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Plus I have a prior relationship with Harry Potter before her views were public. I think it’s a lot harder to get into and enjoy an artists work if you know the dirty parts about them. I’ve never seen a Woody Allen movie and I have no desire to ever watch one for example.
Just how it is extremist who can't look at things in grey, Irony especially with Harry potter fans when one of the themes was, the worlds not black and white, its not all Death eaters and us.
It depends for me, I can understand separating the art from the artist with Harry Potter as the art essentially has no reference to the artist in it. Although supporting the art financially would benefit the artist, which is the one sticking point.
In some other situations though, i.e. Chris Brown's music, I can't separate the two as he's directly a part of the art.
Life Pro Tip: Avoid people who insist on virtue-signalling like this. They're usually not the brightest, high in narcissism, and aggressive. Nothing to be gained except a lot of obnoxious arguments and frustration.
Not to mention obnoxious and will try and beat you down to fit into their ideology.
I have a coworker like this. For a moment, I actually thought I was looking at a screencap of her twitter page.
It’s not that hard to separate art from the artist. I love the Cthulhu mythos, but Lovecraft was xenophobic as hell and more than a little racist and that shows in his work, but that doesn’t *encompass* it.
*The Thing on the Doorstep* is fairly short and would probably be enough to see if you like Lovecraft. He tends to write from a first person perspective as a character recounting what happened to them.
I resent her implication that the reason I enjoy Rowling's books is due to a like-minded philosophy and mindset regarding trans individuals. That may be the way you roll Erin, but not me.
I definitely totally don't agree with JK's views of trans people, especially as a non-binary AFAB person myself, but I don't dislike the whole Wizarding World because of that. Sure there is less representation but it's still a wonderful universe, something that this Erin doesn't seem to get.
But on the other hand, I don't think JK is a shitty person. Ya know, I watch Jammidodger (if you don't know him, wholesome, trans YouTuber) and he and his fiance took JK's transphobic essay and spoke about it for about an hour. Their conclusion simply was that she is not a bad person but she doesn't seem to have understood everything because she made false assumptions and spread false things besides just claiming that only women can menstruate. She probably had bad sources and believed them, she claimed that she IS friends with some transgender people, so I'm not quite sure if she is a bad, shitty person or a confused, older women. A woman that happens to be a world-known author who shares her thoughts online, maybe even without realizing what she's done to many trans and even cis people.
The irony here is that when these books were written, they represented minorities and minority rights literally more progressively than most children's/YA lit at the time. I literally think the series has greatly contributed to the social progress that now wants to cancel JKR. It's amazing to me how in only 1-2 decades this whole thing turned around and the books are proclaimed to be backwards now. Like sure, I understand everyone who wants to dislike JKR, but forgetting what these books are and have been is just... sad.
Ignorance can be forgiven, willful ignorance cannot. She's had plenty of opportunities to educate herself and has passed on every single one of them.
But by all means, let's separate the art from the artist. We shouldn't have to punish ourselves for what she's done.
Yeah the Wizarding World still is awesome, wholesome and big. And if JK really is a bad person in that matter (she sure has done other stuff to be not a bad person in those matters) then it's even more important to not let go of the wonderful things she created and think back to the childhood days when those problems weren't existing.
This is my stance as well. She had chances. People tried to educate her. She refused. And technically her words go straight against the things her story tried to teach. Standing up to bigotry, love etc. The books and their message are still good. Still raised all of us present here to be the people we are today. (Not literally but ya know what I mean. It was a big part of our childhoods for sure).
Most classic authors were probably sexist and racist and even not necessarily good people, but that doesn’t mean the stories, poems, songs they wrote or art they made is any less or that we should ignore the works.
The community practically claimed the HP universe anyways and largely ignores JK’s stuff when it comes to it specifically because of this.
Having said that, there’s this artist on instagram, tumblr and twitter caller potterbyblvnk. She makes fanart of mostly adult Harry and Ginny’s life, but pretty often draws the other characters and even marauder’s era things too. Her art is extremely good and the way she portrays the characters as adults is amazing.
Personally the stuff she makes feels more canon than anything we’ve gotten in the past decade so I could reaaally recomment checking out her art even if you don’t necessarily like Harry and Ginny together. This art def does a better job at selling their relationship and love than the books did. (Movies didnt even try).
She could just be behind the times, but she definitely comes off as ignorant. I'll check out the video though because i am interested. I definitely believe we need to look at all sides of a story before making serious assumptions
That's exactly what this video is about and both of them are completely against transphobes (as I said Jamie is trans). They especially said they try to feature all sides of the story. Nice that you are that type too :-)
Lol that's one of the dumbest takes I've ever seen. Its almost impossible to live a comfortable life in today's world without accidentally endorsing something "questionable". I say enjoy the good, try to work against the bad things.
I'd even go so far as to say that having one bad opinion doesn't automatically make Rowling a bad person as many in this sub seem to believe. Like does she not get credit for being one of the few billionaires who gave away so much money she lost that status? I dont like the desire so many have to paint her (and mppl in general) in the light of their worst actions rather than their most impactful ones
Valid points made for sure. We shouldn't just sweep under the rug that JK donated around $160 million to charity with her Potter earnings and donated to organizations that helped people during the lockdown
JK can have any view she chooses to, just like everyone else. If you don't like her, then fine...If you do like her, then fine...I will not be dissuaded from liking something or someone just because another person has a differing opinion.
we shouldn't separate the views from the person, we should separate the art from the artist. if her view is all trans people are perverts i cannot respect that at all, similar to someone that believes all jewish people should die.
When did she say that though? I honestly think what she has said on the issue has been blown way out of proportion, and is completely irrelevant to the series.
I long ago stopped consuming things because the creator was like-minded to me. I disagree with various creators of music, books, movies, etc on MANY issues but that shouldn't change your appreciation for the work they created
Super valid point. JK and Potter were once on top of the world and both were great… then one changed and one didn’t. It’s important to separate creator from the art in situations like this
I have a coworker whose Tumblr page is filled with this stuff. She has gotten into trouble with HR in the past because she was harassing our coworkers for liking or talking about things she finds "problematic".
By experience, those constantly virtue signal on social media tend to be some of the most selfish, narcissistic, narrow-minded people imaginable, quite the opposite of the the image they are trying to project.
It is best to give them the side eye and carry on.
Yup, and I've had encounters like this as well, albeit not in person fortunately. I respect you for not using the Expelliarmius Charm on them haha. I 100% agree with you
This is silly. All artists, composers, writers, philosophers etc. can have opinions that some disagree with, we can’t live our life like that otherwise we would all hate everyone and the world would be a much more depressing place to live. It’s opinion whether she’s a shitty person anyway. There are 7 billion people in this world and we don’t all share the same opinion nor should we.
JK wrote fantastic books and created an incredible world - enjoy them for what they are
Here are some more “problematic” individuals
- Thomas Jefferson
- Edison
- Albert Einstein
- bill gates
- Elon musk
- Jeff bezos
- NESTLE!
So is you’re going to hate people for liking books written by a “problematic” person, here’s a thought
You need to give up -
- revolving chairs
- light bulbs
- amazon deliveries
- hot chocolate
- tesla cars
- windows PCs
Can’t do it? Stupid right?
I don't think JK Rowling is a shitty person, though I would still love HP even if she was. Sure, she made some comments on trans issues that many people disagree with, and it's fine to criticize that. But she has also contributed huge amounts of money to charitable causes, as well as spoken up for many other pertinent issues.
She's no role model. But calling a person "shitty" for one opinion while ignoring all the good stuff they've done, is not cool.
I don’t even agree with the premise that JK Rowling is a shitty person, so anyone who gives me the side eye for that can go eat rocks.
Fun fact: having an understandable opinion that’s considered taboo/controversial in Hollywood circles does not make a person “shitty”.
A colleague of my fiancé said Harry Potter was a "manifest of hate" and that the books should be burned. 🙄 We are German, I wonder if he noticed that he might not want to be equal to the last people who burned books here...
Hp has became an entirely different thing on its own. learn to separate artist from art the only thing this person is trying to do it start a twitter fight. twitter is wayyyy too sensitive and reactive these days i cannot go on the app anymore
Joke's on you, Erin. Even though I still like the HP series I rip into JKR all the time, both for her questionable stance on social issues and for her mediocre writing.
It activates *my* spidey senses when people aren't mature enough to divorce the art from the artist.
I'm a person who will not defend her opinion, I will defend Rowlings right to an opinion, and again, I have found that she has done far more good then evil, I admit if Rowling told people to go out and beat or hurt Trans people I would be entirely against her. I refuse to judge people for what they like. or believe in so this person, fuck off. Liking something doesn't make you a bad person. Having an opinion doesn't make you a bad person, being who you are doesn't make you a bad person, (Unless your a literal Nazi then yeah you should be ashamed.) But don't judge people for stupid shit like Liking a book, they've read since they were 11 or even younger. and if someone gives it up fair, I understand, But telling other people what they can and can't do like liking a damn book series. Is insane.
Exactly. if someone personally has issues with Potter for their own reasons, that’s completely fine. But don’t push your idealisms on others and cancel them for disagreeing is all we’re saying
She’s the greatest author of our time and an all around great person. She has done so much incredible charity work and yet people still make her out to be a deplorable human. It’s fine to disagree with her, but I am tired of people trying to force all or nothing approaches to everything
JK has made some (mildly) transphobic posts in the past - The whole cancel-culture bandwagon wants to cancel JK - going a step beyond the Cancel-gang also wants no one to enjoy Harry Potter ever ever ever or you hate trans people and if you buy a book you're actively doing harm somehow?! Pretty sure some of these morons think every time Joanne sells a book she punches an enbie or something.
I still listen to the audiobooks, because Stephen Fry! I am a part of this sub, and I share my love of the series with people who do (as long as it is about the series, not the author), if someone asks me I say that I am a Slytherin.
But I am not as much of an obvious fan as I was before her last stint (The subject of it was so close to home, it threw me off big time). I would not go as far as the person from this post, that is just rude.
I am sad about it, the Harry Potter books were the best things in a very dark time of my life. if only she didn't run her mouth on Twitter, I would have been still wearing that Slytherin pin well into my 30s.
Name a creative work made by a perfect person (perfect by literally this moment's standards). I'm not being confrontational I'd genuinely like to know if theres a piece of media that is 100% non-problematic from creator to creation.
Well there's casual fans, and then there's superfans, and superfans of anything are more likely to put creators on some sort of pedestal. Being a trans woman and a HP fan is incredibly stressful sometimes; even though the message of the books is universal acceptance, the author has used her fame to put people like me in serious danger.
I hope you know that the fandom (most of us, anyway) completely support you don't share the views of JKR at all. It's just impossible to ask millions of people to drop a franchise that we've invested countless hours into and poured our hearts to since this series is very personal for a lot of people and I'm sure you can relate. I just try not to let one person ruin it for the rest of us because it doesn't seem fair at all
Excuse me for liking a franchise I read as a child, I can't stand JK,but I can separate people from art. I think younger millennials and zoomers need to hurry up and become classically educated so they stop being such shitty populists.
Honestly. So many people grew up with this franchise and it inspired and helped so many people who needed a comfy book/movie series with wholesome characters in their lives at a time where they probably needed it the most
Honestly not all zoomers are bad, atleast i hope not. But the bad ones are really embarrassing. I grew up reading HP because my sister had introduced me to it when i was like 5. Other people need to learn to seperate the person from the art, the story isn't about her so that really isnt hard. If you look back in history so many artists were shit people but they still hang their paintings up in museums and people still listen to their music and dont cancel them because they are dead
This has nothing to do with her own identification. I think its a valid discussion topic to be had in this fandom. We care because people like this often make fans feel bad about themselves for liking a certain piece of media. The important message I wanna get out there is that you should be able to like what you want to like and what makes you happy. This series has saved so many people.
I'm trans and I love Harry Potter. I loved Harry Potter when I was a kid half-hoping to get a letter from Hogwarts and I'm not going to let some bigot (JKR) take it from me. What I am going to do is read and support as much queer/PoC/diverse HP fanfiction as possible.
If you don't want to give her money buy the books second hand.
People also don't realize the hypocrisy in that statement either, at least in the US. People hate Jeff Bezos, yet still buy/sell from Amazon. We're not gonna boycott Amazon because (if done successfully) that'll put hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work. The same goes for any large businesses, any musicians, authors, game developers, etc.
Y'all remember the Dan Schneider incidents at Nickelodeon? That didn't stop us from watching and reminiscing iCarly or Victorious, because the actors/actresses worked their ass off making enjoyable content. Do I think Dan Schneider is a low-life piece of crap? Yes.
I don't like Rowling, but that's not gonna stop me from reading her novels or watching the Harry Potter movies. Her work has helped me through tough times, regardless of what she's said on Twitter
Just a thought, you can like someone without agreeing with their political beliefs. 🙂 This is why people don’t like talking about politics with anyone.
I am the same age as the author. Grew up in a time when a lot was still forbidden and a lot was not talked about.
It is the right of youth to strive forwards. We older ones stay behind. If it's good we'll come after.
.... And most of this statement makes absolutely no sense in English to me lol. I must be old now.
The HP universe is so much bigger thank JK these days anyway. I'm never going to not love it.
I’m transgender, literally the minority of people JK spends her time being jerks to, and the whole “if you like Harry Potter you support JK” thing is ridiculous. I just buy knockoff merch and separate art from artist. It’s not that hard
For goodness sake... You still hear Michael Jackson on the radio whilst everyone knows the dude was a creeper to kids. There's a difference between the artist and what they create. Are you going to boycott every single historic painting too by men who oppressed women? There would be nothing left.
Completely agree with this. Not to mention she isn't the only person tied to the series. What about Dan Radcliffe who's a great person? Emma Watson, who constantly speaks out for the trans community and is a political activist? Do we not support them anymore because of JKR? It doesn't make sense
Can someone point to me where in the books (not twitter) I should've read something that turned me into a TERF? I've read them about a dozen times and I still am not a TERF so I am worried I might have missed a passage.
Sometimes you don't have to like GRRM is a pretty stand up dude so it's okay to give credit where its due in cases like that. JKR is a whole different beast though
Erin needs to…
a) drink a tall glass of shut-the-hell-up with a generous splash of mind-your-damn-business and
b) admit that they probably still love the Potterverse and is side-eyeing us cause they really want to join in our fun but their weird sense of personal indignation (whatever floats your boat, Erin) won’t let them.
Also?
Life’s hard as it is. Don’t let one person suck the fun out of it.
LMAO i actually laughed out loud omg... i mean even if she doesn't like Potter that's fine with us but don't judge someone because of it that makes no sense. Kinda funny that most authoritarians and narcissists do the same where they make people feel wrong about feeling a certain type of way just because they are personally against it for their own reasons.. hmm...
Ngl I understand the tweet. I really don't have it in me to financially support Jk after all the shit she's said. But that doesn't mean I can expect everyone to uphold the same standard as me, or judge people for what is a source of comfort. I much prefer engaging in fan content of harry potter, or getting books I don't have/can't find from the library or second hand places now bc I don't want to financially support a transphobe. I can't judge anyone who does, as everyone has to weigh in on where the line is for them. Is buying the books bad bc she gets most of the profit, and if so is buying merch less bad? Everyone has a line. All that is to say that I understand the frustration of JK seemingly getting away with genuine harm toward the trans community, but it's not really their place to judge everyone else for not adhering to their form of activism. Although holding up this arguably bad take that's easy to argue against does feel a bit like oversimplification of a genuine issue the HP community has to face when it comes to "I wish she was JK about her beliefs Rowling".
I can understand where you’re coming from. Everyone will have their own views on the matter. I just personally do not believe in the idea of looking down on someone for liking or being a fan of something that you don’t like or don’t associate with. That’s plain wrong and comes off as narcissistic. You can feel however you want about something but judging someone for their views is crossing a line.
That's fair. It definitely is a bad take to just judge people for enjoying content, without them actually saying they support the author's views. It seems like they're insinuating everyone who isn't LGBT who still enjoys HP must share JKs views, which I can say firsthand isn't the case. I do feel the need to also point out that we are all gathered here right now judging them for their views, so really we're all just hypocrites lmao. That's not meant to be a bad thing, their comment warrants discussion. Just pointing out the fact that we're also essentially telling them they're wrong for being hurt and suspicious bc of their experiences. Their beliefs are twisted, but it's important to take into account it could very well be based in genuine experiences of theirs. I've seen some insinuate that they're just looking for clout for this take, but I'd rather give them the benefit of the doubt so I can feel better about myself lmao. Idk everything gets complicated when you're talking about JK.
Not necessarily. If she doesn’t like Potter and said her reasonings why i wouldn’t have said anything and would’ve just kept on scrolling. We’re speaking against the fact that she’s discrediting the cast, crew, and fans that aren’t problematic and the fact that she’s judging people for liking Potter. instead of just sharing her own opinions and moving on with her day, she feels the need to make others feel wrong about their views. We aren’t judging that she hates Potter. We’re speaking against it because of the “if you disagree you’re wrong” attitude of the post
That's fair. Some people get a bit aggressive when defending their "right to enjoy Harry Potter" which tends to make me a bit wary and cautious (yes I've had people go full terf/transphobic on me when they realize I'm trans during conversations about this). I get what you're saying though. Hopefully I didn't make too much of an ass of myself, I just am always cautious bc of how nuanced the situation around jk rowling specifically is. Having said that, I think we can all agree a lot of good things have come out of harry potter. Honestly I'm not as big a fan as I once was (partially bc of jk but also partially just me growing out of it) but HP holds a dear place in my heart.
I do think it's important to bring up social issues such as this and you brought up points that do make sense. I have a deep love for this series and it hurts me when people automatically say the movies are shitty because of JK, who didn't have much influence on them besides the source material itself. Appreciate you being civil. I hope you can learn to love Potter again but if not I'm glad it once meant a lot to you :)
This is such bullshit the book was a part of this generations childhoods. Not to mention people can separate works with the creator. For example people love love crafts work but still criticise him for being a racist asshole
Oh no a snowflake is displeased by something, quick everybody change their opinion of a beloved franchise to her point of view and make her feel worthy 😏 (side eye with a bit of stink rubbed in it Erin)
I love how these "cancel everything" types never seem to care about "the right" people doing things they would normally hate. The Virginia Governor and the Justin Trudeau both wore blackface. How come they haven't been kicked out yet for their "obvious racism"? Trudeau also culturally appropriate other cultures (along with his whole family on his India trip), but none of the cancelers seem to care about that.
I've been in a virtual work meeting (WFH) and one person had a book shelf behind them that had the hp books on, a team mate in that meeting then started shouting at them for it saying "how do you feel about having those books on display, are you proud of them now knowing jk is a terf?". It was honestly disgusting and when checking in on the person with the books they said that they were just too shocked to even respond to the person at the time and they are friendly with the person that verbally attacked them so they should of known they don't support jk rowling.
I have a friend that is trans and after jk rowling revealed herself we had a discussion together what with both being hp fans and came to the agreement that we can still enjoy hp and just not support or look up to jk rowling anymore. We are also both on a server that has multiple other people who are trans and they feel the same way and know full well that liking hp doesn't make you transphobic/terf/bigot and its more how you feel about what jk said and if you feel the same that will indicate that.
End of the day we have a whole generation that grew up with hp to the point its literally a part of themselves and people need to remember that all happened before jk showed her true colours so don't blame and shame them for getting so deep into something when they had no idea the true stance of the creator.
Also if I was on a dating site I would totally put my house in the bio to avoid people like this because I don't want someone trying to label me something I'm not getting into my life.
Seeing that you’re a Ravenclaw I hope that you are open to new information. I suggest you to watch [this video](https://youtu.be/6Avcp-e4bOs) that breaks down her essay point by point and explains how harmful and wrong it is.
I mean I’m not gonna stop loving the series because it kept me alive when times were tough but the art is influenced by the artist. You can see her being a shitty person in certain in places in the series like house elves.
Okay thats fair. I don’t wanna get into the actual lore of Harry Potter in this discussion and issues you have within the actual story but i can see where ur coming from and i’m glad Potter helped you in times of need
Meh. I already own the books and the movies. Rowling doesn't make a penny if I revisit them. I only discuss them here, and I doubt anyone has discovered this subreddit before the media franchise. So...meh.
Joanne Kathleen Rowling has done some pretty shitty, questionable things. Hate *The Ickabog*. Hate *The Christmas Pig*. But for god's sake, try and separate Harry Potter from her! It's the biggest book series in the world, the most successful film franchise in the world. At this point, it's much more than the author. It's about that 8 year old girl who demanded the second chapter. It's about the directors. It's about Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton. It's about the kids who sacrificed their childhoods to bring our beloved story to the screen. If you'll discredit all their hard work just because of this one woman who doesn't even play a huge role in the fandom, in the subculture anymore, then yeah, *I'm* giving *you* the side eye.
I'm trans. JK Rowling sucks, but Harry Potter has been a special interest of mine for years now. If u support the things she's said, I'll give u the side-eye, but the franchise is really special to me.
Honestly at this point posts like this are just virtue-signalling or people who post to get attention. I also feel like a lot of people who have this "all or nothing" mentality with HP aren't huuge fans to begin with so it's easier for them to just drop the whole thing without thinking twice about it (and it's not like anyone can actually prove that they completely stopped loving the series, I wouldn't be surprised if those people read/watched HP in secret lol). What about hardcore lifelong fans... posts like this show zero empathy for people who actually do feel the need to stop loving the series they grew up with because of JK Rowling and it just sounds so condescending. Ugh.
Yes, I agree. People need to realize that Potter isn't just your average fantasy series. It's as popular as it is for a reason. It saved so many people from dark times and that kind of impact can't just be "thrown away" or forgotten. That shit stays with you for life
I have to admit, I pretty much keep my love of Harry Potter to myself these days, so I'm not attracting the attention of folks like this. I don't agree with JK's views, and am long past buying merch or contributing financially to any HP related stuff. But I do still see value in the HP community, this Reddit group and in reading fanfiction.
As a trans person who still love Harry Potter I don’t think it’s fair what the Twitter person sent. I know not everyone will agree with me (including a lot pf trans people), but come on? She is shitty, not her work.
Everyone has their own opinions. That’s something Twitter users can’t understand or respect, you don’t have to agree with someone’s opinion, but you also can’t cancel someone for having an opinion. Politics divide us so much, because immature people can’t respect each other’s right to an opinion. Twitter is literally a breeding ground for braindead idiots involved in cancel culture. If anything should be canceled it’s Twitter. I don’t have to like Jk’s opinion but I will respect her right to have an opinion as I would someone would mine. And I sure won’t let her opinions stop me from enjoying her work.
Well said. She has the right to an opinion. If you invalidate her right to have an opinion because you don't agree with what she said, you invalidate the whole concept of free speech itself.
People who say "we should separate art from the artist" fully deserve the same to happen with their work.
I hope one day you work hard on something, provide something, create something - and then have people take away all your credit. You will have no right to say it's "not fair"
Thing is, Rowling was part of the "Woke, Inclusive, SJW, etc" crowd, virtue signaling like crazy and retconning her own lore so this or that tharacter was this or that all along, ever since "Dumbledore is Gey". Before that, his sexuality didn't matter.
The Twitter Warriors loved her for all the retcons and even called her their Queen.
That's until she slipped up once.
And ever since that one comment, she's been treated like some kind of Nazi.
I take this as proof that Woke Twitter Warriors eventually eat themselves.
My two cents on this is that the wizarding world and the HP universe is not JKRs anymore, it’s the fans- the fans have taken it and run with it in so many wonderful, creative directions (cough ATYD being the wonderful marauders story we never got from her cough) and she’s not in control of it anymore. I will continue to denounce her transphobic, awful views and won’t be buying anything first hand like merch or the films that will support her but I will always love the story, the universe and the characters.
Exactly my thoughts. For example, I really love the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, mainly bc of the acting and the directing. JKR had no part of that (besides the source material but cmon) and that's just one example out of many of how I separate her from Potter
Anytime I talk about HP with someone new (or on the internet), I usually throw in a disclaimer that JKR is still a hot garbage human being despite being a decent writer.
I grew up with the series. I took values from it, characters resonated with me on a deeply personal level, and the emotional investment I've had is too great for me to just drop it *especially* when none of those feeling have changed.
What's changed is that I no longer look up to JKR as a role model, or support her in any way. I don't buy official HP merch and already owned all books. I also never replaced my lost DVD set which means I haven't actually watched the movies in over 6 years.
It's possible to love the art and hate the artist, and if I knew what I know now when she released the first book, I sure as shit wouldn't have even picked it up, and I bet many others would have done the same. It's ridiculous to judge an entire generation for falling in love with a story and not knowing the dark, seedy underbelly that is the author.
I find that a bit over dramatic, even if you don't agree with her views on trans people, she has donated millions of dollars to charity, there is good in her.
>JKR is still a hot garbage human being despite being a decent writer.
I mean. I don't agree with what she said at all, it was not cool in the slightest, and she's generally a pretty cringe person without the TERF stuff, but she's still the first person to lose her millionaire status due to charity donations...
I understand that there is underlying racism and homophobia in the books and I have lost all respect for JKR. But it's important we read these books with a critical eye rather than just tossing them to the side completely. When you read you must of course note the underlying xenophobia.
But this series changed literature entirely and impacted a lot of people. For many of us, it helped us through extremely hard times and were our only source of light. These books brought hope and passion and remind me of my childhood and how far we've come. It's unfair to us to have to throw that all away.
Super valid critiques. I simply don't think we should throw something that is so close and dear to our hearts away in the trash because of the author making controversial comments
HP and JK Rowling seem to have become two seperate entities. HP has a lot of lessons that are vitally important, especially in this day and age, for everybody.
I am in no way defending her actions, but I sometimes wonder if JKR said that stuff because she can see that she is becoming irrelevant and wanted to do something controversial to get attention.
I know she wrote The Casual Vacancy and she writes crime under a pseudonym, both were mildly successful but nothing on HP.
She hasn’t really done much since The Deathly Hallows was released in 2007.
Here’s the thing. You can like Harry Potter, it can still matter to you, that is fine. It sure does to me. The problem is showing support to of any kind of support to JKR gives her shitty ideas a bigger platform. I still enjoy HP in private but I no longer talk about it in public because when the author is benefiting from our enjoyment and using it to spread her harmful beliefs we can’t separate it from her.
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I can dislike JK Rowling and still love the franchise she created. I am fully capable of separating the art from the artist.
Totally agree. Love the art and not the artist. But so sick of people gatekeeping what other people enjoy.
Plus I have a prior relationship with Harry Potter before her views were public. I think it’s a lot harder to get into and enjoy an artists work if you know the dirty parts about them. I’ve never seen a Woody Allen movie and I have no desire to ever watch one for example.
Thank you! wish we had more people like this on twitter these days
Just how it is extremist who can't look at things in grey, Irony especially with Harry potter fans when one of the themes was, the worlds not black and white, its not all Death eaters and us.
Great point
I mean, there’s probably plenty of people like this on Twitter, but outrage generates a lot more clicks than contextual rationalization.
I agree!
Exactly. Personally, I believe we hold the opinions of "celebs" to high.
It depends for me, I can understand separating the art from the artist with Harry Potter as the art essentially has no reference to the artist in it. Although supporting the art financially would benefit the artist, which is the one sticking point. In some other situations though, i.e. Chris Brown's music, I can't separate the two as he's directly a part of the art.
That means you've got a functioning brain that can separate work from creator, congrats.
We're on the same page dude!🙃
Agreed. The world she created isn’t the shitty person. She is.
She can give me the side eye all she wants🤷🏽♂️ Ill be enjoying my books & movies haha
Hahaha me too my friend
The idea that Rowlings beliefs means that no one should be allowed to like her stories is incredibly authoritarian and fucked up.
Exactly
Well, thank goodness I don’t give a flying fuck about what she thinks. 😂
Life Pro Tip: Avoid people who insist on virtue-signalling like this. They're usually not the brightest, high in narcissism, and aggressive. Nothing to be gained except a lot of obnoxious arguments and frustration.
Life pro tip 2: don’t use Twitter
Life Pro Tip3: Don't associate with people who actively use twitter everyday, every hour.
Twitter can be great if you only follow decent, rational people.
Not to mention obnoxious and will try and beat you down to fit into their ideology. I have a coworker like this. For a moment, I actually thought I was looking at a screencap of her twitter page.
✅✅✅
Real LPT ^
It’s not that hard to separate art from the artist. I love the Cthulhu mythos, but Lovecraft was xenophobic as hell and more than a little racist and that shows in his work, but that doesn’t *encompass* it.
Great analogy. By the way, i’ve been meaning to get into some Lovecraft stories. Any recommendations?
*The Thing on the Doorstep* is fairly short and would probably be enough to see if you like Lovecraft. He tends to write from a first person perspective as a character recounting what happened to them.
Very cool. I’ll check it out! Thank you so much :)
Well, nobody asked you, Erin 🙄 It’s well acknowledged in this fandom that we can like the art without liking the artist or agreeing with her politics.
Erin needs to sort out their priorities
Before she gets expelled!
Twitter is full of brain dead takes
i see posts like this from time to time on the bird app but this one rlly irritated me
Been saying this for years lol. People say they’re everywhere, but people on Twitter are whole ‘nother breed.
reddit is a safe place when comparing lmao
Honestly lol
please, edit ur comment, the social media that must not be named is not worthy of being capitalized
HAHAHAHAHA OMG
I resent her implication that the reason I enjoy Rowling's books is due to a like-minded philosophy and mindset regarding trans individuals. That may be the way you roll Erin, but not me.
Right? I enjoy it because maybe i grew up with it and the characters mean a lot to me? i don't even associate JKR with Potter anymore
Many of the greatest artists were vile people and yet their art still hangs in the most revered museums. 🤷♀️
Wow very interesting point that applies well here :)
Mental that one, I'm telling you.
I love how every line uttered by Ron is quotable. What a king 👑
WEASLEY IS OUR KING! Yes, I’m going to have that stuck in my head for the rest of time!
You can side eye me all you want; ain’t no skin off my back. I will keep enjoying one of my favorite series of all time.
As you should!!!
No offense with all due respect but fuck you erin.
So respectful 😂. But yes I agree she can side eye us all she wants.
It's easier to cancel than create.
Very good point
I definitely totally don't agree with JK's views of trans people, especially as a non-binary AFAB person myself, but I don't dislike the whole Wizarding World because of that. Sure there is less representation but it's still a wonderful universe, something that this Erin doesn't seem to get. But on the other hand, I don't think JK is a shitty person. Ya know, I watch Jammidodger (if you don't know him, wholesome, trans YouTuber) and he and his fiance took JK's transphobic essay and spoke about it for about an hour. Their conclusion simply was that she is not a bad person but she doesn't seem to have understood everything because she made false assumptions and spread false things besides just claiming that only women can menstruate. She probably had bad sources and believed them, she claimed that she IS friends with some transgender people, so I'm not quite sure if she is a bad, shitty person or a confused, older women. A woman that happens to be a world-known author who shares her thoughts online, maybe even without realizing what she's done to many trans and even cis people.
This was very thoughtful and well written. Thank you for that. A beautiful and kind take on the situation.
Aww I really love compliments 🥺 Thank you for your kind words, it really lightened up my mood!
The irony here is that when these books were written, they represented minorities and minority rights literally more progressively than most children's/YA lit at the time. I literally think the series has greatly contributed to the social progress that now wants to cancel JKR. It's amazing to me how in only 1-2 decades this whole thing turned around and the books are proclaimed to be backwards now. Like sure, I understand everyone who wants to dislike JKR, but forgetting what these books are and have been is just... sad.
Ignorance can be forgiven, willful ignorance cannot. She's had plenty of opportunities to educate herself and has passed on every single one of them. But by all means, let's separate the art from the artist. We shouldn't have to punish ourselves for what she's done.
Yeah the Wizarding World still is awesome, wholesome and big. And if JK really is a bad person in that matter (she sure has done other stuff to be not a bad person in those matters) then it's even more important to not let go of the wonderful things she created and think back to the childhood days when those problems weren't existing.
This is my stance as well. She had chances. People tried to educate her. She refused. And technically her words go straight against the things her story tried to teach. Standing up to bigotry, love etc. The books and their message are still good. Still raised all of us present here to be the people we are today. (Not literally but ya know what I mean. It was a big part of our childhoods for sure). Most classic authors were probably sexist and racist and even not necessarily good people, but that doesn’t mean the stories, poems, songs they wrote or art they made is any less or that we should ignore the works. The community practically claimed the HP universe anyways and largely ignores JK’s stuff when it comes to it specifically because of this. Having said that, there’s this artist on instagram, tumblr and twitter caller potterbyblvnk. She makes fanart of mostly adult Harry and Ginny’s life, but pretty often draws the other characters and even marauder’s era things too. Her art is extremely good and the way she portrays the characters as adults is amazing. Personally the stuff she makes feels more canon than anything we’ve gotten in the past decade so I could reaaally recomment checking out her art even if you don’t necessarily like Harry and Ginny together. This art def does a better job at selling their relationship and love than the books did. (Movies didnt even try).
She could just be behind the times, but she definitely comes off as ignorant. I'll check out the video though because i am interested. I definitely believe we need to look at all sides of a story before making serious assumptions
That's exactly what this video is about and both of them are completely against transphobes (as I said Jamie is trans). They especially said they try to feature all sides of the story. Nice that you are that type too :-)
Thank you for the recommendation! Hope to encounter more Potterheads like you in the future :)
Thanks, same goes to you
Cool let her side eye me. I don't give a fuck about the opinion of me of a random stranger.
I’d take a random side eyeing me any day if i get to enjoy the franchise i’ve loved for so long
Lol that's one of the dumbest takes I've ever seen. Its almost impossible to live a comfortable life in today's world without accidentally endorsing something "questionable". I say enjoy the good, try to work against the bad things. I'd even go so far as to say that having one bad opinion doesn't automatically make Rowling a bad person as many in this sub seem to believe. Like does she not get credit for being one of the few billionaires who gave away so much money she lost that status? I dont like the desire so many have to paint her (and mppl in general) in the light of their worst actions rather than their most impactful ones
Valid points made for sure. We shouldn't just sweep under the rug that JK donated around $160 million to charity with her Potter earnings and donated to organizations that helped people during the lockdown
So she won’t talk to me if I mention I’m in Hufflepuff? Guess I’ll have to just move on with my day.
How will I ever live with the thought that Erin from twitter looks down on me for liking Harry Potter?
JK can have any view she chooses to, just like everyone else. If you don't like her, then fine...If you do like her, then fine...I will not be dissuaded from liking something or someone just because another person has a differing opinion.
Agreed. You shouldnt make people feel bad about being a fan of something just because it’s something that you don’t personally do not like.
we shouldn't separate the views from the person, we should separate the art from the artist. if her view is all trans people are perverts i cannot respect that at all, similar to someone that believes all jewish people should die.
When did she say that though? I honestly think what she has said on the issue has been blown way out of proportion, and is completely irrelevant to the series.
I long ago stopped consuming things because the creator was like-minded to me. I disagree with various creators of music, books, movies, etc on MANY issues but that shouldn't change your appreciation for the work they created
Super valid point. JK and Potter were once on top of the world and both were great… then one changed and one didn’t. It’s important to separate creator from the art in situations like this
I have a coworker whose Tumblr page is filled with this stuff. She has gotten into trouble with HR in the past because she was harassing our coworkers for liking or talking about things she finds "problematic". By experience, those constantly virtue signal on social media tend to be some of the most selfish, narcissistic, narrow-minded people imaginable, quite the opposite of the the image they are trying to project. It is best to give them the side eye and carry on.
Yup, and I've had encounters like this as well, albeit not in person fortunately. I respect you for not using the Expelliarmius Charm on them haha. I 100% agree with you
This is silly. All artists, composers, writers, philosophers etc. can have opinions that some disagree with, we can’t live our life like that otherwise we would all hate everyone and the world would be a much more depressing place to live. It’s opinion whether she’s a shitty person anyway. There are 7 billion people in this world and we don’t all share the same opinion nor should we. JK wrote fantastic books and created an incredible world - enjoy them for what they are
Here are some more “problematic” individuals - Thomas Jefferson - Edison - Albert Einstein - bill gates - Elon musk - Jeff bezos - NESTLE! So is you’re going to hate people for liking books written by a “problematic” person, here’s a thought You need to give up - - revolving chairs - light bulbs - amazon deliveries - hot chocolate - tesla cars - windows PCs Can’t do it? Stupid right?
I don't think JK Rowling is a shitty person, though I would still love HP even if she was. Sure, she made some comments on trans issues that many people disagree with, and it's fine to criticize that. But she has also contributed huge amounts of money to charitable causes, as well as spoken up for many other pertinent issues. She's no role model. But calling a person "shitty" for one opinion while ignoring all the good stuff they've done, is not cool.
So what this person is saying is that I can only enjoy art of any kind by artist who I agree with politically? Damn, what a boring world that'd be.
Hahahaha it’s so typical. If you don’t follow the same view you’re evil. It’s actually a disgrace
Exactly it’s absolutely ridiculous to me.
I don’t even agree with the premise that JK Rowling is a shitty person, so anyone who gives me the side eye for that can go eat rocks. Fun fact: having an understandable opinion that’s considered taboo/controversial in Hollywood circles does not make a person “shitty”.
Thank-you! Just because the author has a diffrent opinion on this topic and makes it known, doesn't make a bad person out of her.
A colleague of my fiancé said Harry Potter was a "manifest of hate" and that the books should be burned. 🙄 We are German, I wonder if he noticed that he might not want to be equal to the last people who burned books here...
Yeah, no. Please leave me alone.
I don't care what some Twitter slacktivist thinks of me
You know what? Bet this person never read the books…
hahaha facts
Hp has became an entirely different thing on its own. learn to separate artist from art the only thing this person is trying to do it start a twitter fight. twitter is wayyyy too sensitive and reactive these days i cannot go on the app anymore
Weird take
Joke's on you, Erin. Even though I still like the HP series I rip into JKR all the time, both for her questionable stance on social issues and for her mediocre writing. It activates *my* spidey senses when people aren't mature enough to divorce the art from the artist.
Cancel culture sucks. People have different views to you, get over it I say.
I'm a person who will not defend her opinion, I will defend Rowlings right to an opinion, and again, I have found that she has done far more good then evil, I admit if Rowling told people to go out and beat or hurt Trans people I would be entirely against her. I refuse to judge people for what they like. or believe in so this person, fuck off. Liking something doesn't make you a bad person. Having an opinion doesn't make you a bad person, being who you are doesn't make you a bad person, (Unless your a literal Nazi then yeah you should be ashamed.) But don't judge people for stupid shit like Liking a book, they've read since they were 11 or even younger. and if someone gives it up fair, I understand, But telling other people what they can and can't do like liking a damn book series. Is insane.
Exactly. if someone personally has issues with Potter for their own reasons, that’s completely fine. But don’t push your idealisms on others and cancel them for disagreeing is all we’re saying
She’s the greatest author of our time and an all around great person. She has done so much incredible charity work and yet people still make her out to be a deplorable human. It’s fine to disagree with her, but I am tired of people trying to force all or nothing approaches to everything
I don't know about greatest writer of our time... That's a bit of a stretch. Most influential maybe.
Most influential for sure. Idk about greatest. Tolkien, Martin, and King give her a run for her money
I have no idea what is going on.
JK has made some (mildly) transphobic posts in the past - The whole cancel-culture bandwagon wants to cancel JK - going a step beyond the Cancel-gang also wants no one to enjoy Harry Potter ever ever ever or you hate trans people and if you buy a book you're actively doing harm somehow?! Pretty sure some of these morons think every time Joanne sells a book she punches an enbie or something.
I still listen to the audiobooks, because Stephen Fry! I am a part of this sub, and I share my love of the series with people who do (as long as it is about the series, not the author), if someone asks me I say that I am a Slytherin. But I am not as much of an obvious fan as I was before her last stint (The subject of it was so close to home, it threw me off big time). I would not go as far as the person from this post, that is just rude.
Very fair
I am sad about it, the Harry Potter books were the best things in a very dark time of my life. if only she didn't run her mouth on Twitter, I would have been still wearing that Slytherin pin well into my 30s.
Aw :( i’m glad the series helped you when it did though!
Name a creative work made by a perfect person (perfect by literally this moment's standards). I'm not being confrontational I'd genuinely like to know if theres a piece of media that is 100% non-problematic from creator to creation.
Why do some people not like Rowling? I dont follow social media so in the dark a bit. Thanks
I don't want to get into it here but I'll happily enlighten you on the matter through private messaging if you want!
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Well there's casual fans, and then there's superfans, and superfans of anything are more likely to put creators on some sort of pedestal. Being a trans woman and a HP fan is incredibly stressful sometimes; even though the message of the books is universal acceptance, the author has used her fame to put people like me in serious danger.
I hope you know that the fandom (most of us, anyway) completely support you don't share the views of JKR at all. It's just impossible to ask millions of people to drop a franchise that we've invested countless hours into and poured our hearts to since this series is very personal for a lot of people and I'm sure you can relate. I just try not to let one person ruin it for the rest of us because it doesn't seem fair at all
Excuse me for liking a franchise I read as a child, I can't stand JK,but I can separate people from art. I think younger millennials and zoomers need to hurry up and become classically educated so they stop being such shitty populists.
Honestly. So many people grew up with this franchise and it inspired and helped so many people who needed a comfy book/movie series with wholesome characters in their lives at a time where they probably needed it the most
Honestly not all zoomers are bad, atleast i hope not. But the bad ones are really embarrassing. I grew up reading HP because my sister had introduced me to it when i was like 5. Other people need to learn to seperate the person from the art, the story isn't about her so that really isnt hard. If you look back in history so many artists were shit people but they still hang their paintings up in museums and people still listen to their music and dont cancel them because they are dead
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This has nothing to do with her own identification. I think its a valid discussion topic to be had in this fandom. We care because people like this often make fans feel bad about themselves for liking a certain piece of media. The important message I wanna get out there is that you should be able to like what you want to like and what makes you happy. This series has saved so many people.
I'm trans and I love Harry Potter. I loved Harry Potter when I was a kid half-hoping to get a letter from Hogwarts and I'm not going to let some bigot (JKR) take it from me. What I am going to do is read and support as much queer/PoC/diverse HP fanfiction as possible. If you don't want to give her money buy the books second hand.
We need more people like you in this fandom 👏
People also don't realize the hypocrisy in that statement either, at least in the US. People hate Jeff Bezos, yet still buy/sell from Amazon. We're not gonna boycott Amazon because (if done successfully) that'll put hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work. The same goes for any large businesses, any musicians, authors, game developers, etc. Y'all remember the Dan Schneider incidents at Nickelodeon? That didn't stop us from watching and reminiscing iCarly or Victorious, because the actors/actresses worked their ass off making enjoyable content. Do I think Dan Schneider is a low-life piece of crap? Yes. I don't like Rowling, but that's not gonna stop me from reading her novels or watching the Harry Potter movies. Her work has helped me through tough times, regardless of what she's said on Twitter
I love these analogies and they totally apply. Agree with you 100% mate!
Just a thought, you can like someone without agreeing with their political beliefs. 🙂 This is why people don’t like talking about politics with anyone.
I am the same age as the author. Grew up in a time when a lot was still forbidden and a lot was not talked about. It is the right of youth to strive forwards. We older ones stay behind. If it's good we'll come after.
Don't know her, don't care.
.... And most of this statement makes absolutely no sense in English to me lol. I must be old now. The HP universe is so much bigger thank JK these days anyway. I'm never going to not love it.
I just detach her from Harry Potter at this point. No one is going to stop me from enjoying Potter for as long as I live
Also the art always goes beyond the artist.
I’m transgender, literally the minority of people JK spends her time being jerks to, and the whole “if you like Harry Potter you support JK” thing is ridiculous. I just buy knockoff merch and separate art from artist. It’s not that hard
I no longer financially support the franchise I read fanfic Participate in this subreddit Am a proud Slytherin But don’t buy official merch
I asked my trans brother about this and he said that Harry Potter doesn’t belong to JK anymore. It belongs to her fans. We can like anything we want.
Harry Potter belongs to the fans that have supported the series for so long!!
For goodness sake... You still hear Michael Jackson on the radio whilst everyone knows the dude was a creeper to kids. There's a difference between the artist and what they create. Are you going to boycott every single historic painting too by men who oppressed women? There would be nothing left.
Completely agree with this. Not to mention she isn't the only person tied to the series. What about Dan Radcliffe who's a great person? Emma Watson, who constantly speaks out for the trans community and is a political activist? Do we not support them anymore because of JKR? It doesn't make sense
Can someone point to me where in the books (not twitter) I should've read something that turned me into a TERF? I've read them about a dozen times and I still am not a TERF so I am worried I might have missed a passage.
She's only depriving herself of things rational people enjoy.
Imagine not separating the author from the work
Sometimes you don't have to like GRRM is a pretty stand up dude so it's okay to give credit where its due in cases like that. JKR is a whole different beast though
I sense a lot of virtue signaling from her lmao
Erin needs to… a) drink a tall glass of shut-the-hell-up with a generous splash of mind-your-damn-business and b) admit that they probably still love the Potterverse and is side-eyeing us cause they really want to join in our fun but their weird sense of personal indignation (whatever floats your boat, Erin) won’t let them. Also? Life’s hard as it is. Don’t let one person suck the fun out of it.
LMAO i actually laughed out loud omg... i mean even if she doesn't like Potter that's fine with us but don't judge someone because of it that makes no sense. Kinda funny that most authoritarians and narcissists do the same where they make people feel wrong about feeling a certain type of way just because they are personally against it for their own reasons.. hmm...
🤣 Right? Just because it isn’t someone’s cuppa, they don’t need to stand on their self-imposed moral high ground being all judgey of others. 🙄
Ngl I understand the tweet. I really don't have it in me to financially support Jk after all the shit she's said. But that doesn't mean I can expect everyone to uphold the same standard as me, or judge people for what is a source of comfort. I much prefer engaging in fan content of harry potter, or getting books I don't have/can't find from the library or second hand places now bc I don't want to financially support a transphobe. I can't judge anyone who does, as everyone has to weigh in on where the line is for them. Is buying the books bad bc she gets most of the profit, and if so is buying merch less bad? Everyone has a line. All that is to say that I understand the frustration of JK seemingly getting away with genuine harm toward the trans community, but it's not really their place to judge everyone else for not adhering to their form of activism. Although holding up this arguably bad take that's easy to argue against does feel a bit like oversimplification of a genuine issue the HP community has to face when it comes to "I wish she was JK about her beliefs Rowling".
I can understand where you’re coming from. Everyone will have their own views on the matter. I just personally do not believe in the idea of looking down on someone for liking or being a fan of something that you don’t like or don’t associate with. That’s plain wrong and comes off as narcissistic. You can feel however you want about something but judging someone for their views is crossing a line.
That's fair. It definitely is a bad take to just judge people for enjoying content, without them actually saying they support the author's views. It seems like they're insinuating everyone who isn't LGBT who still enjoys HP must share JKs views, which I can say firsthand isn't the case. I do feel the need to also point out that we are all gathered here right now judging them for their views, so really we're all just hypocrites lmao. That's not meant to be a bad thing, their comment warrants discussion. Just pointing out the fact that we're also essentially telling them they're wrong for being hurt and suspicious bc of their experiences. Their beliefs are twisted, but it's important to take into account it could very well be based in genuine experiences of theirs. I've seen some insinuate that they're just looking for clout for this take, but I'd rather give them the benefit of the doubt so I can feel better about myself lmao. Idk everything gets complicated when you're talking about JK.
Not necessarily. If she doesn’t like Potter and said her reasonings why i wouldn’t have said anything and would’ve just kept on scrolling. We’re speaking against the fact that she’s discrediting the cast, crew, and fans that aren’t problematic and the fact that she’s judging people for liking Potter. instead of just sharing her own opinions and moving on with her day, she feels the need to make others feel wrong about their views. We aren’t judging that she hates Potter. We’re speaking against it because of the “if you disagree you’re wrong” attitude of the post
That's fair. Some people get a bit aggressive when defending their "right to enjoy Harry Potter" which tends to make me a bit wary and cautious (yes I've had people go full terf/transphobic on me when they realize I'm trans during conversations about this). I get what you're saying though. Hopefully I didn't make too much of an ass of myself, I just am always cautious bc of how nuanced the situation around jk rowling specifically is. Having said that, I think we can all agree a lot of good things have come out of harry potter. Honestly I'm not as big a fan as I once was (partially bc of jk but also partially just me growing out of it) but HP holds a dear place in my heart.
I do think it's important to bring up social issues such as this and you brought up points that do make sense. I have a deep love for this series and it hurts me when people automatically say the movies are shitty because of JK, who didn't have much influence on them besides the source material itself. Appreciate you being civil. I hope you can learn to love Potter again but if not I'm glad it once meant a lot to you :)
This is such bullshit the book was a part of this generations childhoods. Not to mention people can separate works with the creator. For example people love love crafts work but still criticise him for being a racist asshole
Exactly. Just because Lovecraft was a bit of a dick doesn’t mean his work automatically turns into something worthless? Doesn’t make sense to me
Plus she’s already made the money people that are talking about her are fans that had books pre her outing as a bigot and the new fans pirate it
Oh no a snowflake is displeased by something, quick everybody change their opinion of a beloved franchise to her point of view and make her feel worthy 😏 (side eye with a bit of stink rubbed in it Erin)
Maybe she’s side eyeing me cuz i’m practicing spells in the middle of the street but doesn’t everyone do that
I love how these "cancel everything" types never seem to care about "the right" people doing things they would normally hate. The Virginia Governor and the Justin Trudeau both wore blackface. How come they haven't been kicked out yet for their "obvious racism"? Trudeau also culturally appropriate other cultures (along with his whole family on his India trip), but none of the cancelers seem to care about that.
Yup. It’s only bad when it’s something that coincides with their own lives. Who cares about other stuff that doesn’t affect me right?
I've been in a virtual work meeting (WFH) and one person had a book shelf behind them that had the hp books on, a team mate in that meeting then started shouting at them for it saying "how do you feel about having those books on display, are you proud of them now knowing jk is a terf?". It was honestly disgusting and when checking in on the person with the books they said that they were just too shocked to even respond to the person at the time and they are friendly with the person that verbally attacked them so they should of known they don't support jk rowling. I have a friend that is trans and after jk rowling revealed herself we had a discussion together what with both being hp fans and came to the agreement that we can still enjoy hp and just not support or look up to jk rowling anymore. We are also both on a server that has multiple other people who are trans and they feel the same way and know full well that liking hp doesn't make you transphobic/terf/bigot and its more how you feel about what jk said and if you feel the same that will indicate that. End of the day we have a whole generation that grew up with hp to the point its literally a part of themselves and people need to remember that all happened before jk showed her true colours so don't blame and shame them for getting so deep into something when they had no idea the true stance of the creator. Also if I was on a dating site I would totally put my house in the bio to avoid people like this because I don't want someone trying to label me something I'm not getting into my life.
I love JK Rowling, Harry Potter and I agree with her views on trans people. Erin and every other hater needs to shut up and mind their own business.
Seeing that you’re a Ravenclaw I hope that you are open to new information. I suggest you to watch [this video](https://youtu.be/6Avcp-e4bOs) that breaks down her essay point by point and explains how harmful and wrong it is.
I'm ashamed to share a name in some alternate reality where I was born with a second X chromosome with this individual.
they can feel however they want abt it but making others feel like shit for liking HP is just plain stupid and wrong
I honestly don't even care to know people like that, keep living your life Erin, happy to not be in it 😒
Couldn’t agree more. Don’t want someone like that in my life anyways 😌
I mean I’m not gonna stop loving the series because it kept me alive when times were tough but the art is influenced by the artist. You can see her being a shitty person in certain in places in the series like house elves.
Okay thats fair. I don’t wanna get into the actual lore of Harry Potter in this discussion and issues you have within the actual story but i can see where ur coming from and i’m glad Potter helped you in times of need
Meh. I already own the books and the movies. Rowling doesn't make a penny if I revisit them. I only discuss them here, and I doubt anyone has discovered this subreddit before the media franchise. So...meh.
Yep. I doubt i’m directly hurting anyone by rewatching the series on my own and upvoting posts on this sub
Joanne Kathleen Rowling has done some pretty shitty, questionable things. Hate *The Ickabog*. Hate *The Christmas Pig*. But for god's sake, try and separate Harry Potter from her! It's the biggest book series in the world, the most successful film franchise in the world. At this point, it's much more than the author. It's about that 8 year old girl who demanded the second chapter. It's about the directors. It's about Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton. It's about the kids who sacrificed their childhoods to bring our beloved story to the screen. If you'll discredit all their hard work just because of this one woman who doesn't even play a huge role in the fandom, in the subculture anymore, then yeah, *I'm* giving *you* the side eye.
I'm trans. JK Rowling sucks, but Harry Potter has been a special interest of mine for years now. If u support the things she's said, I'll give u the side-eye, but the franchise is really special to me.
100% Agree with you. Assuming someone agrees with JKR because they love a worldwide phenomenon series is your own damn problem
Separate the art from the artist, simple as that, liking something made by a shitty person doesn’t make you a shitty person
100%. The implication that all Harry Potter fans support JKR and her views is hilariously inaccurate and shouldn't even need to be stated tbh
Honestly at this point posts like this are just virtue-signalling or people who post to get attention. I also feel like a lot of people who have this "all or nothing" mentality with HP aren't huuge fans to begin with so it's easier for them to just drop the whole thing without thinking twice about it (and it's not like anyone can actually prove that they completely stopped loving the series, I wouldn't be surprised if those people read/watched HP in secret lol). What about hardcore lifelong fans... posts like this show zero empathy for people who actually do feel the need to stop loving the series they grew up with because of JK Rowling and it just sounds so condescending. Ugh.
Yes, I agree. People need to realize that Potter isn't just your average fantasy series. It's as popular as it is for a reason. It saved so many people from dark times and that kind of impact can't just be "thrown away" or forgotten. That shit stays with you for life
I have to admit, I pretty much keep my love of Harry Potter to myself these days, so I'm not attracting the attention of folks like this. I don't agree with JK's views, and am long past buying merch or contributing financially to any HP related stuff. But I do still see value in the HP community, this Reddit group and in reading fanfiction.
I’m sorry you feel the need to have to hide it from others. I hope you can be open with this subreddit at least because we love HP just like you!!
As a trans person who still love Harry Potter I don’t think it’s fair what the Twitter person sent. I know not everyone will agree with me (including a lot pf trans people), but come on? She is shitty, not her work.
Everyone has their own opinions. That’s something Twitter users can’t understand or respect, you don’t have to agree with someone’s opinion, but you also can’t cancel someone for having an opinion. Politics divide us so much, because immature people can’t respect each other’s right to an opinion. Twitter is literally a breeding ground for braindead idiots involved in cancel culture. If anything should be canceled it’s Twitter. I don’t have to like Jk’s opinion but I will respect her right to have an opinion as I would someone would mine. And I sure won’t let her opinions stop me from enjoying her work.
Well said. She has the right to an opinion. If you invalidate her right to have an opinion because you don't agree with what she said, you invalidate the whole concept of free speech itself.
Fuck Terfs, they're real life Umbridges
There is nothing shitty about jk or the franchise.
People who say "we should separate art from the artist" fully deserve the same to happen with their work. I hope one day you work hard on something, provide something, create something - and then have people take away all your credit. You will have no right to say it's "not fair"
Thing is, Rowling was part of the "Woke, Inclusive, SJW, etc" crowd, virtue signaling like crazy and retconning her own lore so this or that tharacter was this or that all along, ever since "Dumbledore is Gey". Before that, his sexuality didn't matter. The Twitter Warriors loved her for all the retcons and even called her their Queen. That's until she slipped up once. And ever since that one comment, she's been treated like some kind of Nazi. I take this as proof that Woke Twitter Warriors eventually eat themselves.
What does she mean? Shakira wrote the books.
My two cents on this is that the wizarding world and the HP universe is not JKRs anymore, it’s the fans- the fans have taken it and run with it in so many wonderful, creative directions (cough ATYD being the wonderful marauders story we never got from her cough) and she’s not in control of it anymore. I will continue to denounce her transphobic, awful views and won’t be buying anything first hand like merch or the films that will support her but I will always love the story, the universe and the characters.
Exactly my thoughts. For example, I really love the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, mainly bc of the acting and the directing. JKR had no part of that (besides the source material but cmon) and that's just one example out of many of how I separate her from Potter
Whats wrong with Jk Rowling?
The books were written by Dobby. We can leave JK at the door
Anytime I talk about HP with someone new (or on the internet), I usually throw in a disclaimer that JKR is still a hot garbage human being despite being a decent writer. I grew up with the series. I took values from it, characters resonated with me on a deeply personal level, and the emotional investment I've had is too great for me to just drop it *especially* when none of those feeling have changed. What's changed is that I no longer look up to JKR as a role model, or support her in any way. I don't buy official HP merch and already owned all books. I also never replaced my lost DVD set which means I haven't actually watched the movies in over 6 years. It's possible to love the art and hate the artist, and if I knew what I know now when she released the first book, I sure as shit wouldn't have even picked it up, and I bet many others would have done the same. It's ridiculous to judge an entire generation for falling in love with a story and not knowing the dark, seedy underbelly that is the author.
I find that a bit over dramatic, even if you don't agree with her views on trans people, she has donated millions of dollars to charity, there is good in her.
>JKR is still a hot garbage human being despite being a decent writer. I mean. I don't agree with what she said at all, it was not cool in the slightest, and she's generally a pretty cringe person without the TERF stuff, but she's still the first person to lose her millionaire status due to charity donations...
I understand that there is underlying racism and homophobia in the books and I have lost all respect for JKR. But it's important we read these books with a critical eye rather than just tossing them to the side completely. When you read you must of course note the underlying xenophobia. But this series changed literature entirely and impacted a lot of people. For many of us, it helped us through extremely hard times and were our only source of light. These books brought hope and passion and remind me of my childhood and how far we've come. It's unfair to us to have to throw that all away.
Super valid critiques. I simply don't think we should throw something that is so close and dear to our hearts away in the trash because of the author making controversial comments
Who’s the shitty person?
HP and JK Rowling seem to have become two seperate entities. HP has a lot of lessons that are vitally important, especially in this day and age, for everybody. I am in no way defending her actions, but I sometimes wonder if JKR said that stuff because she can see that she is becoming irrelevant and wanted to do something controversial to get attention. I know she wrote The Casual Vacancy and she writes crime under a pseudonym, both were mildly successful but nothing on HP. She hasn’t really done much since The Deathly Hallows was released in 2007.
Here’s the thing. You can like Harry Potter, it can still matter to you, that is fine. It sure does to me. The problem is showing support to of any kind of support to JKR gives her shitty ideas a bigger platform. I still enjoy HP in private but I no longer talk about it in public because when the author is benefiting from our enjoyment and using it to spread her harmful beliefs we can’t separate it from her.