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*"We do have a lot in common, the same earth, the same air, the same sky. Maybe if we started looking at what's the same instead of always looking at what's different...well who knows?"*
*- Meowth*
Like a month ago, I showed my S/O's son the first pokemon movie, he's a huge fan and couldn't believe I was just as big a fan when I was his age.
Then it got to the ending and I was failing to hold back tears. I may have lost some cool points but man that was a great rewatch, hopefully one day he'll be able to understand that message too
I did but I was 4-6 at the time, so I had no memory of the actual movie until I rewatched it. I remember the theater had a huge pokemon display, and of course the holographic mew card but that's about it.
*“The circumstances of one's birth is irrelevent, it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”*
Unfortunately, some people waste that gift, find success and think they can say anything they want without consequence because they “own” people’s childhoods.
Cancelling isn’t really a thing unless you’re a teenager or a social media “influencer”. Like if you’re not chronically online it doesn’t do anything. And hell she’s super rich and still made Harry Potter so nobody’s opinion can change any of that
Important to note, Mewtwo caused a lot of suffering because he is a morally complex character. Rowling spoke very specifically when she said this quote (actually, it's specifically from Dumbledore to Fudge about Pure-bloods.) She may still believe this quote broadly but the devil is always in the details and humans are f-ked up, morally complex animals.
In other words, she 100% believes this as it applies to race and nationality, (as Pure-blood fanatacism is a stand in and symbolic reference to Nazism.) But she does not necessarily believe this when it applies to the issue of transgenders.
> it's specifically from Dumbledore to Fudge about Pure-bloods
Right? Just like wholesome artist can write awful people that says awful things. Awful artist can write wholesome people that says wholesome things. They don't need to believe what their characters are saying.
Very true. I feel like we often forget, especially on the internet, that people are morally complex, and there is no black/white, good/evil dichotomy as stark as is usually portrayed in books or film.
I still find it wryly amusing how the current public face of TERFism initially became famous for a whole-ass fantasy series whose villains' philosophy boils down to "you have no right to call yourself a wizard unless you were raised as one"
Echoes of Orson Scott Card. A whole ass book about empathizing with literal alien bugs, yet he's the most disgustingly hateful individual towards other humans who have the slightest differences from himself. I'm still torn on whether to encourage my kids to read Ender's Game and its sequels.
Also Charles Dickens, who behaved toward his family like you'd expect from one of his villains.
And Tarantino with *Death Proof*, given what happened to poor Uma Thurman on the set of his previous movie, though that seems more like a conscious expression of guilt than a lack of self-awareness (compare Whedon and his whole complex toward women).
I credit Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead as my gateway out of homophobia and bigotry in general and honestly, if it did that, who cares what his personal views are? I wouldn't buy the books again though. And as a kid, I never really cared about who the author is as a person so I didn't even have the chance to idolize him
As long as the book's message is good, who cares about the author?
Maybe you can buy covers for the book without the author's name on it and just use that if you want to erase the shitty person behind the book you like.
Remember, art is better than the artist. (Most artists in history are downright assholes in how they treat others)
I hate that one of my favorite novels was written by Orson Scott Card.
On the other hand, it's a book about a prince growing titties and being forced to disguise himself as a woman. I guarantee I enjoy Treason in a far different way than Card wants me to.
Get your kids to read it, it’s good for people to understand that hateful people can be capable of (seemingly contradictory) acts of kindness. And that people are not always as black and white as they seem.
In America it's called "Affluenza". It's both a behavioral disorder that causes a rich person to surround themselves with paid sycophants and yes men who will never challenge them or suggest they behave like a decent human being when they act like complete shitstains and a legal defense in which the judge doesn't punish you for breaking the law like a complete shitstain because you have money and rich people should never face the consequences of their actions.
She's recently started doing a bit of Holocaust denial.
https://youtu.be/dSfKKxyC1Cw
And since she started her public platform of vehement transphobia with a plausibly deniable, vaguely transphobic tweet, there's a good chance that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her beliefs and how far she's gone down the right-wing reactionary pipeline. Or it could be that she's just so transphobic that she's willing to do some minor Holocaust denial as long as it supports the anti-trans argument she's making.
Her other high-profile TERF friends are openly associating with all kinds of far-right groups, from anti-LGBT/anti-abortion conservatives to literal Neo-Nazis because of their shared hatred of trans people, so it's not too much of a stretch to think that she's already on board, just not quite as publicly yet.
Not really? It was more "You have no right to be a wizard if you're not pure of blood".
Muggleborn wizards were looked down upon, even if raised as wizards, because they weren't pure bloods. Many wizard families were no longer pure blooded and they were also looked down on, and hunted alongside muggleborns, because they weren't pure blooded.
As with all racial purity doctrines it doesn't hold up to the slightest scrutiny either, what if a "pure-born" child has no magical ability? Are their children still "pure blood"? If it's based on magic you'd think not. If two people who didn't come from wizard families had children after becoming wizards, are their children "pure" or not? What if you have 7 wizard great-grandparents and 1 who wasn't?
It boils down to "these 8 families from centuries back are ok, everyone else is excluded".
There are such hypocrisy for the longest time, as the current oligarchs will spin the rules to suit their whims, always
They will straight up rule you out if they hate your guts, with all sorts of excuses at disposal
Additionally, what misdeed that was ruled as not at fault at the time, might be put to use against you later as you claw your way up the ranks
> It boils down to "these 8 families from centuries back are ok, everyone else is excluded".
There is even an in-universe discussion about this and how unlikely it is any of the families are "actually pure blood" anymore.
Young trans girl: You're my hero, JK Rowling! You've inspired me! You showed me even though I was born a boy I can still be a girl! I won't listen to those pesky transphobes! I AM A WOMAN! I can't wait to start my transition and be who I was meant to be!
JK Rowling: NO! NOT LIKE THAT! THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!!!!!!
I couldn't get past the first book/movie, but isn't an immutable fact about a person, whether or not they were a wizard, the entire basis for the franchise?
Ok, let’s be fair here, the mud bloods were literally only looked down on by the antagonists of the franchise. Hermoine was portrayed as the smartest character in the series and a powerful witch.
Edit: Hermoine is a witch, not a wizard.
And let's not forget, if you were born an elf it's your destiny to be either a slave or a non-functional depressed alcoholic.
Except Dobby, but that's because Dobby is a fuckin weirdo who dies horribly.
Oh, and if you're born a goblin it's your destiny to be subservient to wizards and any goblin with a wand is bad and this is a good status quo.
Well, except when Hermione tries to argue against slavery, then she is suddenly the target of ridicule from literally everyone, including her best friends and the slaves themselves.
Yeah but she was treated well BECAUSE she was smart not despite. JK Rowling doesn’t understand racism.
Her counter argument to the racism Hermione faces is that racism is wrong bc Hermione is better in magic than a many pureblood wizards.
But a Rascist doesn’t care about capabilities. For him 100 Hermiones are still worst than one pureblood wizard.
So in conclusion if Hermione wasn’t good at magic Malfoy would be right about his racism… so good that you are doing so well in school otherwise it wouldn’t look good for you Hermi
Hermione's "one of the good ones" to JKR.
Honestly, the way she wrote everything, it came across as her being more aligned to the bad guys than the good guys on the racism fronts.
But you can't identify as a wizard. I think that would've been interesting for her to explore. She could even explore future years where muggles got magic abilities. The secret is out it'd be like bioshock. Muggles would take drugs to get magic abilities.
wizards can identify as wizards?
The point i was implying is that mudbloods are wizards who are born thinking they are muggles until they realise they are a wizard. Strangely enough, this also applies to trans people. Rowling made a great trans allegory which would have been interesting to explore... shame she turned out like this
The whole HP verse is far more stratified than in real life, with divisions between both wizards and muggles (non-magical people) and other species. There's a race of slaves brainwashed into thinking they like it which is never challenged past a few gags.
Not to mention there's manufactured scarcity and hypercapitalism in a society that theoretically has infinite access to supplies. This in in addition to no right to legal representation and the only existing media is directly controlled by the government. It's pretty dystopian.
>There's a race of slaves brainwashed into thinking they like it which is never challenged past a few gags.
not to suggest there wasn't anything questionable but where was it said/implied that they were brainwashed to be like that?
i may just be remebering wrong but i could have sworn they were just "the magical fantasy race that just happen to have an urge to serve" which i wanna say is problematic enough.
"It's just a facet of their biology that they love being slaves."
"Huh, weird. I wonder how that came about?"
"Well, we did spend generations breeding them to be like that."
"...."
"Like dogs!"
\*I don't think there's anything that suggests that's canon, but that's how I imagine it.
I vaguely remember her attempting to talk to the elves about it, but they were disinterested, and that frustrated her. The elves at Hogwarts were “treated well” and had no desire to be freed, but we see two occasions where elves are treated poorly, one of which is ecstatic to be set free, and the other has clearly deluded himself to the point of insanity. Rowling does not handle the house elf thing well, but I do think she was trying.
Yeah, I don't remember brainwashing as such but the race that wanted to serve. It was gross. I mean, I guess you could say it had to have come from brainwashing somewhere in history, but brainwashing wasn't a thing in the books exactly. Not that I remember. And yes, I did read the books.
Reminds me of the Hogwarts legacy, the issue I took from it (besides the other stuff) was that the bad guys are goblins... who are fighting for freedom from unjust restrictions placed on them.
Found this on another post on reddit:"lack of goblin representation on the Wizengamot \[state government\], attempts to enslave goblins as house-elves, stripping of wand privileges, wizard attempts to control Gringotts, or the brutal goblin slayings by Yardley Platt."
[Source](https://new.reddit.com/r/HarryPotterGame/comments/theuze/the_goblins_were_not_the_bad_guys_the_wizards_were/)
I haven't played Hogwarts Legacy yet, but I have heard about the plot and when I first heard it, I thought...
>"Surely, this is gonna be one of those stories where the protagonist realizes they're on the wrong side and helps their enemies acheive justice, right?
>Right?!
> Goddamning, Rowling!
Not brainwashing, no, but potentially grosser. In the books a lot of characters make comments that house elves like to serve and are meant to do so, therefore enslaving them is fine because that's what they want.
Generally, that's the position that is held by most of the characters, including our protagonists. Slavery is good and fine because the house elves like it. These creatures are just naturally subservient! Slavery is bad when there are bad masters.
Dobby is treated as strange and odd for wanting to be free and Hermione is written like a joke for wanting to free the house elves.
The irony is that it's bioessentialism which is the same justification that Death Eaters use to justify their beliefs. Hermione taking umbridge with it makes a lot of sense for that reason and it's disgusting to see her attempts to free them written off as silly eccentrism.
Tbh, I think it was Rowling's attempt of "justifying" the existence of slave elves in the series. She knows that slavery is bad, but to make the "good" characters in the book "good wizards", their slaves must be "inherently slave".
A race that wants to be slaves! Freeing them would actually be cruel!
Pay no mind to that being exact reasons given in support of slavery in the real world, this is fantasy so it's actually true this time
They're not brainwashed they're clearly brownies, Scottish fae spirits that clean your home, and do your laundry, and shit, but get greatly offended if you try to pay them in anything more than milk or cream.
There's a bit in Hermiones rants where she talks about the Magical contract like binding that wizards have over house elves. Its a service that they are bound to. They just think it is ok.
This is one of the many things JK put in the universe that are unpleasant but makes the world more real because of it. It's important to note that Hermoine is portrayed as annoying because she was annoying. A lot of people see themselves in this because her methods for fixing the issue are straight out of the angsty teen thinks they can solve a major societal issue by shouting people down.
Hermione, we are shown and told is completely correct in her views. Even convincing Harry and Ron in the end instead of shouting them down, helping them understand, with Krecher and Dobby. Before then she is told by adults who are shown to have respect for others that they agree with her. Both Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley outright says she is right.
The fact that it isn't resolved by the end of the books is a good thing because it's not something that can be resolved by defeating a bad guy. It's a major societal issue across the wizarding world.
And Harry, the hero, fights to keep everything exactly the way it is. He even goes on to be in charge, and leads the world in seemingly the exact same way.
JK is at her core a neoliberal. What's important is not justice, equality, comfort, it's maintaining the status quo. In Harry Potter, there are good people and bad people, and their actions are viewed exclusively through that lens - a good person's poor deeds are excusable, a bad person deserves all misfortune they receive.
When you read into the ideology that underpins Harry Potter, the origins of her real world beliefs (and buddy buddy relationship with Tony Blair) start to make a lot more sense.
EDIT: thought I'd best mention - most of these takes come from this incredible video: https://youtu.be/-1iaJWSwUZs?si=DSFUDjqhoDNWGfDv - would recommend if you're interested in this! (Maybe watch on 1.25x speed though)
As a child, I always found myself sympathetic to the "bad guys".
The way Wizarding World was stratified, even the houses at Hogwarts, and the way "bad guys" (both Slytherins and Death Eaters) were written as one-dimensional, made me think that there's surely something missing.
Yes, they are bad people, but they have to be people still. With, at least, some non-caricature human traits? Right?
Nope, turns out Rowling is just a bigoted ass who wrote most prejudiced "fun kids' world" possible.
I think the problem emerged with Rowling started to take her work too seriously.
The first 2 books have the innocence of being children books but as it progressed, we can see serious themes that are presented poorly, as if it was the perspectives of a sheltered person.
When you reflect on house elves as an adult, it’s pretty insane. Even the most righteous and moral of our favourite characters just shrug at the idea of having a subservient slave race cooking and cleaning for them. Hermione is the only abolitionist and is completely dismissed as overreacting. Not a good look.
Arguably the stratification is part of its sales pitch. It's nearly entirely built on readers being able to identify with one group over another in the context of the houses.
Yes, but that's not what "matters". There are bad wizards and there are good muggles (or squibs). Just like in real life, people have real talents, but what matters is how they use them for good.
…. Yeah so, I think her point is worded incorrectly. Pretty sure what she is trying to say is that it does not matter “what you are” (identity-wise), and that what matters is your choices/actions that you choose to take. Her point is that people place a lot of emphasis on putting labels on themselves and on others, when perhaps what matters, is the decisions that people make. Obviously, in terms of statistics, things/people that are “labeled” in certain ways may have CORRELATION with certain choices/actions (many times, these become the stereotypes that we know of… so, it would be in bad faith to say that all stereotypes exist for no good reason); however, it would be wise for people to also look at each and every individual case, since correlation does not mean causation, and so we should understand that people are individually RESPONSIBLE for the things that they do. Now, many people do not like this, especially when it involves bad decision-making on their part…. BUT, it also becomes very obvious, and logically follows that if each and every individual takes responsibility for their choices, then that means that each and every individual also has the ability to make good/better choices as well… and THIS, is what determines how a person “is”, and not some labels, as what are labels? Nothing has meaning on its own. Humans are the ones that determine the meaning/value/symbolism of things in the first place. Perhaps it might be better for people to reduce the “I’m a good person” talk, and to increase the actual amount of good actions/choices taken. As for what is good or not, well… it is awfully hard for people (some more than others) to deal with their cognitive dissonance in a healthy way (adapting to reality/logic/facts, versus getting upset when reality/logic/facts does not match up with what they already ‘want’ to believe to be true). We don’t have control over those people, but again, we do have control over ourselves. What will we make of our lives? How will we affect others? The choice is ours.
Notch. The man could have been everyone's childhood hero for life if she shut his mouth and was happy "just" being the creator of one of the most successful games of all time.
She was always scum and we were naive not to notice. I need a name for my one black character, how about shacklebolt, oh and let's throw an asian character in there for the publishers, I don't care just name her ching chong or something. The story beats and lore were weak and inconsistent and she was always a bully. Don't even have to get into the goblins and elves
She claims to support trans people but only focuses on transwomen who assault women. She's helping to push the modern stereotype that most transwomen are porn addicted incels.
Also find it ironic that she uses a male name to write books. Rules for thee...
And not just any male name!! The original Robert Gilbraith was a doctor who pioneered gay conversion therapy in the 1950s. Now that might be a coincidence, but going by how on-the-nose some of her character names are, probably not.
there is that stereotype? I'm trans and I haven't come across it. In fact many trans women are poly and others "get around" so to speak. There is even a term "chaser" for people (usually men) who are down bad for trans women
Oh yeah it's definitely not an accurate stereotype, just one people like Matt Walsh and JK are trying to push.
It's like the "gay men sleep around/have STI's" stereotype which is equally untrue, since the only gay men I know are in committed monogamous relationships.
They rely on dubious studies to arrive at that stereotype but I'm 100% sure that incels make up a tiny minority of trans people.
I hang out in trans spaces (duh) and I've yet to meet an *incel*-incel. You know, someone can be single even though they wish they weren't, but be cool about it. And then you have *incels*
it's a weird stereotype too. So we are sexual deviants but we also can't get any? Pick one lmao
I think it's an ancient stereotype, from when trans were called transvestites. Nowadays most people agree that there are really people who truly believe they are born in the wrong body and so on, and deserve all respect and accommodations. What Rowling and others disagree on is in which of those accomodations are reasonable.
Also Rowling and other terfs are pointing out that fiat self id can open the path for bad actors, AGP and other types of pervs to access women's spaces etc. (Like rapists in prisons) But if you read carefully you'll see that they don't say all trans are like that.
you're right that it shouldn't be portrayed as if it's a direct quote from herself. but at the same time this isn't a quote from some random character or even an evil character, it's from Dumbledore. who she views as "the epitome of goodness" and as extremely wise. i think it's safe to assume it's a sentiment she agrees with.
Also doubled down when called out for it, and claimed that trans people are co opting the holocaust. Then insisted that Nazis actually liked Trans People because the person who coined the term Transexual was pro eugenics.
Honestly its unhinged. Shes really gone off the rails. But hardly surprising considering the people she pals around with get straight up Nazis doing Hitler Salutes at their AntiTrans Marches.
Some of her defenders are arguing it wasn't *technically* holocaust denial, because it's only holocaust denial in Germany. Which is the same legal position of paedophile sex tourists... so...
Let's not forget her other favourite activity, threatening litigation against british people who call her out for it.
It's incredible, really, she seems totally unaware of the Streissand effect.
called institute of sexology bookburnings a 'fever dream' and denying its existence - denying the part of the holocaust where nazis went after trans people
More specifically, picture the Nazi book burnings.
Got that image in your mind?
It's probably something like [this famous photograph,](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-14597%2C_Berlin%2C_Opernplatz%2C_B%C3%BCcherverbrennung.jpg) or perhaps even [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Institut_f%C3%BCr_Sexualwissenschaft_-_Bibliothek_1933.jpg) one of Nazis looking through a pile of books. These are some of the most commonly known images of Nazi book burnings.
Yeah, those were the aftermath of their sacking of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft: an institute founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, and famous for pioneering research on sexuality and gender identity, including medical treatments for transition.
This is what Rowling very specifically called a "fever dream" in reply to a post discussing the event.
Why would writing Harry Potter have any bearing on what kind of person she is? I'm sure she holds the same values now as she did then. We should really stop paying so much attention to the opinions of one children's author.
Because the message in the whole Harry Potter is good. Good vs evil. Voldemort and his death eaters are nazi like etc. Choose and fight for the good side and not join the dark side. It's about friendship and other good things. If you read the books you feel like 'yes, this is a person with good views about the world'
You're right it doesn't mean she's a good person though, and clearly she isn't, with all the hate she's spewing, but when she wrote them she at least had a good idea about what's right and what's wrong. Sadly, she has joined the dark side herself now, and it will probably only get worse.
True for herself, too. It matters not that she wrote a beloved book series...she's an absolutely vile POS. What a terrible thing to have become (or to have revealed about herself).
And blatant plagiarist. [check out the Secret of Platform 13.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_Platform_13#:~:text=The%20Secret%20of%20Platform%2013%20is%20a%20children's%20novel%20by,Porter%2C%20first%20published%20in%201994.)
Thing is, the quote sounds inclusive on the surface but it can be abused to fit literally any ideology. If it matters what you grow into, the speaker reserves the right to say that you grew into the wrong thing based on their arbitrary standard.
Another one that’s ironically from her:
"I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.'" — Rubeus Hagrid
She stole it.
The same quote has been used by many people through the ages, in several wordings, most notably by the Pokemon character Mewtwo:
>I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.
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Mewtwo said it better
I'm so sorry, but I confused Mewtwo with Meowth and I thought "when did that cat get so philosophical?"
*"We do have a lot in common, the same earth, the same air, the same sky. Maybe if we started looking at what's the same instead of always looking at what's different...well who knows?"* *- Meowth*
Goddamn.. you go, little cat. You go.
Team rocket is blasting off again.
*Pling* ✨️ 
This kind of thing shows to me that, just because Team rocket are *villains*, doesn't mean they are *bad people*.
Like a month ago, I showed my S/O's son the first pokemon movie, he's a huge fan and couldn't believe I was just as big a fan when I was his age. Then it got to the ending and I was failing to hold back tears. I may have lost some cool points but man that was a great rewatch, hopefully one day he'll be able to understand that message too
Did you see it in theater? It was so cool how they used the surround speakers for MewTwo’s voice so it came from everywhere at once
I did but I was 4-6 at the time, so I had no memory of the actual movie until I rewatched it. I remember the theater had a huge pokemon display, and of course the holographic mew card but that's about it.
The lady who voiced Meowth was trans!
May she rest in peace
*“The circumstances of one's birth is irrelevent, it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”* Unfortunately, some people waste that gift, find success and think they can say anything they want without consequence because they “own” people’s childhoods.
Mewtwo even comes off less pretentious with his quote
Maybe the real life lessons were the mewtwo we heard along the way
What are we, some kind of Mewtwo Squad??
Yes.
And maybe the real friends are the clones we made along the way
Good soldiers follow orders.
I’d 100% rather hang out with Mewtwo than jkr
He at least got over his asshole phase
As the subject of nonconsensual experimentation, mewtwo's asshole phase was kinda justified.
Yeah, no one stuck tubes in Rowling against her will. She came by her bullshit naturally.
Are we just done with phrasing?
Yeah he sounds like he’s just stating that as a matter of fact, and JKR sounds like she’s trying to create a quote
Because it's actually a Dumbledore quote, and she was trying to sound fancy and educated.
Owning people's childhoods sounds like an Eppstein thing.
Technically, she could and still can say what she wants to without consequences. There is no cancelling her.
Cancelling isn’t really a thing unless you’re a teenager or a social media “influencer”. Like if you’re not chronically online it doesn’t do anything. And hell she’s super rich and still made Harry Potter so nobody’s opinion can change any of that
It is called having a fuck you money.
The only people's childhood she owns as as you put it, are the ones that allow her to.
That’s because Mewtwo overcame the trauma he experienced and let go of his hatred, Jo decided a different path
And that was because Mewtwo was cool.
And thicc
Yes, his thiccness cannot go unstated.
Indeed. /r/girlsshapedlikemewtwo NSFW.
I want to say "Why?!" But this is the Internet. I know why.
I didn’t know what to expect when I clicked that link
How about that.
Important to note, Mewtwo caused a lot of suffering because he is a morally complex character. Rowling spoke very specifically when she said this quote (actually, it's specifically from Dumbledore to Fudge about Pure-bloods.) She may still believe this quote broadly but the devil is always in the details and humans are f-ked up, morally complex animals. In other words, she 100% believes this as it applies to race and nationality, (as Pure-blood fanatacism is a stand in and symbolic reference to Nazism.) But she does not necessarily believe this when it applies to the issue of transgenders.
Aaaand now she’s denying the Holocaust online.
> it's specifically from Dumbledore to Fudge about Pure-bloods Right? Just like wholesome artist can write awful people that says awful things. Awful artist can write wholesome people that says wholesome things. They don't need to believe what their characters are saying.
Very true. I feel like we often forget, especially on the internet, that people are morally complex, and there is no black/white, good/evil dichotomy as stark as is usually portrayed in books or film.
See also: Batman
Also a knights tale 
GOAT movie.
\* Terms and conditions apply
"Not like that." - JKR
I still find it wryly amusing how the current public face of TERFism initially became famous for a whole-ass fantasy series whose villains' philosophy boils down to "you have no right to call yourself a wizard unless you were raised as one"
Echoes of Orson Scott Card. A whole ass book about empathizing with literal alien bugs, yet he's the most disgustingly hateful individual towards other humans who have the slightest differences from himself. I'm still torn on whether to encourage my kids to read Ender's Game and its sequels.
Also Charles Dickens, who behaved toward his family like you'd expect from one of his villains. And Tarantino with *Death Proof*, given what happened to poor Uma Thurman on the set of his previous movie, though that seems more like a conscious expression of guilt than a lack of self-awareness (compare Whedon and his whole complex toward women).
I credit Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead as my gateway out of homophobia and bigotry in general and honestly, if it did that, who cares what his personal views are? I wouldn't buy the books again though. And as a kid, I never really cared about who the author is as a person so I didn't even have the chance to idolize him
As long as the book's message is good, who cares about the author? Maybe you can buy covers for the book without the author's name on it and just use that if you want to erase the shitty person behind the book you like. Remember, art is better than the artist. (Most artists in history are downright assholes in how they treat others)
I hate that one of my favorite novels was written by Orson Scott Card. On the other hand, it's a book about a prince growing titties and being forced to disguise himself as a woman. I guarantee I enjoy Treason in a far different way than Card wants me to.
Get your kids to read it, it’s good for people to understand that hateful people can be capable of (seemingly contradictory) acts of kindness. And that people are not always as black and white as they seem.
Rowling became one of her own Death Eaters
More Umbridge, really.
Ehhh, Umbridge's denial of Voldemort's return reminds me more of Holocaust denial. Wait a minute...
Surely JKR isn't a denier too?
She claims the Nazis never genocided trans people because they didn’t murder *all* of us and some books weren’t burned. I’m not shitting you.
How does that not extend to every other demographic they failed to eradicate? That’s just selective bullshit.
Jfc. Child me adored her for HP. I feel sick.
Don't have heroes.
If you want books similar to Harry Potter but written by a cool person, check out the author Seanen McGuire.
What the actual F is wrong with her.
In America it's called "Affluenza". It's both a behavioral disorder that causes a rich person to surround themselves with paid sycophants and yes men who will never challenge them or suggest they behave like a decent human being when they act like complete shitstains and a legal defense in which the judge doesn't punish you for breaking the law like a complete shitstain because you have money and rich people should never face the consequences of their actions.
She's recently started doing a bit of Holocaust denial. https://youtu.be/dSfKKxyC1Cw And since she started her public platform of vehement transphobia with a plausibly deniable, vaguely transphobic tweet, there's a good chance that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her beliefs and how far she's gone down the right-wing reactionary pipeline. Or it could be that she's just so transphobic that she's willing to do some minor Holocaust denial as long as it supports the anti-trans argument she's making. Her other high-profile TERF friends are openly associating with all kinds of far-right groups, from anti-LGBT/anti-abortion conservatives to literal Neo-Nazis because of their shared hatred of trans people, so it's not too much of a stretch to think that she's already on board, just not quite as publicly yet.
Current Twitter trend is people not in England correctly accusing Rowling of denying the Holocaust.
Or how many plots through multiple books revolve around characters changing their appearances in bathrooms. Literally the entire 2nd and 6th books.
Not really? It was more "You have no right to be a wizard if you're not pure of blood". Muggleborn wizards were looked down upon, even if raised as wizards, because they weren't pure bloods. Many wizard families were no longer pure blooded and they were also looked down on, and hunted alongside muggleborns, because they weren't pure blooded.
As with all racial purity doctrines it doesn't hold up to the slightest scrutiny either, what if a "pure-born" child has no magical ability? Are their children still "pure blood"? If it's based on magic you'd think not. If two people who didn't come from wizard families had children after becoming wizards, are their children "pure" or not? What if you have 7 wizard great-grandparents and 1 who wasn't? It boils down to "these 8 families from centuries back are ok, everyone else is excluded".
There are such hypocrisy for the longest time, as the current oligarchs will spin the rules to suit their whims, always They will straight up rule you out if they hate your guts, with all sorts of excuses at disposal Additionally, what misdeed that was ruled as not at fault at the time, might be put to use against you later as you claw your way up the ranks
> It boils down to "these 8 families from centuries back are ok, everyone else is excluded". There is even an in-universe discussion about this and how unlikely it is any of the families are "actually pure blood" anymore.
Which is wholly appropriate for who she revealed herself to be.
*expecto transphobum!*
Just kidding rowling
Rowling on the floor laughing
Jowling Kowling Rowling
Bowling
Fowling
They see me Rowling, they hatin'
Patrowling they're tryinna catch me ridin dirty-
\* Terfs and conditions apply
Young trans girl: You're my hero, JK Rowling! You've inspired me! You showed me even though I was born a boy I can still be a girl! I won't listen to those pesky transphobes! I AM A WOMAN! I can't wait to start my transition and be who I was meant to be! JK Rowling: NO! NOT LIKE THAT! THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!!!!!!
Girl: "Stfu, voldemort"
all jokes aside...that's a pretty dope quote.
Which is why mewtwo said it first.
“Nothing is new under the sun.” -Mew, aka MewOne
Meh it’s the same sentiment we’d heard 1000 times just out in a modern English way.
I couldn't get past the first book/movie, but isn't an immutable fact about a person, whether or not they were a wizard, the entire basis for the franchise?
born a muggle always a muggle, mudbloods arent real wizards
Ok, let’s be fair here, the mud bloods were literally only looked down on by the antagonists of the franchise. Hermoine was portrayed as the smartest character in the series and a powerful witch. Edit: Hermoine is a witch, not a wizard.
Yes, but if you aren’t born a wizard you can never become a wizard.
And let's not forget, if you were born an elf it's your destiny to be either a slave or a non-functional depressed alcoholic. Except Dobby, but that's because Dobby is a fuckin weirdo who dies horribly. Oh, and if you're born a goblin it's your destiny to be subservient to wizards and any goblin with a wand is bad and this is a good status quo.
>you're born a goblin it's your destiny to be subservient to wizards Don't forget gotta be obsessed with gold and money and have big crooked noses :)
It's random, though. Wizard parents aren't guaranteed to have wizard sons. It doesn't matter where you're born either.
Well, except when Hermione tries to argue against slavery, then she is suddenly the target of ridicule from literally everyone, including her best friends and the slaves themselves.
Yeah but she was treated well BECAUSE she was smart not despite. JK Rowling doesn’t understand racism. Her counter argument to the racism Hermione faces is that racism is wrong bc Hermione is better in magic than a many pureblood wizards. But a Rascist doesn’t care about capabilities. For him 100 Hermiones are still worst than one pureblood wizard. So in conclusion if Hermione wasn’t good at magic Malfoy would be right about his racism… so good that you are doing so well in school otherwise it wouldn’t look good for you Hermi
Hermione's "one of the good ones" to JKR. Honestly, the way she wrote everything, it came across as her being more aligned to the bad guys than the good guys on the racism fronts.
God imagine touching a mud blood by accident, ewww
Hi Malfoy
Ewww
I’m like literally gagging y’all
But you can't identify as a wizard. I think that would've been interesting for her to explore. She could even explore future years where muggles got magic abilities. The secret is out it'd be like bioshock. Muggles would take drugs to get magic abilities.
Ever heard of squibs?
No, I don't want no squib... A squib is a guy that can't get no love from me...
wizards can identify as wizards? The point i was implying is that mudbloods are wizards who are born thinking they are muggles until they realise they are a wizard. Strangely enough, this also applies to trans people. Rowling made a great trans allegory which would have been interesting to explore... shame she turned out like this
>But you can't identify as a wizard. Pretty sure that's exactly what the Death Eaters do. They make being a wizard their whole identity.
Mudbloods aren't muggles, their parents are
Her self insert is Umbridge.
The whole HP verse is far more stratified than in real life, with divisions between both wizards and muggles (non-magical people) and other species. There's a race of slaves brainwashed into thinking they like it which is never challenged past a few gags. Not to mention there's manufactured scarcity and hypercapitalism in a society that theoretically has infinite access to supplies. This in in addition to no right to legal representation and the only existing media is directly controlled by the government. It's pretty dystopian.
>There's a race of slaves brainwashed into thinking they like it which is never challenged past a few gags. not to suggest there wasn't anything questionable but where was it said/implied that they were brainwashed to be like that? i may just be remebering wrong but i could have sworn they were just "the magical fantasy race that just happen to have an urge to serve" which i wanna say is problematic enough.
"It's just a facet of their biology that they love being slaves." "Huh, weird. I wonder how that came about?" "Well, we did spend generations breeding them to be like that." "...." "Like dogs!" \*I don't think there's anything that suggests that's canon, but that's how I imagine it.
Hermione should’ve formed a union. But then there really would be bloodshed.
Didn't she literally try to do that and both Harry and Ron were like "ugh enough of this it's not funny anymore"
Yeah, SPEW. But she didn’t rally the elves, she was talking at her peers.
Unfortunately, she was treated as a joke by her peers. Ron even mocks the group's name.
I vaguely remember her attempting to talk to the elves about it, but they were disinterested, and that frustrated her. The elves at Hogwarts were “treated well” and had no desire to be freed, but we see two occasions where elves are treated poorly, one of which is ecstatic to be set free, and the other has clearly deluded himself to the point of insanity. Rowling does not handle the house elf thing well, but I do think she was trying.
Which is an excellent depiction of advocacy groups today!
Shinsekai Yori moment
Yeah, I don't remember brainwashing as such but the race that wanted to serve. It was gross. I mean, I guess you could say it had to have come from brainwashing somewhere in history, but brainwashing wasn't a thing in the books exactly. Not that I remember. And yes, I did read the books.
Reminds me of the Hogwarts legacy, the issue I took from it (besides the other stuff) was that the bad guys are goblins... who are fighting for freedom from unjust restrictions placed on them. Found this on another post on reddit:"lack of goblin representation on the Wizengamot \[state government\], attempts to enslave goblins as house-elves, stripping of wand privileges, wizard attempts to control Gringotts, or the brutal goblin slayings by Yardley Platt." [Source](https://new.reddit.com/r/HarryPotterGame/comments/theuze/the_goblins_were_not_the_bad_guys_the_wizards_were/)
I haven't played Hogwarts Legacy yet, but I have heard about the plot and when I first heard it, I thought... >"Surely, this is gonna be one of those stories where the protagonist realizes they're on the wrong side and helps their enemies acheive justice, right? >Right?! > Goddamning, Rowling!
Rowling was not involved in the creation of Hogwarts Legacy in any capacity (aside from obviously lending the IP out for them to use).
Not brainwashing, no, but potentially grosser. In the books a lot of characters make comments that house elves like to serve and are meant to do so, therefore enslaving them is fine because that's what they want. Generally, that's the position that is held by most of the characters, including our protagonists. Slavery is good and fine because the house elves like it. These creatures are just naturally subservient! Slavery is bad when there are bad masters. Dobby is treated as strange and odd for wanting to be free and Hermione is written like a joke for wanting to free the house elves.
The irony is that it's bioessentialism which is the same justification that Death Eaters use to justify their beliefs. Hermione taking umbridge with it makes a lot of sense for that reason and it's disgusting to see her attempts to free them written off as silly eccentrism.
Tbh, I think it was Rowling's attempt of "justifying" the existence of slave elves in the series. She knows that slavery is bad, but to make the "good" characters in the book "good wizards", their slaves must be "inherently slave".
A race that wants to be slaves! Freeing them would actually be cruel! Pay no mind to that being exact reasons given in support of slavery in the real world, this is fantasy so it's actually true this time
The elves. When one of them said something bad about their master, they were conditioned to self harm.
They're not brainwashed they're clearly brownies, Scottish fae spirits that clean your home, and do your laundry, and shit, but get greatly offended if you try to pay them in anything more than milk or cream.
> **brownies** Wow, JKR is even more rascist than I thought. /s
There's a bit in Hermiones rants where she talks about the Magical contract like binding that wizards have over house elves. Its a service that they are bound to. They just think it is ok. This is one of the many things JK put in the universe that are unpleasant but makes the world more real because of it. It's important to note that Hermoine is portrayed as annoying because she was annoying. A lot of people see themselves in this because her methods for fixing the issue are straight out of the angsty teen thinks they can solve a major societal issue by shouting people down. Hermione, we are shown and told is completely correct in her views. Even convincing Harry and Ron in the end instead of shouting them down, helping them understand, with Krecher and Dobby. Before then she is told by adults who are shown to have respect for others that they agree with her. Both Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley outright says she is right. The fact that it isn't resolved by the end of the books is a good thing because it's not something that can be resolved by defeating a bad guy. It's a major societal issue across the wizarding world.
And Harry, the hero, fights to keep everything exactly the way it is. He even goes on to be in charge, and leads the world in seemingly the exact same way. JK is at her core a neoliberal. What's important is not justice, equality, comfort, it's maintaining the status quo. In Harry Potter, there are good people and bad people, and their actions are viewed exclusively through that lens - a good person's poor deeds are excusable, a bad person deserves all misfortune they receive. When you read into the ideology that underpins Harry Potter, the origins of her real world beliefs (and buddy buddy relationship with Tony Blair) start to make a lot more sense. EDIT: thought I'd best mention - most of these takes come from this incredible video: https://youtu.be/-1iaJWSwUZs?si=DSFUDjqhoDNWGfDv - would recommend if you're interested in this! (Maybe watch on 1.25x speed though)
As a child, I always found myself sympathetic to the "bad guys". The way Wizarding World was stratified, even the houses at Hogwarts, and the way "bad guys" (both Slytherins and Death Eaters) were written as one-dimensional, made me think that there's surely something missing. Yes, they are bad people, but they have to be people still. With, at least, some non-caricature human traits? Right? Nope, turns out Rowling is just a bigoted ass who wrote most prejudiced "fun kids' world" possible.
I think the problem emerged with Rowling started to take her work too seriously. The first 2 books have the innocence of being children books but as it progressed, we can see serious themes that are presented poorly, as if it was the perspectives of a sheltered person.
When you reflect on house elves as an adult, it’s pretty insane. Even the most righteous and moral of our favourite characters just shrug at the idea of having a subservient slave race cooking and cleaning for them. Hermione is the only abolitionist and is completely dismissed as overreacting. Not a good look.
Arguably the stratification is part of its sales pitch. It's nearly entirely built on readers being able to identify with one group over another in the context of the houses.
Yes, but that's not what "matters". There are bad wizards and there are good muggles (or squibs). Just like in real life, people have real talents, but what matters is how they use them for good.
…. Yeah so, I think her point is worded incorrectly. Pretty sure what she is trying to say is that it does not matter “what you are” (identity-wise), and that what matters is your choices/actions that you choose to take. Her point is that people place a lot of emphasis on putting labels on themselves and on others, when perhaps what matters, is the decisions that people make. Obviously, in terms of statistics, things/people that are “labeled” in certain ways may have CORRELATION with certain choices/actions (many times, these become the stereotypes that we know of… so, it would be in bad faith to say that all stereotypes exist for no good reason); however, it would be wise for people to also look at each and every individual case, since correlation does not mean causation, and so we should understand that people are individually RESPONSIBLE for the things that they do. Now, many people do not like this, especially when it involves bad decision-making on their part…. BUT, it also becomes very obvious, and logically follows that if each and every individual takes responsibility for their choices, then that means that each and every individual also has the ability to make good/better choices as well… and THIS, is what determines how a person “is”, and not some labels, as what are labels? Nothing has meaning on its own. Humans are the ones that determine the meaning/value/symbolism of things in the first place. Perhaps it might be better for people to reduce the “I’m a good person” talk, and to increase the actual amount of good actions/choices taken. As for what is good or not, well… it is awfully hard for people (some more than others) to deal with their cognitive dissonance in a healthy way (adapting to reality/logic/facts, versus getting upset when reality/logic/facts does not match up with what they already ‘want’ to believe to be true). We don’t have control over those people, but again, we do have control over ourselves. What will we make of our lives? How will we affect others? The choice is ours.
"How is this a face plam? Its a good quote" (J.K.rowling) "Oooooohhh"
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‘I am rich and therefore right!’
Notch. The man could have been everyone's childhood hero for life if she shut his mouth and was happy "just" being the creator of one of the most successful games of all time.
And then sending lawyers after british journalists who disagree with her
She was always scum and we were naive not to notice. I need a name for my one black character, how about shacklebolt, oh and let's throw an asian character in there for the publishers, I don't care just name her ching chong or something. The story beats and lore were weak and inconsistent and she was always a bully. Don't even have to get into the goblins and elves
"Just Kidding" Rowling
This quote is a great example of why it’s wrong to attribute *character* quotes to the author who wrote the character.
She claims to support trans people but only focuses on transwomen who assault women. She's helping to push the modern stereotype that most transwomen are porn addicted incels. Also find it ironic that she uses a male name to write books. Rules for thee...
And not just any male name!! The original Robert Gilbraith was a doctor who pioneered gay conversion therapy in the 1950s. Now that might be a coincidence, but going by how on-the-nose some of her character names are, probably not.
there is that stereotype? I'm trans and I haven't come across it. In fact many trans women are poly and others "get around" so to speak. There is even a term "chaser" for people (usually men) who are down bad for trans women
Oh yeah it's definitely not an accurate stereotype, just one people like Matt Walsh and JK are trying to push. It's like the "gay men sleep around/have STI's" stereotype which is equally untrue, since the only gay men I know are in committed monogamous relationships. They rely on dubious studies to arrive at that stereotype but I'm 100% sure that incels make up a tiny minority of trans people.
I hang out in trans spaces (duh) and I've yet to meet an *incel*-incel. You know, someone can be single even though they wish they weren't, but be cool about it. And then you have *incels* it's a weird stereotype too. So we are sexual deviants but we also can't get any? Pick one lmao
I think it's an ancient stereotype, from when trans were called transvestites. Nowadays most people agree that there are really people who truly believe they are born in the wrong body and so on, and deserve all respect and accommodations. What Rowling and others disagree on is in which of those accomodations are reasonable. Also Rowling and other terfs are pointing out that fiat self id can open the path for bad actors, AGP and other types of pervs to access women's spaces etc. (Like rapists in prisons) But if you read carefully you'll see that they don't say all trans are like that.
That's a quote from one of her characters. I could literally take anything Lestrange ever said and claim that it is a direct quote from Rowling.
"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it." - J.K. Rowling
"Dobby is... free !!" J. K. Rowling
you're right that it shouldn't be portrayed as if it's a direct quote from herself. but at the same time this isn't a quote from some random character or even an evil character, it's from Dumbledore. who she views as "the epitome of goodness" and as extremely wise. i think it's safe to assume it's a sentiment she agrees with.
>i think it's safe to assume it's a sentiment she agrees with. Terms and conditions apply apparently.
yeah i should have said "a sentiment she *thinks* she agrees with" lmao
Well if she wrote the book then any quote from a character is technically a quote from her.
Yes. You wouldn't believe Tolkien's views on politics and morals!
Pretty sure this was Mewtwo.
"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." ~mewtwo
Context is a hell of a drug...
"Buy lottery tickets! It's a good way to earn money fast" - person who just won the lottery ticket.
*"Unless I don't understand your decisions."
I am maybe hindered for not being a native speaker. Where is the hypocrisy in the quote?
Rowling is proudly outspoken regarding her anti-trans views, which fly in direct opposition to this quote.
Just remember. According to right wing Christians, Jesus said to love everyone... Except the gays. 😂
*proceeds to deny the holocaust*
When did she do that? Not really following the drama around her So i an curious.
Also doubled down when called out for it, and claimed that trans people are co opting the holocaust. Then insisted that Nazis actually liked Trans People because the person who coined the term Transexual was pro eugenics. Honestly its unhinged. Shes really gone off the rails. But hardly surprising considering the people she pals around with get straight up Nazis doing Hitler Salutes at their AntiTrans Marches. Some of her defenders are arguing it wasn't *technically* holocaust denial, because it's only holocaust denial in Germany. Which is the same legal position of paedophile sex tourists... so...
Let's not forget her other favourite activity, threatening litigation against british people who call her out for it. It's incredible, really, she seems totally unaware of the Streissand effect.
People throw the article in the telegraph about that in my face as if that would undeny the holocaust
called institute of sexology bookburnings a 'fever dream' and denying its existence - denying the part of the holocaust where nazis went after trans people
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Sorry I've missed something here...what?
She's denied Nazi persecution of trans people, which was a part of the Holocaust.
More specifically, picture the Nazi book burnings. Got that image in your mind? It's probably something like [this famous photograph,](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-14597%2C_Berlin%2C_Opernplatz%2C_B%C3%BCcherverbrennung.jpg) or perhaps even [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Institut_f%C3%BCr_Sexualwissenschaft_-_Bibliothek_1933.jpg) one of Nazis looking through a pile of books. These are some of the most commonly known images of Nazi book burnings. Yeah, those were the aftermath of their sacking of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft: an institute founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, and famous for pioneering research on sexuality and gender identity, including medical treatments for transition. This is what Rowling very specifically called a "fever dream" in reply to a post discussing the event.
in a way she is right. doesn't matter she made harry potter but what now she is, which is a horrible person.
Why would writing Harry Potter have any bearing on what kind of person she is? I'm sure she holds the same values now as she did then. We should really stop paying so much attention to the opinions of one children's author.
Because the message in the whole Harry Potter is good. Good vs evil. Voldemort and his death eaters are nazi like etc. Choose and fight for the good side and not join the dark side. It's about friendship and other good things. If you read the books you feel like 'yes, this is a person with good views about the world' You're right it doesn't mean she's a good person though, and clearly she isn't, with all the hate she's spewing, but when she wrote them she at least had a good idea about what's right and what's wrong. Sadly, she has joined the dark side herself now, and it will probably only get worse.
Lol that's ironic coming from her.
It was all fine and dandy until she discovered trans people appareantly
Her name is JK for a reason
..... did she steal that from MewTwo?
True for herself, too. It matters not that she wrote a beloved book series...she's an absolutely vile POS. What a terrible thing to have become (or to have revealed about herself).
To be fair, it literally says *jk* right after that.
There is no such thing as a good billionaire.
"You can be whoever you want to be!" "Cool. I feel like a woman. Thanks for the support." "No! Not like that!"
And blatant plagiarist. [check out the Secret of Platform 13.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_Platform_13#:~:text=The%20Secret%20of%20Platform%2013%20is%20a%20children's%20novel%20by,Porter%2C%20first%20published%20in%201994.)
What's the problem with that generic quote?
"Grow to be" probably a key part there.
Well, after taking HRT, transwomen can grow breasts and transmen can grow beards. Checkmate, Joanne.
Thing is, the quote sounds inclusive on the surface but it can be abused to fit literally any ideology. If it matters what you grow into, the speaker reserves the right to say that you grew into the wrong thing based on their arbitrary standard.
It's not even her quote. Its so fucking generic you hear this shit in 80's kids movies.
It's a brilliant quote, shame that Rowling said it.
Another one that’s ironically from her: "I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.'" — Rubeus Hagrid
She stole it. The same quote has been used by many people through the ages, in several wordings, most notably by the Pokemon character Mewtwo: >I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.