greenergrass4060]

SamFro shippers would be DECEASED if Tolkien got a twitter

[@noone9472]

What was problematic about Tolkien?

[@morgansimpson1843]

"Tolkien has been dead for 50 years. He's not on Twitter."

[@ctrouble2309]

I agree with that first part at least

[@nath7557]

@@ctrouble2309 you disagree that he's not on Twitter?

[@Lynch2507]

@@nath7557 Ghost Tolkien out here making BTS fancams

[@nielsmichiels1939]

Also, didn't he pretty much say fuck you to the nazi party for refusing to alter his books for release approval in nazi germany?

[@SmilingCorpse]

@@nath7557 Not even the dead can know mercy from twitter.

[@HarveyVolodarskii]

Rowling pretending that Polyjuice potion wouldn’t be used nonstop for gender stuff in the Potter world

[@xheralt]

Well, that's _magic,_ that's OK! Doing the same thing the hard way, Muggle-style, is what seems to upset her. She's a secret Slytherin! And a Death Eater at that! Hates the Mudbloods. she does!

[@picassodilly]

So, an interesting idea I am in no way qualified to implement- Harry Potter fan-fiction with trans characters. Like make that one wizardess who does all that shapeshifting amab (if that’s not an offensive idea- please correct this notion if you’re a trans person who would find it so), maybe use her and a character that would be less “passing” to explore some of the differences within the trans community- or really any number of ideas that, as a mostly cis person, I have no experience with or understanding of.

[@MrHodoAstartes]

It seems generally odd that wizards would not develop physical augmentation spells and start warping their bodies into any shape desired. Like, you're a powerful wizard. Why the heck don't you look like Geralt of Rivia or Fabio, or have a 30" horse dong? You know, the kinda vain stuff people would immediately gun for, given the chance. But we don't even see so much as magical beauty effects or cosmetic illusions. You just know at a magic school they'd have to outrule radiance effects because the girls would overdo it and blind other students.

[@coricoo_247]

@@MrHodoAstartes literally what Tonks did!!! Lol

[@MrHodoAstartes]

@@coricoo_247 But that is unnecessarily shoved into a rare congenital trait as a post-hoc explanation as to why that would be anything but the norm. Witcher probably is being more realistic with a cabal of vain casters who create pompous appearances for themselves.

[@evaserration6223]

JK: Daniel! Tell people I'm not transphobic Daniel: Sorry JK, I must not tell lies.

[@segamai]

I like how in this metaphor, Rowling is Umbridge. It feels correct

[@renoloverxoxo]

@@willieuam3440 so he should kiss her ass and support opinions he doesn't agree with because that was his breakout role? That's not how the world works and he really doesn't owe her anything. People made the same argument about the Weinstein victims.

[@StevenZephyc]

@Sandy Jones I know right? Yet those transphobes keep insisting that trans men aren't men.

[@KaiTenSatsuma]

That moment when you want to turn "Death of the Author" into "Murdering the Author"

[@renoloverxoxo]

@@vee1193 that's a lot of words to say "I'm an ugly transphobe"

[@RebeDrawsStuff]

The fact that Rowling even blocked Stephen King, whom she used to consider a friend just because he has a different (positive) point of view about the trans community speaks volumes about how she refuses to open up for a mature dialogue which, if you think about it, is very sad. I used to enjoy the Harry Potter saga so much and now I really don't know how to feel or think about this even though I'm not trans.

[@pyroshayniac1090]

That is ridiculously immature.

[@KimberlyKjellberg]

@@Lolokbye Not sure if she blocked him, but she did take down a tweet praising him after he simply stated "trans-women are women" and unfollowed him. I don't think anyone other than Rowling and King can tell if she blocked him.

[@craigkingdon4424]

@@Lolokbye possibly, however she deleted a tweet she had just made saying how much she loved him lol

[@pheonixrises11]

Holly P You don’t even know that, bruh

[@naminaro8842]

Tbh I don't know if it's possible to have a mature dialogue online.

[@melvasaiel]

JKR makes me all the more grateful for Megan Whalen Turner, an author who's motto is "not telling". You get what's in the text of her (excellent) books, and nothing more. I saw a talk she gave a few years ago where she mentioned WHY she has this attitude. Her first book was published right around when the internet was beginning to really grow, and she saw that readers would congregate online to discuss books, including hers. They had all of these great discussions about what certain things meant or what these characters thought...and she realized that as an author, as soon as she stepped in to explain something, that conversation thread stopped. So, speculation is up to the readers, and she stays out of it as a way to help that conversation flourish.

[@bubblegumbitch2191]

I think that makes so much more sense than Rowlings approach

[@nickchavarria8052]

Lost Alone weren’t they both married in the epilogue of the last book? I mean if that’s your head canon that’s cool. But for a sec I though you meant just cursed child and retcon weirdness.

[@andmicbro1]

It's the whole thing about art, once the final stroke of the brush has been done, it transcends the artist, and it becomes many things to many people. Often people see things in the art that the artist never intended, or created subtext where none existed. I hated the Star Wars Special Editions for the very reason that something I loved, and things that had meaning were changed. It was like Da Vinci raising from the dead and deciding the Mona Lisa needed some changes and suddenly the painting was no longer what you fell in love with, it's something new and perhaps even entirely different.

[@Tustin2121]

Anduril - It’s funny that you mention Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa specifically, as scholars believe da Vinci took the painting with him wherever he went, constantly working on it and changing it, right up until his death. It’s likely he may have even considered the painting unfinished still when he physically couldn’t continue working on it due to illness.

[@ΣκοτώνωΧαρά]

Oohhh that's nice

[@yeahiagree1070]

No other author is more financially connected to their "brand" than Rowling. That's why it's insane no PR manager has just told her to STOP TWEETING. This franchise is worth billions and employs countless people.

[@TheSorrel]

Maybe they have. What are they gonna do? Fire her?

[@ColonelGreen]

@@TheSorrel Yeah, for good or ill, once you're as rich as she is you don't have to care what anyone else thinks.

[@andreamunoz6088]

It’s difficult because she’s already made billions so she could get cancelled and cut off from the franchise and she’d still be better off than 99.9% of the population

[@FlorenceFox]

​@@TheSorrel I have to assume there's a Harry Potter PR manager knocking back whiskey in a pub every time she tweets, looking at their phone and sighing deeply.

[@katherinemorelle7115]

There’s a small independent (owned by one couple) Harry Potter merch store in a small town not far from me. It’s a lovely place, in a lovely, very picturesque town, with a lovely cafe next door. It’s all very lovely, including the owners, who are very nice people. I feel bad for them.

[@dakotalee6990]

I think the really interesting thing about these cases is that the author's personal beliefs and actions seem to contradict the values instilled by their works...but it's all the same person producing both seemingly hypocritical ideas. It's a good jumping off point to reflecting on how we might think we stand for one thing and end up standing for something else entirely.

[@lerualnaej5917]

Honestly, it highlights how much we, as readers, bring into the stories ourselves. I recently had a conversation with someone about the SPEW plotline in book 4. They insisted that the book came down very heavily in rejecting house elf slavery and their only criticism was that they felt that house elves should have been freed in the epilogue. My point was that the book itself leaves GAPING holes in its morality and lets the reader fill in: I read the book for the first time as an adult, right after I had first really started to care about social issues and effective activism. When I read it for the first time, I felt that Harry's largely ambivalent attitude toward the question was inviting the reader to sympathize with the status quo and, even if sympathetic toward Hermione's view, conclude that at minimum she was going about things in the wrong way and isn't that worse than doing nothing at all? I came away feeling that it was an uncomfortable attempt to tie up an uncomfortable loose end introduced in previous books. By having Harry largely avoid having an opinion and by having Harry's two best friends argue opposite sides, it invites the reader to project a very wide variety of meanings onto the story, allowing a wider audience to feel affirmed by the book. Kids largely want to like stories and want to like people in stories, and so leaving those holes open makes it really easy for kids to just assume the books had more to say than they actually did. As another example, see the lip service given against blood purity vs the plot's continual hammering of the importance of characters' parents and birth circumstances to their innate morality.

[@birdsareasocialconstruct5083]

@@lerualnaej5917 A really good example of this is "Ratatouille", most people and even myself watched the movie and got out of it the message that "stealing is bad, unless it's necessary". But rewatching it, I realised how much the movie was against all kinds of stealing even to the point where Remy went without food for probably days. "The Squad" on youtube has a really great analysis of it, called "Capitalism, Poverty, and Ratatouille" if you want to check it out.

[@snowfloofcathug]

@@username45739 I'm gonna regret this but what's "SB"?

[@granolaman4410]

and yet you wouldnt be able to respond to a single individual point she has ever made about this topic. what an amazing feminist

[@thedarkestfateful]

I know this comment was from 2 yrs ago, but so much truth here. To me, if an author’s work directly contradicts their own beliefs, it rings very hollow. Harry Potter, in my childhood, used to have great messages about the horrors of bigotry, but while the books themselves were exceptional - the true messages of it, the subtext, feels very meaningless now that the author herself is revealed to be a bigot.

[@bretsheeley4034]

For me, "death of the author" more has to do with the interpretation of what's in-the-text vs an author's intended interpretation of their text, which I find to be a different issue from supporting the financial life of the person who owns the license. At this point, I own the books and the movies. They are on my shelf. Some of my money has traveled into and possibly out of her bank account. But I don't need to buy additional copies. I don't need to see any of the Fantastic Beast movies. I don't need to get anything else from her. So, at least I can dodge any future issues of "needing" something from her. (Ducked a bullet there.) There's other series out there to enjoy. Getting stuck on one usually just leads to eventual disappointment. I just hope I can enjoy each of them to their completion before each author "politically sundowns" their public image.

[@billhicks8]

Yeah, using "death of the author" in this context is a bit of a misnomer in regards to its intended academic use.

[@karlyescobedo9237]

Thank you

[@zeabeth]

So you do agree that the author is linked in that you don't want to further support Joanne? Her tendrils are poisoning any further purchase of her works You can't separate the author's intent and enjoyment of it knowing this

[@ivorydungeon909]

Yeah, as much as reaching for the "death of the author" might seem appropriate, that appearance perhaps reflects the intensity of the animus that Rowling has brought upon herself, rather than having much particular relevance to her work or her public comments.

[@mxclaireharris]

I'm not chucking anything I own, there's ways to watch new stuff without funding her 😇 I will keep calling her out. Sadly the world means a lot to many in the trans community. Many of us felt a connection to it.

[@eleiraeel]

I think in general, idolizing ANYTHING is problematic. Especially if you are idolizing another flawed, powerful person of influence. When we begin to understand how to embrace both criticism and value out of a situation or thing or person or art piece, I think we’ll have a better more healthy view of the world. But that comes with a full acknowledgement from the start

[@JoseGarnelo]

Kill your idols, love their art

[@whatevr99]

Never put anyone on a pedestal, because people are people, and people are flawed.

[@bokitoboss1993]

Except Mel Gibson. He idolizing him should not go wrong.

[@ryanrabito1379]

"Never meet your heroes."

[@misterbooga6466]

What’s wrong being flawed? You can like them a lot anyways

[@glass.hammer]

A compromise for the truly inextricable: More canon non-compliant fan fiction, less corporate sponsored circle jerks.

[@anadice9489]

[Thanos voice] Canon can be whatever I want.

[@sneasalmaster]

@@anadice9489 thanos said trans rights

[@kailomonkey]

Good idea. And lots of shipping that the autoher wouldn't approve of :D

[@agogobell28]

YES. Fanfic is powerful in this respect.

[@cathsaigh2197]

@@kailomonkey I never read them before, but I think I just might start reading some of the Harriet fics now.

[@GiantPetRat]

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." -Albus Flippin' Dumbledore, Goblet of Fire

[@IrishIHadAPotato]

@@QarthCEO If you have to resort to that for an argument then you really don't have a leg to stand on lmao.

[@timmyman1997]

@@QarthCEO race is intrinsically tied to culture which shaped your beliefs, language, values and traditions, both consciousness and subconscious. Sex is only simple at highschool level education, gender was added to the scientific lexicon to differenciate biological sex from lived experience and personal traits that society associated with one specific sex, and was added to identify that while sex and gender traditionally correlate thry csn also be very different.

[@CaitieLou]

Along with that, she literally created a story where children are sorted into strict groups, and one of the defining things about the main character is that he chose for himself which group to be sorted into. Whether or not she intended to, she made an allegory for being a young person exploring gender identity in her own damn book series.

[@angelicaantunes9576]

@@CaitieLou that's what most suprised me about all this shit. there are so many allegories that could be used to represent lgbt and make trans kids feel that they are not abominations and then she goes and shit through her mouth.. go figure

[@Jekyllstein_Gray]

"It is our choices... that determine who we are."

[@heeeyyy2947]

*2 LINDSAY VIDS IN THE SAME WEEK* ??? *DID ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER DIE OR SOMETHING* ???

[@reikun86]

No, but Joel Schumacher passed away last week.

[@Acidpunk101]

Hal... its about TERFs..

[@riverellert9625]

@Unshaken Productions It's uh. It's very easy to google this but okay: variety.com/2020/film/news/joel-schumacher-dead-dies-batman-director-1234644961/

[@marcphillips6780]

@Unshaken Productions Yes, that happened. June 22nd.

[@mangenkiou]

@Unshaken Productions Everywhere?

[@Grace-tg4oy]

I'll never get over the fact that the author of a book series about a boy living in a closet who finds out he is in a niche community, joining a new family who are in said community, and fighting for the basic rights of minorities, is transphobic.

[@Reggie1408]

@discoandherpes Like what?

[@breadvelvet]

@@Reggie1408 the whole treatment of spew as essentially a running gag rather than a worthy cause worth discussing seriously among the protagonists is textbook reactionary

[@chicka-boom7540]

@discoandherpes I'd also like to know, I hadn't noticed that.

[@jeremyadler9620]

@@breadvelvet, While I understand how spew was presented was an issue, it also doesn't help that Hermione seems to just want to jump in a free the elves without doing any research or anything into their culture. Since JK never does that, we're only left with one very narrow viewpoint of the situation. To be clear, I get why people have a problem with the elves in general. I just feel like Hermione could have done more besides assuming she knows what's best without really consulting the elves for their point of view.

[@Cthulu1985]

Not only that, but it's quite the irony to see someone who in her books portrayed bigotry as something heinous, a lost cause and a seed of evil, say so many discriminatory stuff. To her fans, it must feel like an absolute betrayal of the core ethos behind her beloved oeuvre.

[@donovangowen3390]

i also think reading copies of HP you’ve had for ten years while knowing Rowling is a trash can, and continuing to buy her work and engage with the new stuff, are two very different forms of comsumption

[@martinjrgensen8234]

Donovan Gowen Truth. I am not spending a cent on her stuff now. Not that she cares in her tower made from money

[@panq8904]

Yea I haven't bought any official HP merch or paid to see any of the movies since like 2016, stuff from creators on Etsy or somethin is usually better quality anyways.

[@Fantallana]

Sarah S. I understand that the books have no deeper message than “love is good, actually”. A message Joanne doesn’t even live by.

[@nx_ty7756]

Thanks goodness I got the pirated pdf versions of the books off of utorrent. Piracy wins, I guess?

[@ReallyRedPanda]

God the spiteful hate on here. I do agree though, Donovan. If you already own her books and want to go back and enjoy her work for its merits alone, there should be nothing stopping you. As long as you're now aware going in that the author's personal opinions have coloured the text and that you should therefore read with caution. It is endlessly hilarious to watch people in the comments spit furiously, 'I never liked -enter Harry Potter book here- anyway! The Cursed Child was crap! Ha! Gotcha!' Yeah no. I'm not going to retroactively rethink about my experiences with Harry Potter and convince myself that JK Rowling was not a good writer. She was a phenomenal writer, a stepping stone for millions of teenage readers on their way to adult ficiton and beyond. Does JK Rowling have some questionable *personal* opinions? Absolutely. Who doesn't? The solution for me is not the Death of the Author, it's Living with the Author. Because no author, no creator, no artist, is unproblematic.

[@Markfr0mCanada]

*Death of the author* "I'm not dead yet!" Monty Python jokes aside, one of the hardest things to do can be to give yourself permission to out grow someone who helped you grow.

[@bennyton2560]

that's beautiful

[@Checkmate1138]

We say that, but then what about the unfortunate case of far-right extremists appropriating and glorifying films that are satirizing things like Nazis or bigotry (ala Archie Bunker), but those audiences take it and praise and identify it. Aren't they missing the point? Or is it valid, because "Death of the Author"?

[@chasjetty8729]

Wow. That hit home. Felt something there anyway. Meaning of the phrase something clicked I suppose.

[@jazwhoaskedforthis]

Plot Twist: Cornelius Fudge was JK’s real self insert character all along

[@DonnaLang42rockglobally]

Either Cornelius Fudge or Gilderoy Lockhart.

[@misslawless6021]

Im crying lmao

[@KariIzumi1]

Top ten anime plot twists

[@Emplordxiii]

Dolores Umbridge seems more like JK Rowling’s self insert.

[@briannenurse4640]

@@Emplordxiii She put herself all over every villain and self-obsessed antagonist, let's be real.

[@TheTyper]

Predicting it now: Lindsay Ellis doing a "hot take" video impromptu makes way more views and likes than her normal release schedule and it'll be unsettling though not entirely surprising cause KZbin likes to promote this stuff over, y'know, video essays.

[@Rathdrgnknight]

I don't like notifications on my phone so I rarely click the bell on anyone (I know, I'm a bad subscriber sorry :[ ), but this is the first time youtube has shown one of Lindsay's in my recommends on the front page on the first day it's been out in a LONG long time.

[@chumbucket6989]

Either way Lindsay we love all your content

[@timf7413]

Wouldn't surprise me, especially given that it's on a subject likely to show up in a lot of people's feeds as they watch similar videos. Either way, Lindsay continues, as she always has, to raise the bar for KZbin content.

[@muticere]

It's been less than an hour and already almost 150k views, so yeah, probably.

[@bm4114]

Good for her for taking a stand for us.

[@pwnedyouwithpurple]

WE ALL HIT THE NOTIFICATION SO FAST WE FELT IT IN OUR SOUL, YOU KNOW IT.

[@plasticfrog4533]

don’t call me out like that 🥺

[@TheEtherny]

I'm here so often I don't need notifications lol

[@reikun86]

What? How did you know that?

[@jpdailing]

I feel seen and attacked lol

[@enderwiggins8248]

The fact that orson scott Card has written homophobic and transphobic propaganda and also wrote about understanding Ramen (aliens we recognize as people) is so baffling to me

[@flootzavut30daychallenge]

Ender Wiggins I know when I first read OSC without knowing anything about him as a person, I genuinely assumed he was gay. The dislocation between his writing and his personal views is really mindbending.

[@enderwiggins8248]

flootzavut Same lol

[@genghiskhan7691]

How is he homophobic? Just because someone has a different opinion does not make them a homophobe.

[@bookswithike3256]

@@genghiskhan7691 The dude literally donates money to gay conversion therapy groups and has talked about how he wishes being gay was illegal.

[@eldron29-a54]

@@genghiskhan7691 if the opinion is homophobic, they are.

[@stugod5000]

As a British person, I hadn't realised how bad the cult of potter/ cult of Rowling was till maybe late high school when books like skullduggery pleasant, Darren Shae stuff, goosebumps, the worst witch series, Stephen King, Rick Riordan, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett books were either being banned outright from the school or put away in storage...As a library monitor I found this really suspicious since when I was year 7 (11-12) they encouraged us to bring in anything but Harry Potter to read, but like five years later Harry Potter was now the only book kids could read and even affected the school itself like we had 4 house teams were split in if you were green you were automatically treated like Slytherin despite the mascot being an octopus. It wasn't till I was in my last year and parents found out that this changed and the other books were "released"... never found out why it occurred probably because the head was a super uptight hater of the arts and challenging fantasy. Even now as a 24-year-old who is waiting for literary agents to pick my book up I still get rejection saying "not enough like Harry Potter" or "Won't get the Harry Potter Market"..."Barley Urban Fantasy not set in a school" ... "what's a spriggan?"..."no one wants a female werewolf love interest" (all serious quotes from rejections) Um sorry for the ramble...its nearly midnight but this is like legit messed up Edit band for banned I hate autocorrect

[@Kino_Cartoon]

Where can we read what you wrote? Or did you published your book?

[@lamaface]

'no-one wants a female werewolf love interest'... Kelley Armstrong would like a word.

[@dufimaxi]

>No one wants a female werewolf love interest. Guess you should try in the furry fandom, m8...

[@dan1561]

Maybe you could ride the Brand New Animal Wave and make your book an anime for that werewolf waifu appeal hahahha

[@HeyCupertino]

I don't believe your perception reflects reality.

[@RiotAncient]

Calling her Joanne throughout is some BDE. I'm here for it. Would love more regular freeform videos in this style ✨

[@BarnabusBarbarossa]

Given that all of Rowling's recent work related to Harry Potter has been utter crap, boycotting her future work should be easy enough.

[@fatmat3460]

Exactly

[@nitidiuscula]

I was really enjoying the Cormoran Strike books (written by JKR under a pseudonym) but... no more

[@CTheng]

The only Harry Potter thing that I don't want to be affected negatively is the upcoming Harry Potter console game. Of course supporting it will means more money for her, but I pity the people who works hard on that game. It likely barely has any writing input from her too.

[@AndromedaRoach]

@@CTheng "One of the people working on the game stressed that Rowling has very little direct involvement." This is a selling point now. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-29/harry-potter-game-developers-rattled-by-j-k-rowling-backlash

[@tiarezavaleta8850]

@@CTheng well, I understand your point. I dont like video games at all so probably I'd never bought it anyway, but I know they required a lot of work, a lot of poorly paid work indeed. However the Joanne needs to understand that certain actions lead to certain consequences, and I would love some creators actually complaining with her about the things she says damaging their products and sells.

[@SarahTochhawng]

You're spot-on about her; all the predictions you made about her publicly getting more comfortable with figures further and further into alt-right ideology. It's almost uncanny.

[@JamieNoah638]

​@@actuallyimnotreallysureyet6360she's not a feminist. She's a terf. There's a difference. Feminists want equality for everyone. Terfs want equality only for cis (women/) people. Also trans people know what a woman is. Why else would trans women transition to one? Why else would trans men & non binary people know that they aren't one? Fact is that science is on our side, not yours. Sex doesn't equal gender. There are multiple studies on how transitioning helps save lives. Every major scientific organisation is for access to trans healthcare.

[@MaxieTheMax]

@@actuallyimnotreallysureyet6360 She is anything but. If she is hanging out with a bunch of alt right anti-feminists, she is an alt right anti-feminist. Not to mention supporting taking away peoples rights makes you wonder if she actually learned any of the lessons placed in her books? How long until she turns on her own again?

[@diegof655]

I'd honestly really like to see Lindsay's take on an author like H.P. Lovecraft. An author who is quite well known for having been extremely xenophobic and bigoted during his time. He has now become one of the most popular and influential authors of all time with many writers and directors either making references, taking influences, or wanting to adapt his work to other mediums.

[@Sandreline]

Hbomber guy has a great video on Lovecraft.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Richard Wagner is another... problem child of separating the work from the artist.

[@elvellarambles9151]

@@Justanotherconsumer So's Strauss

[@Pxtl]

Last time this came up, the one that got to me was Frank Herbert, who was so homophobic he alienated his own gay son who, iirc, later killed himself.

[@LicoriceLain]

He is dead / doesn't have a twitter account

[@axvle]

Related but unrelated: I'm so glad that Terry Pratchett was a truly extraordinary person, in addition to his works.

[@African_Rose]

shit author tho...too complicated needlessly whimsical.

[@elmothegreat969]

I wouldn't not have coped if he had turned out to be a terrible person

[@SomebodyPerfectly]

@@African_Rose Lol fuck off....The Disc World is just as oozingly cheesy as it needs to be.

[@dakotasillyman5495]

Same with Ursula K. LeGuin.

[@tonksndante4809]

William Walshe I get that he’s not everyone’s taste but his whimsical style was a tool he used to dance his readers around an issue they took for granted, only to smack them in the face with how blatantly untrue their assumptions were. I get what you mean, but he’s Pratchett, he was his own genre.

[@thegameneededme5]

I think at some point, we need to look at our 'relationship' as fans with the creators of our favorite works. As a society, we shouldn't be putting people up on such a pedestal because things like this will invariably happen. This goes for all mediums. Not to say we shouldn't still admire someone's work, but blind devotion to someone for the sole reason that they created something that means a lot to you is unhealthy.

[@CanterlotCrusader]

People have too much of a fascination on celebrities even b tier ones, in general. This idolatry is very toxic behavior I feel. If you don't know them personally, I feel it's just weird to blindly extol someone's virtues without really knowing them.

[@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168]

That's true, but I think creators should aspire to be worthy of devotion as well. They should think, "I'm gaining a lot of respect, so I should do my best to be a good person on top of that" Even if that means having to hold back on stating certain inherently toxic viewpoints.

[@Starlightean]

Patrick YES! 👏👏 Right on.

[@lukebryant5538]

Simply put: 'making and consuming media would be a whole helluva lot easier if everyone were a little smarter and nicer.' I agree.

[@patrickparadis9038]

right? your mom might make a Mean casserole, but doesn't mean you can't disagree on things, or that you shouldn't still love them.

[@Marshmellow3971]

Calling Jk Rowling ‘Joanne’ is giving strong Dumbledore calling Voldemort ‘Tom’ vibes.

[@peterkorman77]

Remember that time JK Rowling sent her lawyers after a news publication for children that simply reported an unflattering news story about her, forced them to apologize for things they literally did not say, and she completely got away with it?

[@katiebayliss9887]

Really?

[@Sentient_Blob]

Canceling in its purest form

[@peterkorman77]

Sentient Blob: it’s almost like when rich people complain about “cancel culture,” they’re actually complaining about the pushback they get on their opinions and how unusual that is for them.

[@liamflaherty3287]

@@sppotterstark8057 The article didn't directly compare her to Nazis; it moved on from the topical event (Rowling) to ask a question about whether people can enjoy art created by people they disagree with, at which point it used more extreme examples (Picasso and Wagner). Now I get that someone might be offended by being in the same article as them, but when you claim to actively champion free speech it does make it slightly sickening that you then sure a children's publication that was trying to get kids to think in a way that they aren't typically encouraged to. Reading the article I actually thought even kids would have a pretty easy time differentiating Rowling from those two, and in fact it didn't at any point offer a value judgement on Rowling's tweets, simply a dispassionate report of what they were and how other people reacted. It is slightly concerning that reporting the news and encouraging critical thinking is now 'libelous'.

[@liamflaherty3287]

@@lostalone9320 Thanks for your thoughts, but I meant to zero in on the particular line in which Wagner was mentioned. It's not about left vs. right; the question put to kids was about whether the views or actions of an artist interfere with how we view their work. That's a question of literary theory and academic practice, not a political one. I thought it was admirable that children were being encouraged to think academically and ask themselves whether art can be seperated from the artist. I also think you are quite unfair to assume my position on a few things. I do personally disagree with Rowling, but I wouldn't want to take down any publication in which her views were discussed regardless of whether it was pro- or -anti- her. You say that I'm a proponent of cancel culture but actually I felt that it just didn't exactly sit right to sue a publication but at the same time defend free speech. Now you've pointed out some of the wording used, I have altered my stance a little, but I do still feel that the 'special pleading' going on here is actually Rowling - she appears to only have an issue over free speech when it affects her. As for some more of your assumptions - I actually would accept that children (adolescents, at least) should discuss the differences between Sanders and Stalin, and that political education is woefully lacking in some countries including my own. I never said that 9 year-olds were old enough to gender-transition, and I never said that people can't read Huckleberry Finn. On that Finn point - can I just ask what it was that made you think I believed in censorship? I was actually criticising Rowling for suing the newspaper, NOT for the things she said, and I never suggested that she should be 'cancelled'. I believe she has a right to talk about the issues that she wants to as long as she is respectful - ideally I'd like if she engaged a bit more genuinely - but I also believe that people have a right to respond and say that they disagree. That's what this all boils down to for me: I don't see 'cancel culture' as being nearly as significant as Rowling says. She hasn't been cancelled, she will still be able to publish her views and works unimpeded. What has actually happened (as far as I can see) is that some people have said they disagree, and that they will reconsider buying her work in the future because of it (as is their right). In fact, she retracted her support for Stephen King immediately after he tweeted something that disagrees with her views, so she appears to be more interested in cancelling people herself. Anyway, I hope that clears a few things up, as I seem not to have gotten my views across to you very well. However I do think you've made one or two logical leaps (such as my political position) which you should perhaps be a bit more careful with in the future. [And to an extent I can see why Rowling would sue the publication, though I think asking for a cash settlement - given her means - is a bit overly-punitive and perhaps the apology would have been enough, but whatever.]

[@Jesse_359]

Lesson 1: Don't put celebrities on pedestals. They're real people with real flaws, and if you think you know then through their work, chances are very, very good that you do not.

[@lohphat]

Bingo. Walt Disney did some extraordinary things but was flawed. He threw honest, hard-working employees under the McCarthyism Bus simply because they wanted a living wage so people weren't fainting at work choosing to skip meals vs skipping on the rent. He destroyed people's professional lives by doing so. He probably drank too much for essentially causing his mother's -- and almost his father's -- premature carbon monoxide poisoning death by sending studio workers, instead of trained workmen, to install a heater in his parent's home -- all to save some money.

[@mac4951]

My problem is I never put her on a pedestal but boy did I put her books on one.

[@ramywiles]

@@mac4951 Yeah, same here -- I learned hard lessons about not putting people on pedestals in a different context, so she has been a Nuanced Person in my head for many years. But there's a difference between being a Nuanced Person and promoting ideas that are actively harmful to people, and when it comes to the latter, I can't support that in good conscience. I just also happen to have been such a Fucking Nerd when it came to Harry Potter that I corrected the questions at a trivia night and bought wizard rock albums and cosplayed as a Ravenclaw at LeakyCon 2012. 🙃

[@mikejunior211]

@@mac4951 Easy, burn her books. LOL

[@ladynoluck]

TheOneTrueKit Amazingly, burning people who aren’t hurting you or anyone else in anyway to death is different from burning your personal books and no one else’s copies because you don’t want to show support for the people who would have been burning people back when. Comparing apples to oranges here is useless and is also acting in bad faith. Please step back for a clearer perspective, or continue to be the attention-craving troll no one respects that you might be. You can do better for yourself if the latter is the case.

[@jothamsmith2658]

In a way I'm glad this happened when it did; as a Lego collector I was about to drop like £300 on the new Harry Potter sets and then the week before they came out Rowling went nuts. I wish she wasn't a transphobe, but god I'm glad she did it in time to save me cash.

[@pizdamatii5001]

you can spend the money on those mario lego sets now :p

[@rynctv]

I'd just passed the deadline to return a bunch of merch I bought from Hot Topic 😭

[@missybarbour6885]

The reason this is so hard to reconcile is that she wrote "It is our choices, Harry, which show what we are far more than our abilities" and then rocked up two decades later with "gender is stored in the chromosomes"

[@crazykenna]

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be"

[@echowoods7977]

@@ShadowSumac shut the fuck up terf

[@Elena-gj6ow]

If you read more into how she portrays gender in the HP series, it becomes obvious she would end up here with just the tiniest of pushes. Want to hear something beyond fucking ironic? Remember Moaning Mythle? How she kept checking out Harry in the bathroom? Invaded his space? That wasn't portrayed as sexual harassment or weird at all, no, it was coy and risqué, a girl with a crush. The audacity of that bitch is something else.

[@l.n.3372]

@@Elena-gj6ow JKR also has no issue with love potions. Which are kinda date rape drugs. To her they're humorous and Fred and George sell them.

[@phousefilms]

@@l.n.3372 Yep. We're also supposed to feel sympathy for Merope Gaunt, who raped Tom Riddle(Senior)by using a love potion on him to conceive Tom Junior. If it was reversed(a man drugging a rich girl and doing this), everyone in the world would be up in arms. It's never mentioned again and I'm like "Ummm...no. Go back and think about someone else for once!"

[@sarahcb3142]

*Looks at Harry Potter books on shelves bought over ten years ago* *Has no interest in Rowling's new content* LOOPHOLE FOUND

[@katiebayliss9887]

Or just get them at yard sales

[@mollie-wankenobi8655]

or public library, I know mine has had their Harry potter books for years

[@IncredibleGoliath]

@@mollie-wankenobi8655 Authors actually get a royalty when you take their books out of the library. Think of it as Boomer Kindle.

[@mollie-wankenobi8655]

@@IncredibleGoliath the secret to that is spending 4-5 hours sitting in the library reading through a whole book at once without checking it out. On a more serious note, I didn't actually know that, huh

[@scarylion1roar]

@@sulfurcarbide7039 I believe their story is just about reading a book without checking it out. I've done that too, like when Kroger used to have the book section next to the pharmacy, I'd just read the books and put them back.

[@DeathbyPixels]

You either die a hero or live long enough to.... have other people notice you were actually the villain the whole time, and you've only gotten worse in past years.

[@TiagoMorbusSa]

Oof, pretty much.

[@appleslover]

GRR martin in a nutshell

[@cyclone313]

Also Frank Miller

[@katiebayliss9887]

apple's lover what you mean?

[@stevenpuckitt212]

@@katiebayliss9887 Yeah, curious if he's referring to his story characters, which follow that arc, or the author himself. I don't keep up with what authors are doing so I have no clue.

[@5chr4pn3ll]

I mean the way to reconcile this is by separating the artist, not from the art, but from your experience. Your experience was still real. A work of art is separate from the maker and the point of the work is, most of the time, to create a subjective experience for the observer. That experience is what mattered. You don't have to keep supporting that person, but don't give them power over something that is yours.

[@brooklynbuglet]

Thanks for that, I think it actually helps me a bit

[@mhm77887]

I agree completely. Also, Jk Rowling wasn't the only one who participated in Harry Potters success. I for one only watched the movies and there was good acting and music, so it's not just her.

[@CutiePieKindom]

ajnode why are you reducing transphobia to “mild opinions” ???

[@runawayz28]

As author John Green says, "Books belong to their readers."

[@CutiePieKindom]

ajnode i’m not doing this with you lmao the video you’re commenting under literally shows multiple examples in the first five minutes. either you can neither read nor hear or you’re arguing in bad faith. go be a transphobe somewhere else

[@godlaydying]

Lovecraft fans: Oh, my sweet, summer child.

[@Hapetiitti]

Oh dear, you just had to remind me :D But hey, in his defense: He died young, and towards the end of his life, his stories and massive amounts of personal letters started to imply a change in attitude. He seemed to be realizing the error of his prejudicial views and might have corrected them, given a chance to live them through. He also married a Jew, which isn't mentioned too often, and their relationship seemed to value ones personal qualities over their background. I try to think he had hope, although his early stories are hilariously racist, and even the later ones are at least somewhat so.

[@8irdhous3]

James Hutchings afraid to ask but what about lovecraft?

[@godlaydying]

@@8irdhous3 HP Lovecraft was a crazy racist, even by the standards of his time.

[@8irdhous3]

@@godlaydying yikes!

[@markcobuzzi826]

@@8irdhous3 In fact, it is widely rumored that one of his most famous stories, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", was inspired in-part by Lovecraft discovering that he was part Welsh (and reluctantly accepting it) and/or his own fears of interracial marriages... The basic premise involves an old fishing town that is routinely visited by a race of mermen called the Deep Ones, resembling the creature in Guillermo Del Toro's "The Shape of Water". The village of Innsmouth is basically run by a cult, which raises hybrid offspring between humans and the Deep Ones as part of a pact. At a young age, the hybrids look and act like regular people, so they grow up in the village as everyone else, until their merman traits finally manifest in adulthood and they leave to join the Deep Ones at the bottom of the ocean. The protagonist discovers the village's secret, escapes from Innsmouth, and manages to alert the authorities who come in to capture/exterminate the Deep Ones there. But when the story ends, he discovers traces of the Deep Ones within his own bloodline and starts to transform. After briefly considering suicide, the protagonist decides to embrace his new form and dives into the sea. So yeah, the claim that Lovecraft would come up with an unusual story like that, just so he can liken it to marriages between people of differing ethnicities, demonstrates Lovecraft's reputation as a seriously disturbed racist. At the same time, I heard that people have enjoyed reading "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" as its own story and could easily divorce it from the author's original intent, to the point where it inspired the Fishing Hamlet DLC level in FromSoftware's video game, "Bloodborne".

[@Persnikity-yv3nh]

I'm grateful for the positive lessons HP taught me, and ironically due to the values instilled in me in part by the series, I have no problem walking away from it now.

[@mikelaw9317]

@@AddBowIfGirl the irony of what they are saying HP taught them in guessing that if even if you love something with all of your heart but you can let go Harry did in when he drop stone in the forest that help see his pass love ones. Him ask them would you stay with me and his ghost mom said Always then he drop stone walk to his death because he knew they are always with him. So learning that back then means they could ironically use that now to walk away from something they love with there heart

[@lolsy254]

And ain't nothing wrong with that!

[@johnivkovich8655]

Yeah; that is well said.

[@oof-rr5nf]

@@mikelaw9317 well put

[@christianmolick8647]

gems in the turd pile, treasure every one

[@jaredmcdaris7370]

"Donkey Kong says Trans Rights." That's gonna be a LIKE from me, dawg.

[@YourFaceisPretty]

Teeth.

[@CSGraves]

Hell, even Duke Nukem said Trans Rights. Do the likes of Rowling and Linehan really wanna be less socially progressive than Duke Nukem?

[@fineapple3435]

CSGraves if freakin Duke Nukem said it then hell.

[@CSGraves]

@@fineapple3435 Apparently he was watchin' HBomberguy's charity DK64 stream.

[@Levacque]

​@@CSGravesI mean... Duke Nukem Forever is canonically progressive, so...

[@pumaconcolor2855]

"I don't like talking about my personal feelings, 'cause I like to pretend I don't have any" - Lindsay Ellis, 2020

[@ImVeryOriginal]

relatable

[@RaverHates]

I want this on a t-shirt NOW

[@ladylizcreates7719]

The queen has spoken

[@MusicLoverr345]

I live by that 😎😌

[@angusmclean8991]

@LE Jimenez fictional robots are written by authors who have emotional bias

[@Bethgael]

Two years on, her influence and money is seeing actual legislation in Scotland that was supposed to help trans individuals overruled by the English Parliament. She CANNOT be separated.

[@Weebusaurus]

Friendship ended with Joanne Now Donkey Kong is my best friend

[@chriswestergaard4506]

Donkey Kong has always been our friend

[@aboz8649]

Coconut guns

[@numetalmarkchavez24]

@@chriswestergaard4506 Roses are Red Violets are Blue He's the first member of the D.K. crew.

[@vincentwoodhead6411]

DK does say Trans Rights

[@BeccaMoses]

old? jk gold? dk

[@everythingedeno]

We need more unprofessional, pajama clad, ring-light visible hot takes

[@annabenson5684]

+++

[@fthurman]

agreed; this was one of my favourite videos from her, I found the unscriptedness much preferable.

[@paulportes6441]

I second that motion!

[@Christa-u9c]

Fandom has been most interesting in this. Watching them turn on Rowling but keep the lessons and feeling that it brought them. I've seen a lot of supporting and being there for others in the community, and taking the lessons friendship, love, and acceptance and putting into action in real life. Mrs. Rowling may not be willing to listen but she unknowing taught people to stand up to her and those like her who would use ignorance to subjugate someone that they believe to be lesser.

[@harrietamidala1691]

It was even stated in the books the hardest thing to do is stand up to your friends,

[@jturner2577]

@@harrietamidala1691 It truly is.

[@skraegorn7317]

It may be just because I’m American, but I find it so strange that she doesn’t even have a shred of self-awareness about the bigotry she spreads, and that she’s crying victim because people are standing up to her bigotry (partly because that was one of the main themes of her books).

[@Christa-u9c]

harrietamidala1691 it is ironic that it seems like she has become Voldemort. She has gone busting in without all the facts and from a point of ignorance, fired off some tweets that turned her fandom into the cause of her possible downfall.

[@zammmerjammer]

It's kind of amazing that the fictional children she created, and the real-world children raised on their stories, have all grown up to be far better people than she is.

[@elisabethwhat7842]

One of the reasons I am so for Eddie Redmayne is because he spoke out against JK before the movies / books were finished. Which I think is even more courageous than the others. Although I am incredibly grateful to them (Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson) for speaking out on this issue... But you have to admit it is easier to rebel against a former boss vs a current boss. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@elbruces]

I mean, they were kids when they were in it. And her TERF-ery hadn't really come out back then.

[@fabiofuoco]

@@elbruces i don’t think he was implying they should have rebelled against earlier, just that he deserves more praise in doing so since he’s working for her.

[@lemonwhxre]

I mean she was also never their boss, not like she wrote or directed the films

[@moemoii3094]

I didn't know that! What did he say?

[@catherine.marial]

@@lemonwhxre She wrote all the films

[@rushabhbhakta7181]

What did we do to deserve this much (NameBrand) Lindsay content in such a short period of time!?

[@titanuranus3095]

I am going to credit my Wiccan rituals.

[@hexx6120]

Quarantine probably

[@ereynolds72]

Titan Uranus thank you for your service

[@sylvanswan5466]

Because her book tour got cancelled and she can put a mention in each video.

[@Marinanor]

@@titanuranus3095 "I sacrificed a lamb in YHWH's name".

[@AbsoluteSkycaptain]

"Let's say that George Lucas goes off the deep end..." I'll do my best to imagine this completely hypothetical situation.

[@swguygardner]

Please take 5 seconds to research George Lucas' philanthropy. Try not to let some movies about space wizards put him in the same category as a millionaire, highly influential, outspoken bigot.

[@maxwell9211]

Hey at least he's just putting CGI dewbacks in a new hope and not denying the existence of an entire demographic

[@jeremytewari3346]

George Lucas isn’t problematic like Rowling, he’s just insane

[@Tareltonlives]

Trusting Bob Iger is more naive than insane, really

[@deepestphathums]

In all seriousness tho, when George Lucas wanted to expand Skywalker Sound on his property, the local housing association pushed back citing noise complaints and disruption to the area. So Lucas just went "fuck you, I'm gonna build low-income housing instead"

[@LiteralmenteFadul]

When Lindsay talks without a script she turns into big Joel

[@anniehuckaby2649]

this is one of the best comments here

[@charlemagnebrown]

I've found one. Another cultured individual.

[@Walker1o8o]

Big Joel is all of us...

[@poppaelias4175]

Big Lindsay

[@JJ-ec9lp]

Luiz Henrique Rolim Antonio yes. This is unfathomably accurate

[@Kira-zy2ro]

"Dobby didn't mean death of the author. Dobby only meant the maiming or seriously injuring of the author." 🤣🤣🤣

[@papageno88]

I think people really misunderstand what death of the author means, especially in this context. Like, as I have applied it, death of the author means that we treat the text with exclusive primacy, to the exclusion of the author themselves, when determining the meaning of the text. Case in point: Dumbledore. Nothing in the text suggests that Dumbledore is gay. There is no reason for any person to make that assumption from the text. The only reason that Dumbledore is gay is because Rowling said so in an interview. That...doesn't cut it for me. You can't just make canon things that have no basis in the text. That's how I've always understood death of the author. Not even, "the text belongs to the readers now", but rather, "when it comes to interpreting the text, the text is what it is."

[@RoyalFusilier]

That's a good way to put it.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@mabusestestament I'm always astonished to read takes like this. As soon as I read The Deathly Hallows I concluded that Dumbleore. and Grindelwald must have been lovers. I have to commend Rita Skeeters.restraint in not using this information against Dumbledore.

[@vt_973]

very succinct, thank you

[@haroonpiracha4374]

I think she sort of hammers in the point (at the beginning) that what you're suggesting is close to impossible. It's too late, what you think of her has already affected your thoughts on the text.

[@zapazap]

@@haroonpiracha4374 //what *you* think of her has already affected your thoughts on the text.// . Respectfully, don't make presumptions about us. :)

[@charlesthebald3671]

This has to end. Either frame your videos so we can read your shirt, or stop wearing shirts with intriguing writing on camera!

[@panzertorte]

"I'm a damsel, I'm in distress - I can handle it" or something similar, from Disney's Hercules

[@maddison5120]

At first I was worried you were going to be mean 😂 It does look like a cool shirt!

[@JohannesWiberg]

@@panzertorte Thanks! Hm... the only valid reason to something as despicable as an INCEL would be so that you could wear a shirt that says INCEL IN DISTRESS.

[@PorchPotatoMike]

By the way, the shirt in her last video was “D.A.F.E. Don’t Acknowledge Flat Earthers”. I had to Google that one because inquiring minds have to know.

[@egregius9314]

@@panzertorte Close, if I'm guessing correctly: "I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day"

[@schwarzerritter5724]

Personally, I would have called it: Death of the Author 2: The Rowlering.

[@orangeants]

JK Rowling and the Chamber of TERFs

[@johnhelin9834]

Death of the Author 2 - The J.K. Boogaloo

[@HeatherHolt]

Antara Ballal lol I like this one

[@FirstFallSnow]

Death of the author 2: the electric Rowl-aloo

[@RetepAdam]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Unfollows

[@HecHocceH]

The whole point of "you can't consume content without financially supporting the author" implies that piracy doesn't exist. I don't see how that's true.

[@stevenpuckitt212]

Or just previous ownership. Like, burning your books isn't going to phase the cash she already got. Best thing you could do if owning them is just too much for someone would be to donate them so they'll be resold and she doesn't get a dime.

[@delve_]

Piracy: it's a moral obligation.

[@greenredblue]

The argument is that even if you pirate something you're still giving the creator attention and raising their profile. And you're probably not going to be careful about talking about it to other people, right? So if you like the work, and you say so to anyone, you're raising the chance of that person seeking it out. Even disliking it could motivate someone to see for themselves. Even if you say nothing, a high amount of piracy is pretty headline-grabbing. Like if I told you that World of Goo is one of the most pirated games of all time, you'd be curious to know what made it so desirable, yeah?

[@crdpa86]

@@ShadowSumac So... why are you here?

[@bryntendo]

It's kind of like some of the arguments you hear in the vegan community about already-owned fur and leather products. Some people say it's best to keep and use the products or give them away to someone who will since you've already bought them, and they already exist, and just chucking them out would be wasteful. Some people say that wearing them still contributes to normalising the idea that fur and leather are acceptable/desirable materials for those products, still supporting the industries not necessarily financially, but like, implicitly and socially. If you're giving positive attention to her works, then you're supporting JKR at least in concept if not directly. Still maintaining her popularity, which still gives her reach and ends up with her getting more money

[@chancecole437]

Who would have thought that we'd get to a point where Godzilla's official social media supports trans kids- a Japanese franchise about a nuclear holocaust dinosaur- but the creator of Harry freaking Potter doesn't?

[@BrandonPilcher]

Godzilla is officially more woke than J.K. Rowling. Love it.

[@DrSmokeTrees]

If true, that's kind of a big deal, considering how conservative Japan is.

[@WereScrib]

@@DrSmokeTrees Japan's conservatism is very different from western conservatism. Trans can fit into it, if they follow very strict social roles. But I'm guessing this is western Godzilla more than eastern, hard to say.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

@@WereScrib Its the official western acount of the Japanese company that posted it Not the american WB/Legebdary Godzilla twitter acount

[@emilyjanet455]

"Harry Potter and the troubling implications of the characterization and physical descriptions of Rita Skeeter"

[@RengokuGS]

Normally this would be over-thinking/joking but I fully agree here.

[@seamusburke639]

"Harry Potter and the Goblin arguing over ownership of a sword that comes off suspiciously like a stand-in for Israel"

[@Ttoby89]

@@seamusburke639 woaah

[@Ttoby89]

to be clear, thanks for blowing my mind, Seamus. Btw I assume you are some sort of leprechaun stereotype cos duh

[@LacerationGravity]

Seamus Burke holy SHIT

[@lismarcel]

"Fun" fact - the president of Poland is calling all LGBTQ+ people "unhuman" and I've never felt less welcome in my country. He's also compared advocacy for our rights to communist propaganda. Thank you Lindsay for speaking out ❤We need more brave people with a platform and brave people in general

[@КатеринаОрлова-щ2х]

Brave people?) In Poland?😂 he had already apologized and said that he didn't mean it at all.)))

[@bisma1352]

im sorry you have to go through that, it's your country as much as his and actually being president it's his job to make the lives of his people easier not more isolating. Stay strong, may the future be better 💛

[@lismarcel]

@@bisma1352 Thank you for your kind words 😊❤

[@mitchelldavis482]

@@КатеринаОрлова-щ2х A fascist apologized -- and you believe him? You're either a fascist or extremely naive.

[@lismarcel]

@@КатеринаОрлова-щ2х I've already answered but it's mysteriously disappeared. Anyway, that's been his tactics to woo far-right voters and he belongs to a party that's been regularly limiting women's reproductive rights and has caused the increase in xenophobia and homophobia in Poland over the last 5 years. I've participated in many demonstrations against PiS myself. There are many brave people here and everywhere; it's not nationality-specific. You seem to dislike the Polish, but do you actually know any? I worked for a summer school in the UK for many years and many students were Russian. They were great kids and I always had a very good relationship with them because I'm a good teacher and I'm not bigoted. Poland and Russia have shared a very bloody history but I didn't think that should affect how I dealt with them. I suggest you actually meet some Polish people before you start writing comments

[@k_a_y_l_e_e]

"i'm gonna pop-off a hot take...without thinking about it for 6 months" i feel this on a spiritual level.

[@TheVaultMaster]

I love that Stephen King was blocked by J.K. Rowling when he called her out on Twitter. --------------------------------------------- EDIT (because some of you are pedantic as fuck and I apparently oversimplified matters): OK. King didn't "call her out" so much as he posted a pro-Trans tweet that led to a chain of events that caused J.K. Rowling (who has frequently been accused of being transphobic) to reportedly unfollow & block him on Twitter early last week (multiple news outlets reported this on June 29th & 30th - a quick Twitter search will get you the same info). --------------------------------------------- J.K. has apparently taken a step back in recent days, but DID in fact delete a tweet praising Maine's claim to fame. Dear lordy, some of you are exhausting.

[@GAdmThrawn]

Especially since the two were friends at the very most and respected each other at the very least when she was writing the books.

[@cfor8129]

He didn't even call her out, someone commented what was basically 'if you're not a transphobe say trans women are women' and he agreed and wrote it. He literally said something affirming to trans people in a comment thread and she blocked him for it.

[@AllTheArtsy]

@@cfor8129 She deleted earlier praise of Stephen King after he tweeted that transwomen are women and then blocked him. My god.

[@DanielleSouthcott]

Team Stephen King FOR LIFE.

[@TheVaultMaster]

@@cfor8129 Ok, there was no Wild West Stand-Off on Twitter, but part of me believes that he KNEW she'd see that and react.

[@sunstream4]

I realize this was sort of an off-hand comment but I think George Lucas and Star Wars is also very different because the original fiction came in the form of a movie. Novels are almost entirely the product of their author (excluding an editor or two), whereas big blockbuster films are the product of, usually, hundreds of people. That's not to say that none of the original creator's opinions cannot be sewn into a film, but that those opinions are much more diluted than compared to a book.

[@zombielizard218]

Plus, Lucas when he changed the movies did it by actually going back, making edits, and re releasing them. As opposed to... you know, tweeting about it.

[@jjj7790]

@@Thatpersonoverthere4263 I feel like its very generous to call it an issue. The controversy existed in the first place because the depiction made it ambiguous to a lot of people. Then he decided to make it clearly one side in the remastered version. Later, accounts say he changed his mind again and his latest headcanon contradicted what he just edited the film to be. So the lesson here is that franchise canon based on the author's take is about as strong as a wet paper bag. The work is just going to explain itself. The original says one thing, the remasters, prequels and sequels say something else entirely. None of this is real.

[@fairguinevere666]

Yep, so much of the first film's story was done in editing by folks other than Lucas, whereas HP is basically just Rowling perhaps with some edges cleaned up by her editor.

[@kaiyost7025]

It's also different because applying auteur theory to George Lucas is in itself debatable, especially in regards to Star Wars when compared to the rest of his filmography. Applying Death of the Author to Alfred Hitchcock, however, is a much more similar argument to the one regarding JKR.

[@guillaumelevasseur277]

Novels are branded with the maestria of Authorship in mind, but a deconstruction through critical means can lead us to realise that books are often produced as the result of collaboration. The ''author'' directs the process but has multiple editors, agents and proof readers that inject their own views. Also, ghostwriting has always been a thing, most books written by celebs are not actually written word by word to the credited celeb. The Andre Agassi book was ghostwritten in an uncredited way, so are other memoirs. In short, the credited author of a book might bear the brunt of the work, but as in any credited work, collaboration exists and is often masked by our own view of authorship. Authorship has become a marketing tool, the same way starring has become an accepted term. The narrative of authorship might supercede the realities and practicalities that lead to the production of the book. So was Alexandre Dumas a great author or a fraud who weaseled his co-Author of any credit? Maybe if we were able to accept that authorship can be collaborative instead of clinging to a mythology of the sole author genius, we could credit everyone in a more open way. Or maybe it's just wednesday and it's 40 here and i'm ranting a bit. Enough said.

[@da_BemBem]

Now I want to see and listen to your take on Tolkein. I know he's gotten a lot of flak for (what I see as) misunderstandings lately, but it would be interesting given how deep you dive into both the social and historical context of a work or author.

[@quinnsinclair7028]

I believe in the Bright breakdown she goes into the origin of orcs and their slightly racist connotations.

[@KosherCookery]

Most people base their opinions on Tolkien on the Peter Jackson films. Sam (who Tolkien called the “Chief Hero” of the story) has brown hands damnit (mentioned twice, once in The Stairs of Cirith Ungol and once in the Tower of Cirith Ungol - such explicit and unambiguous descriptions of skin color are very rare for Tolkien; by far the most common words he uses to refer to skin color are “swarthy” and “fair” - and in the case of “fair” many times it may simply be a synonym for beautiful). When Gondor had a civil war the bad guys were literally anti-miscegenation. Tolkien was socially liberal for his time. Gondor and the Shire as pseudo-white ethnostates rather than ethnically diverse principalities is very much a modern political invention, both by Nazis who want to steal and pollute Tolkien’s beautiful works for their own propaganda and cancellers who just see another old white guy to shit on.

[@fermintenava5911]

Tolkien has his issues, but he was ultimately reclusive and discoursive enough even in life that no unfortunate implications in his text could damage his reputation.

[@rosesweetcharlotte]

@@fermintenava5911 And he's literally dead.

[@Tallone55]

On the other hand, being a vocal Catholic in the 20th century as he was, it would be ludicrous to suppose that Tolkien held liberal views on homosexual and transgender individuals, and therefore people can feel justified in hating him. Or religious nuts can point to his works as profoundly 'Christian' and righteous, or full of satanic imagery. We can meander among various authors and artists trying to find one with work that can be 'ethically consumed', in which case the vast majority of artists in human history have some egregious personal flaw or other. The real linchpin of Lindsay's argument here isn't that 'J.K. Rowling has bad opinions and her works are valueless as a result,' it's that her ongoing advocacy of positions that can lead to harm outweighs any good her works may bring in the short term because of the way she's enmeshed herself and her opinions with the lens through which we may view her work. As Lindsay argues, it's _impossible_ to practice death of the author because of _living_ J.K. Rowling's prominence. That isn't to say that death of the author can be practiced cleanly even with long dead authors (I cannot separate Rudyard Kipling from "The White Man's Burden" no matter how hard Disney wants to remake "The Jungle Book",) however It certainly gets easier when the author doesn't spend as much time on a stage that I have personal front row seat to, such as Orson Scott Card. Let's talk about Card for a moment. Orson Scott Card's text argues in favor of understanding and peace. Orson Scott Card the individual advocates against LGBT people because he's a member of a religion that makes it church policy to do so. I find it quite easy to practice death of the author when I understand more about the person behind the work, rather than practicing literary shunning. Just my two cents.

[@ninaadalina9454]

@Lindsey Ellis as an egg I loved you and now as a recently fully out trans woman this video means a lot to me and I love you even more!

[@queenrayne1338]

I second this!

[@queenrayne1338]

@Shlomo PilpulStein wats gross?

[@A_wholeass_kim]

@Shlomo PilpulStein Loser.

[@IamJenJen101]

Egg?

[@queenrayne1338]

@@IamJenJen101 a person still "in their shell" its kinda like the trans version of closeted. Tho I have seen it used to describe gay peeps too. In my case it was both.

[@joeysingingchannel]

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I think this current woman is an imposter or had a brain embolism.

[@TheVaultMaster]

Guess J.K. does stand for "Just Kidding."

[@oof-rr5nf]

@@TheVaultMaster it really does

[@vesperlord4342]

Her wealth and power has gone to her head.

[@NecrozmaJade]

Although it seems that way, its not uncommon for someone to act out of line with beliefs they claim to hold.

[@Manganization]

This goes on the assumption that authors write books only about their beliefs. This is the reason why I prefer to separate the books from the author in this case, because it's basically their job to write about characters and philosophies they don't necessarily agree with.

[@cidevant002]

The solution, for me, seems pretty simple as someone that has grow up with the books and movies: pirate the shit out of everything. Just pirate away. You can still enjoy the work without giving her a single cent.

[@Tareltonlives]

Same!

[@gamongames]

As if everytime we talk about the franchise online we don't give it free visibility and thus, money.

[@Winedrunk2lulah]

Exactly! Like you can denounce her with your wallet and still consume the books/ movies you bought possibly decades ago. Read with a critical eye. Speak out against her stances. Donate to trans orgs. Same goes for musicians you dont want to support but who's art still holds value to you. Pirate the shit out of it. Literally me reading a 20 year old book is not supporting it putting money in her pocket. I am trans. I'm not throwing my books out. Nonsense.

[@Hehawmon]

I find it hard to pirate films based off of JKR alone as there were hundreds of people who worked on the films.

[@izinny]

@@BobbyCookOfficial yes of course but it's not like those people are getting money every time we watch a movie, jk has the royalties

[@LightSage89]

The main cognitive dissonance that I have with JK Rowling is that her stance on transgender people goes against the moral lessons that many people found in her books. Ask any HP fan, and they will probably tell you that the whole Pureblood plotline was a thinny veiled criticism of racism, and it taught the fans to be inclusive and open-minded, and not just towards people of different races but all sorts of marginalized groups. It would be like... being a fan of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood as a child, applying the lessons you learned to be a better person, and then growing up to learn that Mr. Rogers treats some people like crap. You are stuck holding a moral opinion that you learned from a creator and then discovering that creator doesn't even believe in that moral opinion that you learned from them. It is very distressing, because HP pushed me to the left-wing as a pre-teen and teenager because I applied the moral lessons to everyone, not just against racism. It's hard to explain. HP was formative to me, just far more then the author might have intended.

[@michaelgoldstein8516]

Was Harry Potter against racism? She has antisemitic caricatures and pro slavery arguments in her books. None of the wizarding race superiority plot lines are resolved. Things just stay the same.

[@walruswasrob]

@@michaelgoldstein8516 It was Ron who mocked Hermione’s anti-slavery activism. Ron was by far the dimmest of the 3 main protagonists in HP. Take that for what it is worth.

[@michaelgoldstein8516]

@@walruswasrob multiple characters mock her and talk about how the elves just wouldn’t be happy if they weren’t enslaved. It’s all over the books.

[@DINO_X65]

@@michaelgoldstein8516 And yet at the end of it, in DH, Harry and Ron magically agree with Hermione's opinions on house elves with no build up. I agree it's done badly, and I agree about the goblin anti-Semitism, but to call the series pro-racism is a bit of a stretch. Like, definitely don't buy the merch or watch the movies or play the game, but buying used books or borrowing from libraries? That's fine. The main message of the series is very much anti-racism. Harry himself doesn't like the Ministry because of its bigoted ideology and reforms it when he gets in.

[@rebeccahicks2392]

@@michaelgoldstein8516 I think the books were intended to be anti-racist, but in some ways they end up kind of racist NOT because that was Rowling's intent, but because of clumsily bad writing. I also think in the specific case of the goblins she didn't realize the tropes she was following (picked up by cultural osmosis) were anti-semitic.

[@AmandaTheJedi]

I had the same confusion about Orson Scott Card. Couldn’t understand how someone with such shitty views could write a story of such acceptance with Speaker for the Dead

[@cractor6307]

@@DA-nk6gx wait, Sanderson is homophobic? God damnit

[@spookypineapple]

He's Mormon. They can be some of the nicest people to everyone they meet, but actually believe that gay people are sinning by being gay, even though they justify it by bleeting "love the sinner hate the sin."

[@Slasherhorror1980]

Ah, because that's what writing fiction is?

[@dragongamer4753]

If you ever read the enders shadow series his bigotry becomes a lot more clear. In one of the books there is a character who literally forced himself to get married to a woman because he thought heterosexual marrige is the only way to happiness.

[@DA-nk6gx]

@@cractor6307 he somthing many years ago along the lines that Gays should have their equal rights but not under the name of marrige as that is holy matrimony under god and god views homosexuality as a sin ( i guess he would prefer some life partner type thing. he does have a gay best friend and writes gay characters in his books so its not like the guy is evil, hes just very religious). I still like Sanderson and buy his books. He dosen't come across as a bad or hateful guy in how he holds his views he just suscribes to the religion his parents brought him up in. I have had many mormon friends in the past with similar views and they are some of the nicest, most understanding people in the world even to gay/trans people and atheists. If anything they fear for their friends souls and the eternal damnation they could experience for their sin or lack of faith. I don't agree with his views but I don't hate the guy. I buy his book for his acclaimed writing not his religion or politics.

[@rosabellaalvarez-calderon4586]

When I read "How to write a thesis" by Umberto Eco many years ago, one thing that I still remember is when he wrote "Do not refer to an author and describe him as "the author of this book". You don't know what was that person's mindset and beliefs when they wrote that book, and how they are now. People change. Rowling's Commencement speech at Harvard so many years ago is widely regarded as one of the best, mainly because she spoke not about her success, but about her failures, about being "as poor as you can possibly be without being homeless". So the point is, do you think Rowling has always been this way, or do you think she has changed as her wealth, fame and influence exploded, perhaps as she started to surround herself with more posh people? I personally believe the latter, which I think is even sadder because then she would be the anti-Dumbledore - someone who changed, but for the worst.

[@ashencometmom5291]

i think her essay made it abundantly clear that she got confirmation-bias'd into holding the views that she's got now

[@Nopperabou]

She has probably been surrounded by yes men for many years at this point.

[@MidnightSonnet]

Even if it's true that she changed based on her environment, that doesn't excuse her severe lack of self-awareness. No one, except Rowling, can either confirm or deny her affiliation with people who are transphobic, so until she comes out with a statement about who she regularly communicates with, we can only assume. And, quite frankly, it doesn't feel "right" to give her that much benefit of the doubt. She's a grown woman who can think for herself. I'm not saying influence isn't powerful, because it very much is. We've all been swayed by something at one point or another and, perhaps, later regret it. While it would be nice to hope that Rowling has that same "ah-ha" moment somewhere down the line, but I'm not putting money on it. She seems pretty set in her ways. And even if she does do a 180 at some point, she would have to do a metric TON of apologizing and groveling to her fans, which I doubt would end well for her. She's received so much backlash about this, that you'd think she'd do some self-reflecting on what she honestly and truly believes. Not only that, but it would be wise of her to question her beliefs and put them to the test. Critical thinking can help us form beliefs that are actually helpful and beneficial. I always encourage people to do so, even with regard to their own religious beliefs. If Rowling actually sat down and did her research on the complexities of gender and trans people, without any bias blocking her from understanding a subject she obviously didn't understand, she would then see how damaging her thoughts and ideas are on a larger scale.

[@LostInNumbers]

So, Lindsay touches on this a bit in the video, but the U.K is a lot more TERF friendly than the U.S. there are several high ranking academic feminists who are TERF in there. It's literally an accepted position in the U.K academic mainstream. In a situation like that Rowling is most likely finding herself caught between pro-trans "internet randos" and anti-trans highly regarded "feminists".

[@AnaMaria-wt3ix]

Eh. This isn't tax brackets or something. Got money -> hate trans people doesn't make logical sense to me.

[@phiferbb10tmjagP]

JK: a Warner Bros, making fantastic beasts 3: SHUT UP PLEASE

[@welch_inc6532]

Honestly, they’ve made he team up with a real screenwriter so expect his name on it solely 😂

[@Poever]

They should just cancel it at this point. Crimes of Grindlewald was a franchise killer, and her shooting her mouth off is fuel to the fire

[@zenithquasar9623]

phiferbb10tmjagP the series is not even complete and already in dire need of rebooting...but tbh, I just want Joanne to keep writing and burning the whole thing to the ground via her atrocious screenwriting ability!

[@333pinkelephant333]

🤣🤣 ikr? Poor Fantastic Beasts movies lol They've faced so much controversy already that I genuinely feel bad for the series. It's like everyone is out to destroy the movies and by everyone I mean their own people lmao

[@selahanany5645]

@@Poever ik, but if they do all the rightis will cry "cancel culture"

[@CarlosAE31]

Is it weird that this keeps being VERY relevant?

[@Nadia1989]

Sadly, no. I wish it wasn't

[@somersault1123]

@@Nadia1989 Why do you wish against it? Only through these high profile cancels does the Radical Left movement get press attention. Especially with the Biden campaign and moderate Democrat voters showing excessive signs that they'll abandon far Left causes if it means they can win against Trump, we need these massive cancels more than ever.

[@sierra3052]

I fucking wish she was canceled. But sadly, upper-class white people don't get canceled by the left. Now on the other hand, the right has proven very capable of canceling said people

[@genghiskhan7691]

@@sierra3052 lol you're mixing up the left with the right. What you described the left were doing, the right-wingers do that. The left mostly cancel upper-class white people.

[@sierra3052]

@@genghiskhan7691 I'm really not lol

[@simpleplanfan011]

If she thinks people are going to side with her over Stephen King, she has officially lost her damn mind.

[@EngineerLume]

Stephen King is far from perfect, but the fact that the guy who bought a van that almost killed him just so he could ceremoniously blow it up is a-okay with trans people fills me with relief.

[@YGroadcapitain]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5_WZ2RqZ7eNa8U

[@cgijokerman5787]

What happened with king

[@seamusburke639]

@@cgijokerman5787 Basically Stephen King tweeted something positive about trans people and she blocked/unfollowed him on Twitter.

[@danieljensen2626]

The funny thing is I haven't ever read any of his books, but even before this I liked him way more as a person for how he uses his platform.

[@Hekateras]

I've known about Orson Scott Card, but damn, I hadn't considered the precise level of cognitive dissonance between homophobia and a book whose EXPLICIT, fundamental message and plot is about empathy, even when it's empathy with someone who's completely alien and incomprehensible to you.

[@jasonbolding3481]

it's "love the sinner not the sin" of his Mormonism

[@B.Arthur]

Card was hired to take over writing Superman back in 2013, and the backlash was so massive that it received international attention. I have never forgotten his reaction to being called out for his blatantly homophobic statements and donation history: He insisted he deserved “tolerance.” Cognitive dissonance is exactly the right term. People like Card are extremely entitled; bigotry and privilege have warped their perception of reality, hobbled their ability to practice empathy, and left them deeply sick. He’s completely incapable of recognizing the irony of his insistence that his intolerance of LGBT+ peoples’ very existence must be tolerated. I’m reminded of a quote about regressive-conservative detractors of the Me Too Movement: “It’s not about due process, it’s about to whom process is due.” Orson Scott Card doesn’t care one bit about “tolerance,” his behaviour before and since prove that. He just thinks he deserves basic human rights and respect, and LGBT+ people don’t. Homophobia and transphobia are just like racism, they are not rational or logical. They do not originate in the frontal cortex, they come from the lizard-brain disgust response we developed to deal with blood/infection/waste/etc. With this in mind, the level of cognitive dissonance we see in bigots like Card doesn’t surprise me. Bigotry is not in any way rational or logical, a truly healthy mind cannot reconcile it with reality - it has to pick one.

[@Hekateras]

@@B.Arthur Well-said. "They do not originate in the frontal cortex, they come from the lizard-brain disgust response we developed to deal with blood/infection/waste/etc. " I don't think it's about disgust. In my many, often fruitless (except with regard to anyone undecided watching, I should hope) arguments with bigots, the dominant emotion I've felt from them isn't some kind of fear or distaste for certain people (and let's be real, a bigoted anti-POC racist who is also sexist, homophobic, etc., effectively hates the vast majority of the human population, probably over 90%). Instead, it was the insistence that all human relationships work on a hierarchy basis; indeed, they were often completely incapable of conceiving of any relationship - professional, familial, platonic, whathaveyou - that didn't involve a significant level of power dynamics. Of course, power imbalances between people exist, but the relationship itself need not be unhealthily unbalanced because of it: e.g. all parent-child relationships have a strong power imbalance initially, but this doesn't *have* to mean that the child is treated without respects and as subhuman. These people, they claim that subjugation is the natural order of things in all contexts, and they grasp desperately to this model of life because they require it to feel meaningful. (This even extends to non-person entities like the environment and the planet, hence "ecofeminism" being a thing.) They cling to these models of humanity because in these models, *their* tiny subgroup comes out on top, superior to everyone else, and they need that. In other words, *they are completely incapable of formulating an identity for themselves that's not dependent on their constructed superiority to others.* Without bigotry, without "well I'm better than X" to define them, they don't know who they are, or what makes them special. (It's a bitter pill to swallow that nothing makes them special, and that it's a reality we all have to face.) Whether the root of that is insecurity or fear or disgust, as you say, I don't know. I just think here needs to be something deeply unhealthy about a human in order for disgust at most of the entire human race to be that appealing to them. This is why, IMO, people who "slip" into racism will usually pick up all the other hierarchy-based "ideologies" along the way. Racism, sexism, homophobia etc. are, at least, ideologically consistent with each other in that they make YOU (the cis straight white guy) so much better than everyone else. Even economic right-wingism appeals to this, because reverence for the market and liberalism - the philosophy of "individual responsibility" - means denying any systemic aspects to someone else's misfortune, and by extension, claiming that YOU are fortunate because of your own hard work and superiority to all those other incompetent, stupid, lazy people. The - unfortunately real - people on Twitter who smugly comment on an infographic about people working multiple jobs and still being in poverty with "work smarter, not harder" do actually think that THEY are better workers (better people, etc.) and that's why they're not poor. It is obviously useless financial advice - poor people who COULD be working smarter to pull themselves out of poverty would already be doing it, or have already done it and are no longer part of the group being discussed - so it's only there to bolster their own ego, it only means "sucks to be you, you should have been more like me" with no attempt at empathy or compassion. Any attempt to provide help or relief for these people in poverty or address the systemic issues that put them there will first run into a substantial barrier of making the entitled non-poor face the fact that their financial status isn't as earned as they think it is, and doesn't speak to their superior character the way they think it does. Ironically, this "package deal" aspect can also work against alt-right groups. The wider the net of shame they cast over certain groups, the higher the chance the people they want to recruit will fall into one of those groups or love someone who does. I've known of people who initially fell into the altright movement as tweens/teens and started absorbing the sexism, homophobia, etc., only to have a lightbulb moment of "Wait, I'm Asian/I'm gay/I'm disabled and these people think I'm scum, but that can't be right, maybe they're wrong about all the other stuff too?" But that' - and the pernicious targeting of impressionable children new to the internet by the alt-right - is a separate topic.

[@B.Arthur]

@@Hekateras Thanks for the great response! The segment you quoted me on was actually a very gently paraphrased quote from transgender KZbinr Contrapoints’ video on the “Gender Critical” movement and TERF ideology - I’ll send you there to get the full expansion on this point, in her words she has “most of a PHD” on the subject, (and is otherwise a storied internet bigotry scholar), so she’s far more qualified than I to explain the actual psychology behind the Disgust Response - it’s not her original idea either, just know that it’s come to me by way of a trustworthy source who is learned in the field of psychology. I agree that the hierarchical aspect is incredibly important to the discussion as well, especially in our fraught era of white male grievance politics/comedy/philosophy. Admittedly I’m out of my depth here, but it seems to me that our hierarchy obsession is more of a sociological problem than a psychological one - bear with me, I struggled articulating this. I think we both agree that healthy minds don’t require the dehumanization of others to soothe their insecurities. Thus, no form of Social hierarchy, (patriarchy, racism, sexism, misogyny, heteronormativity, etc), springs up independently in the mind of an average (i.e. mentally healthy) infant or child - it must be learned from an external source to be perpetuated. We know that hate is taught - if we also agree that hate cannot exist within a healthy mind, then it’s really the (often passive) act of teaching it that is the problem for society at large - not so much that it exists, (there will always be sick people in some form or another), but that it continues to spread unchecked from one person to another. This is why I say this strikes me as a sociological issue, not a psychological one. The perpetuation of hate and hierarchies is an interpersonal problem, it requires interaction and indoctrination to specific and consistent ideals, (i.e “men are better than women”), it cannot begin development or take form unprompted within an individual. Raising a child in a society totally absent of sexism, for example, would create an adult who had no sense of what sexism was, let alone a belief in, or psychological predisposition to, it. This observation may be a semantic difference, but I felt it worth making - bigotry seems to me like a bug in the human condition, not a feature. Especially because we’re capable of passing along and learning positive ideals as easily as these negative ones. Kids accept and absorb the answers they’re given - racism, misogyny, and homophobia, will stop when we stop teaching them. One of the most interesting things about hierarchy too, is how people disadvantaged by the system will lean into it - it’s not a zero sum game where you’re either the top tier or nothing, there’s this sense that relative proximity to the top tier can be claimed. You mentioned knowing POC who fell in with the alt-right before recognizing the dissonance of their ideals, (if not the precarity of their own situation), but I’d also encourage you to think about how some lightskinned POC embrace colourism to pursue advantages over darkskinned POC, despite that same system disadvantaging THEM to the benefit of white people. We see a similar phenomenon in how prevalent internalized homophobia, misogyny, body shaming, and racism, are among some circles of gay men. It’s sad. Again, I think we agree that it’s a sign of a deeply hurt person. And ultimately, it only benefits those actually “at the top.” Interesting point too, about how the alt-right’s shaming simply attracts the kind of person they’re trying to shame. It speaks to the widespread effectiveness of these hierarchies that being Othered in our society is so traumatic that people will seek out the very forces that represent the most severe threat to them in order to distance themselves from their own Otherness. Once again, I can’t recommend Contrapoints enough. If this is the kind of conversation you like having, you should definitely be watching her channel!

[@Hekateras]

@@B.Arthur Addendum: " it’s not a zero sum game where you’re either the top tier or nothing, there’s this sense that relative proximity to the top tier can be claimed. " This, a thousand times this. We keep seeing that people are not only attached to the prospect (however slight) of someday climbing higher up the ladder, they are also extremely attached to the concept of those who are lower than them. Equality can be terrifying if it means there no longer being someone they can punch down at (metaphorically or literally). People will continually vote against their own interests (e.g. universal healthcare, better wages, etc.) if it means those they think beneath themselves (the unemployed, the poor, drug addicts, the homeless, "welfare queens") are kept from having access to things they "don't deserve". People define themselves as much as by how much status they can potentially gain as by how much they could lose.

[@el-kalku]

Lovecraft fans to JK Rowling fans: first time?

[@ghfudrs93uuu]

Michael Jackson fans: There's no pedophila scandal in Ba Sing Se!

[@johntaylor7029]

Dude I feel you, historians to normies: first time?

[@EllieC130]

Stick the Poe fans in there too. Honestly, I feel worse for them. There is way more obvious bigotry in some of his crime stories.

[@shotgun6X]

The difference is Lovecraft is dead, plus his work is in the public domain

[@Fnorgh]

I can't imagine anyone being blindsided or surprised by Lovecraft being heinously racist. The difference is that unlike with Rowling, Lovecraft's prejudices are very much apparent from his work- you don't need to go read his personal correspondence to discover that he didn't like black people, Jews or basically anyone non-Anglo too much (to put it mildly)

[@pepesoria]

I enjoyed your comments on “JK Rowl...”, and like you had reassess my relationship with Orson Scott Card. “Ender” meant everything to me, and then I encountered Card’s blatant bigotry. (The movie being so meh helped a lot). I thoroughly recommend the author Lois McMasters Bujold, as she is reminiscent of Card, yet quite positive in her handling of LGBTQ+ themes. I hope this is helpful.

[@lornde7710]

You don't have to feel guilty about loving Harry Potter, just don't interact it with in a way that empowers the author. Sometimes bad people do good, or good people do bad, whatever floats your boat. The important thing is that Harry Potter was one of the good things. The subsequent bad things can't change that. You don't have to rethink Harry Potter, just the way you interact with it.

[@DeathGripsIsOffline696]

The only way to do that though is pretty much pirating or making your own merch/content. She has literally seeped herself into the series financially and is so damn crazy that she can twist anybodys hate towards her and make it her own empowerment.

[@bisma1352]

I think fancontent is good for that, like honestly some fanfics that came out of the fandom are such high effort dynamic fiction you can pretend they didn't come out of a book written by a terf but just existed like history or mythology and other people are writing cool fiction about them. The only sad things to let go though were dreams to visit wizarding world and buy the books for my nephews and kids :(

[@ajerqureshi6411]

I think the best way to change your interacting habits for me is to stick with the books and movies I’ve loved and not really bother myself with new Harry Potter content. I can still write or read HP Fanfiction, and maybe interact with small HP fan groups not associated directly with Wizarding World or JK Rowling. Heck, I can still consume HP stuff if JK Rowling doesn’t have much influence on it, like stuff from the theme park or the new Hogwarts video game that’s being made without JK Rowling’s involvement.

[@gayouj-b3554]

So now she's a bad person. Tss. And who do you think you are? The goodness. Tchuips

[@TheKebair]

@@DeathGripsIsOffline696 reason number 4263 piracy is not just ok, but a moral imperative.

[@elliottewryan]

i’m glad you’ve brought up orson scott card, because ender’s game was very important to me and a whole bunch of other nerds in high school. i wrote a book report about it which helped me understand how structural oppression is created & organized. but then, as a newly out of the closet teen, it felt like a gut punch to learn that he was anti-gay (especially because ender’s game is lowkey very homoerotic lol). and having grown up reading & watching harry potter, i have the same feeling with joanne, and i just have so many reasons why i can’t support her. i’m non-binary and i can’t betray my trans siblings. also, my dad is an endocrinologist who has been treating trans ppl since the 80s and there is just so much evidence proving that trans ppl, at the most basic level, are less miserable when they’re receiving affirming treatment. but more than that, they’re happy, fulfilled, and finally feeling like themselves for the first time in their lives. so for joanne and anyone else to fight against that affirming treatment is to commit violence against the trans community. trans ppl have autonomy and get to decide, with the help of their physician, whether to block or take hormones, undergo surgery, change their names, etc. i will cherish the memories i have of reading harry potter and ender’s game, because i will not let those authors take that from me, but i will critique them and no longer financially support their work. thanks for a great video!

[@seamusburke639]

The real twisted part about Card is that, on his blog, he wrote a review for the first "Mamma Mia!" film (not sure why but okay) and he said he felt annoyed that Colin Firth's character being gay was essentially a punchline and we didn't get to know him or his life as a gay man. He has the ability as a storyteller to empathize with people different than him, but refuses to apply it to his real life beliefs. It's shameful.

[@JackgarPrime]

Oh god, I bet Death of the Author may end up having to be a whole series, won't it?

[@chadwickjarvis1500]

you make that sound like a bad thing

[@auldthymer]

Hmm... who's on my list?

[@MarchingGrrl]

Kill the whole author

[@temtem8110]

Ive been wrestling with my feelings regarding Harry Potter; I think I will stick around in the fandom because I still have love for this fictional world and I want to preserve some of it. Can’t leave a huge chunk of my childhood for TERFs to ravage, eh? I’m one of these people for whom Harry Potter means a lot. It was my escapism, sometimes literally the *only* joy in my life. Growing up LGBTQ in a country where my existence is outlawed did take a significant toll on me. I saw too much of myself in a boy whose presence people saw as a major inconvenience. Harry’s own family was ashamed of him and shoved him in a closet so no one could see him. As a kid I legit thought that Harry’s life was a metaphor for being LGBTQ (back then I thought that the entire world was like my country, and no one was allowed to freely write openly queer characters). Fifth book was especially hard for me to go through because of the media outrage and malicious propaganda aimed at Harry. Again, projection - I was thirteen when I saw in the news that the discriminatory law banning LGBTQ people from the freedom of expression and livelihood was passed. I related to Harry, I was barely in my teens and had to watch myself being torn apart by the strongest this world. Now I am the villain, now I’m a delusional psycho, now my life and my voice are worthless because strangers with power and influence don’t like me. And after everything that Harry went through in the books, after the closeted life, bullying, wicked propaganda and fight with wizard KKK, JK Rowling delivers. It’s unfathomable to me how the author who wrote the story in which love and compassion are the ultimate saving powers can become the main villain of her own tale. Thanks to Contrapoints, Jamie and Shaaba, I have a solid understanding of how she became a TERF and why her reasoning is bullshit. Still hurts to think that the person who gave little me hope decided to actively harm me, my friends, and my community. I’ll stick with AO3 and watch what kind of tricks people can do and how much they can improve and polish the source material. I’ll check tumblr for fanart. If I want a keychain or some shit I’ll go on etsy or make it myself. I found a good community through Harry Potter, I became a fan of the fandom and I think I’ll keep it that way. This way if I feel that I’m ready to move on from the story I can walk away peacefully.

[@saraperpetua1093]

Oh

[@Nadohunter]

I kind of love hearing LIndsey's thoughts like this? Like I love the long form scripted videos of course, they're very well done, but I'd love to see things like this from her more in the future!!

[@skywalkerchick]

My cousins and I were kids when the HP books were being published, so we did grow up with them and they were very formative to our childhoods. I have one cousin in particular who is a transwoman and she was a very very big fan of HP as a kid. About a year ago, she found a HP fanfic in which Harry comes out as trans at the beginning of Prisoner of Azkaban and follows her transition through that book and Goblet of Fire. I have never ever seen her so delighted and I know for a fact she has read and reread that fanfic multiple times, like I'm pretty sure she loves it more than the source material itself.

[@TheWildwest666]

Magical Metamorphosis is a great fic and I recommend people check it out.

[@Gab98Spyro]

I think that the original Harry Potter books are still great pieces of fiction about oppression and being an outcast, or at least feeling like one. The messages I got from those books are mine, and nobody can take that away from me.

[@someonerandom8552]

I feel like the HP community should write trans inclusive HP fan fic just to spite Rowling and show their support to their trans fam.

[@malachorfives]

@@Gab98Spyro exactly!

[@Petrico94]

Keep in mind a lot of cis-gay people likely saw themselves as Harry too (trying to think of the least offending gender possible to counteract one fan fics perspective). It's great anyone enjoys Harry as a character from any background. It just feels like JKR is doing what she did going into too much detail with her own characters sex lives to make them more relatable or something, it really shouldn't be applied to the books as they are when the characters are fine people as they are for diverse people regardless.

[@Leanne.Gray.]

One of the issues with DotA in regards to Rowling is that she never shuts up long enough for anyone to be able to separate her from her works. Another is that her views run counter to the messages in the works themselves. The HP works support a message of tolerance for people who are different, even in the face of societal disapproval. It just doesn’t mesh with her transphobia. This is different from, say, C.S. Lewis. His religious viewpoints are something I disagree with, and they are heavily reflected in his work, but there is no cognitive dissonance about understanding his view - his opinion and his works are consistent. Likewise even for OSC - Enders Game doesn’t touch on issues of sexuality, but another of his works (Songmaster) does and the subtext is pretty obviously antigay. The issue with Rowling is that she has set herself up as a sort of bastion for liberal values who has written books that emphasize messages of tolerance and justice, who heavily supports charitable causes, but has now come out as a bigot toward an incredibly stigmatized minority group. It’s not just that her views are objectionable, it’s that she’s blatantly hypocritical and inconsistent. Transphobia doesn’t mesh with her brand, and that makes things awkward and uncomfortable for people who have grown accustomed to viewing her and her works in a particular way.

[@davemccombs]

Is it transphobia, though? Doesn't seem like she said anything even remotely hateful, bigoted, etc. Just sort of said something a person not of the trans community/someone with viewpoints more grounded in biological reality would say? And, even at that, it was preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty light, as far as these things go. I mean, it's not even offensive or insensitive BY an average older woman's standards. If I'm missing something, I'm happy to know more. Couldn't possibly imagine myself getting upset or offended at something ~that~ innocuous, though.

[@tiaisirradiated]

@@davemccombs Things she's said aren't blatantly transphobic at surface view, but the fact she never shuts up AT ALL about it, actually misgenders trans people as well as deadnaming them and constantly says things that villainize trans people, it comes together in a way that shows her questionable and debatably bigoted view of trans people. Of course, context is a part of it but she loves to actually manipulate context in her own way too, trying to take things out of it and make it seem like this insanely "Anti-science" worldview is what trans people commonly adhere to when that's far from the case. She uses her platform to unnecessarily point out "Issues" that don't exist and sugarcoats her transphobia (And I use that term lightly) with fake concern for the community and even uses CHILDREN as a very sly and frankly disgustingly manipulative way of getting people who have less knowledge on the subject on her side.

[@benjaminbaer5485]

She is not. She votes right wing and mainly cares about lower taxes for the rich. If you can't afford children, don't have any, as her favorite party says.

[@Leanne.Gray.]

She has expressed literal transphobia in several of her posts. Transphobia includes negative emotions and actions toward trans people including fear, prejudice, discrimination, etc. Her statements that she thinks that equal rights for trans people will lead to woman and girls being assaulted and harassed in bathrooms, for instance, evidence her irrational fear of trans people and advocates for discrimination against trans people. In all seriousness, calling her transphobic isn’t an insult. I’m not doing it because I am upset or offended. It’s just descriptive of her actual views. She is using her very large platform to advocate against equal rights and protections for trans people. She does it from the angle that it’s all about feminism, about her concern for the women and children, but the implication is that trans people are a threat. That *is* bigotry. You don’t have to be waving hate flags and advocating for death sentences to be a bigot. Perpetuating fear and untrue stereotypes of a minority group of people who already experience disproportionate violence does actual harm.

[@agilemind6241]

@@benjaminbaer5485 It's a lot more complicated than that because the UK has a much more diverse tribalism than the USA. By this I mean there are at least four major political camps not two. Rowling falls in the neoliberal camp - pro-capitalism, pro-trade, pro-globalization, pro-business. Which in the UK is to a degree separate from the social-regressive pro-aristocracy, pro-monarch, pro-empire, racist, sexist, anti-gay faction. Rowling until recently seemed to be socially liberal as well as economically liberal being anti-racist, anti-poverty and pro-feminist. An in fact supported many left-wing issues in the UK (anti-Bexit, anti-Scottish Independence, and donates to the Left-wing Labour party). This is the first time she has taken an anti-liberal view on a social issue. Hence the uproar, particularly outside of the UK. Inside the UK this isn't actually that weird, as there is a significant left-wing socially-regressive faction there.

[@porcelainrobot]

to the harry potter fans who need a new book series about magic and wizard schools, i recommend the Earthsea series by Ursula K. LeGuin, it's super underrated, has amazing world building, and POC protagonists

[@SamanthaRichardsonWP]

Bumping your comment.

[@wplants9793]

Love EarthSea!!!

[@avidreader8521]

Or read the vast amounts of HP fanworks if they really, really want HP stuff. I haven't read the actual books in years due to fanworks being, in some cases, better.

[@mnschoen]

Imagine an author who writes a whole fantasy world that isn't steeped in bigotry. Imagine Ursula K. LeGuin, imagine Tamara Pierce, imagine Rick Riordan, imagine Mercedes Lackey (although she has some...questionable portrayals), imagine Andre Norton.

[@karenorgan6203]

But avoid the yt washed tv adaptation … she has given us so much! Yay Ursula!

[@PaladinGuy]

Friendly reminder that Kathrine Applegate is very pro-LGBT and has a much better book series, Animorphs.

[@A11ucard]

Animorphs fucking rules

[@billywitchdocter]

Great series with a shitty ending.

[@epazote4204]

I would also like to include Ursula K Le Guin with the wonderful Earthsea

[@snorpington5910]

Scary book covers tho-

[@SingSumKun]

Yes! Just reread that series and honestly? Still so good.

[@isobelsheene51]

Thanks for saying this, Lindsay. As someone in the fandom, I'd like to add a couple of points (if anyone reads this): Firstly, there's problematic elements within the text itself, which is one of the reasons you really can't separate the author from her work completely. And secondly, the fandom has already divorced itself from Rowling for a number of reasons, and engaging with the fandom is not the same as engaging with the author. Buying fan-made house scarves from Etsy isn't going to benefit Joanne. Sharing fanart with trans pride flags all over them will actually help counteract her message. The fandom itself is still a positive place to be (largely - curate your experience, friends), and you don't have to abandon Harry Potter entirely if you don't want to - just be careful of the ways in which you're engaging. I hope that makes sense. Thanks again for speaking out, Lindsay.

[@Sew_OzzyWar_Made_This]

Thanks for this! I'm a fan of the series and it's a bummer what JK stands for 🙃

[@PeanBean]

I like the way you think. Let's use her own creation against her hatred as long as we don't send her any money anymore.

[@casuallectures2655]

I haven't read the original 7 HP books in ages, mind giving me a rundown on these "problematic elements"? I'm genuinely curious

[@PherseIssac]

@@casuallectures2655 there are probably lots of detailed dives into these different aspects of harry potter, but in general: the goblins as an antisemitic "ruling all the banks" thing, the house elf slaves who like being enslaved leading to the treatment of slavery as a joke, the transmisogynistic language used to describe Rita Skeeter, weird gender stuff that happens mainly in the later books, and the general themes and discussions of race that flop when thought about more clearly

[@Levacque]

I feel this especially strongly after my brother's wedding this year - his wife is a huge Potterhead and lots of the wedding featured references, including tons in their vows. It was really nice to appreciate the things that she finds inspiring in the text without giving the author anything for it 😋

[@beccalanning6370]

As another option for those who still want to read the books without supporting Joanne, I have bought all my books from a second hand bookstore. The money goes to the owners, who make a point to advertise books with poc and LGBT representation.

[@dramatictrauma331]

Borrowing the book or just good ol’ fashioned pirating is an option too. Man, I wish I had an LGBT friendly bookstore near me...

[@littlebadwolf8129]

As for abandoning Harry Potter altogether completely...If this situation absolutely makes you feel horrible about loving Harry Potter and you feel you can't enjoy the books/movies/whatever anymore the way you used to or at all, I'd recommend distancing yourself from Harry Potter for a while---not swearing it off forever---and then seeing how you feel about it after some time has passed. If it didn't make a significant positive difference in your personal life, just return to enjoying Harry Potter and see if you can return to enjoying it as you used to or at least well enough. Point being; don't try to change yourself/your loves because of social pressure, or misplaced sense of obligation. Do it only if it truly bothers you personally that much. All I'm trying to say is, don't needlessly try to shun and erase from your life something that has meant a world to you and has/is making you happy. You can't unpay for those books and movies you bought years ago and selling them away isn't going to fix Rowling's actions. There's nothing wrong with the contents of the Harry Potter books and movies themselves in these terms. So you enjoying such content created by a less-than-great person is not saying that you support her newly outted beliefs. How could it? Such beliefs are not present in the content you enjoy. There are more effective ways to show your UNsupport of Rowling's new attitude, than for you to abandon something that's made you happy and has nothing to do with the toxic thing at hand. I mean, I understand that the Death of the Author is hard to apply in this case, but I honestly don't think it's impossible.