Opinion of J.K. Rowling

[Higgins]

All that's really being asked to simply acknowledge the massive advantage that you have for factors mostly out of your control, and to what you can to help lift others up and reduce this privilege gap.

Is that really so hard?

Thing is, I don't really see it. What can I do to help others, you mean, aside from hanging my head in shame, humbling myself and giving a portion of MY income - not some ancestor's wealth - MY earned income because of some dead slaver? Why should I do that? Why is MY problem?

I mean especially when you take into account that for me personally, I can proudly say that I have not a single slaver in my family tree. On all sides. Thoroughly researched. I'm Italian and I'm Irish. My Irish side on one side came over in the 1840s and fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War. Didn't own slaves, didn't later have a servent. The other Irish side came over in the 1920s. The Italians came over in the 1902 and 1906 respectively on both sides.

Not a single slaver, nor a single proponent of Jim Crow in my direct family line.

As far as familial wealth...There is none. My people were pretty poor planners. My great grandfather by his death amassed three houses and other property. His children squandered their inheritance and sold it piecemeal, the last piece being sold off 18 years before my birth. My grandfather sold the home he was raised in 1998 for $300,000. It's now worth $1.4 million.

So...no inherited wealth that came off the back of an African American or Native Indian either. You could say I sit on stolen land - that's true. All American land technically is stolen. Should I give it back? What can I do about that? It's a sad fact that the Natives were treated the way they were.

I'd sooner donate to a Native charity or cause than I would a Black charity, and I'll explain why:

Directly - in a straight line - The suffering of some Native is the reason I am sitting in the home I am renting. Maybe 300 years ago, maybe 400. Maybe it was some Dutch trader, or an English settler, but someone stole this piece of land probably from some Native whose family had it. So, in that sense, I directly benefit from injustice by virtue of where I am sitting. ""

I would gladly as such pay for any reparation package for Native Americans. But no one ever talks about that.

Insofar as the great suffering, servitude and mistreatment of Black Americans, though, there is no direct link between that misery and myself. Yet you call me to account for it. You call it victim-hood, but you're calling me to account for things as you said are "factors out of my control." The main factor is having been born with white skin and a penis, and having been baptized against my will as an infant. Nothing beyond that. Why should I pay for those things?


.

[It’s so Joever]

[quote author=Ferguson97 link=topic=394529.msg7581814#msg7581814 date=1600300773
All that's really being asked to simply acknowledge the massive advantage that you have for factors mostly out of your control, and to what you can to help lift others up and reduce this privilege gap.

Is that really so hard?

Thing is, I don't really see it. What can I do to help others, you mean, aside from hanging my head in shame, humbling myself and giving a portion of MY income - not some ancestor's wealth - MY earned income because of some dead slaver? Why should I do that? Why is MY problem?

I mean especially when you take into account that for me personally, I can proudly say that I have not a single slaver in my family tree. On all sides. Thoroughly researched. I'm Italian and I'm Irish. My Irish side on one side came over in the 1840s and fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War. Didn't own slaves, didn't later have a servent. The other Irish side came over in the 1920s. The Italians came over in the 1902 and 1906 respectively on both sides.

Not a single slaver, nor a single proponent of Jim Crow in my direct family line.

As far as familial wealth...There is none. My people were pretty poor planners. My great grandfather by his death amassed three houses and other property. His children squandered their inheritance and sold it piecemeal, the last piece being sold off 18 years before my birth. My grandfather sold the home he was raised in 1998 for $300,000. It's now worth $1.4 million.

So...no inherite wealth that came off the back of an African American or Native Indian either. You could say I sit on stolen land - that's true. All American land technically is stolen. Should I give it back? What can I do about that? It's a sad fact that the Natives were treated the way they were.

I'd sooner donate to a Native charity or cause than I would a Black charity, and I'll explain why. Directly - in a straight line - The suffering of some Native is the reason I am sitting in the home I am renting. Maybe 200 years ago, maybe 400. Maybe it was some Dutch trader, or an English settler, but someone took this piece of land probably from some Native whose family had it. So, in that sense, I directly benefit from injustice by virtue of where I am sitting. I would gladly as such pay for any reparation package for the Natives. But no one ever talks about that.

Insofar as the great suffering and mistreatment of Black Americans, though, there is no direct link between that misery and myself. Yet you call me to account for it. You call it victimhood, but you're calling me to account for things as you said are "factors out of my control." The main factor is having been born with white skin and a penis, and having been baptized against my will as an infant. Nothing beyond that. Why should I pay for those things?


.
[/quote]
You are the master of making yourself look worse. I think I am less sympathetic to your beliefs than before I read that rant.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, I highly suspected Il Divo had a lot do with that.

Wonderful film.

[Higgins]

[quote author=Ferguson97 link=topic=394529.msg7581814#msg7581814 date=1600300773
All that's really being asked to simply acknowledge the massive advantage that you have for factors mostly out of your control, and to what you can to help lift others up and reduce this privilege gap.

Is that really so hard?

Thing is, I don't really see it. What can I do to help others, you mean, aside from hanging my head in shame, humbling myself and giving a portion of MY income - not some ancestor's wealth - MY earned income because of some dead slaver? Why should I do that? Why is MY problem?

I mean especially when you take into account that for me personally, I can proudly say that I have not a single slaver in my family tree. On all sides. Thoroughly researched. I'm Italian and I'm Irish. My Irish side on one side came over in the 1840s and fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War. Didn't own slaves, didn't later have a servent. The other Irish side came over in the 1920s. The Italians came over in the 1902 and 1906 respectively on both sides.

Not a single slaver, nor a single proponent of Jim Crow in my direct family line.

As far as familial wealth...There is none. My people were pretty poor planners. My great grandfather by his death amassed three houses and other property. His children squandered their inheritance and sold it piecemeal, the last piece being sold off 18 years before my birth. My grandfather sold the home he was raised in 1998 for $300,000. It's now worth $1.4 million.

So...no inherite wealth that came off the back of an African American or Native Indian either. You could say I sit on stolen land - that's true. All American land technically is stolen. Should I give it back? What can I do about that? It's a sad fact that the Natives were treated the way they were.

I'd sooner donate to a Native charity or cause than I would a Black charity, and I'll explain why. Directly - in a straight line - The suffering of some Native is the reason I am sitting in the home I am renting. Maybe 200 years ago, maybe 400. Maybe it was some Dutch trader, or an English settler, but someone took this piece of land probably from some Native whose family had it. So, in that sense, I directly benefit from injustice by virtue of where I am sitting. I would gladly as such pay for any reparation package for the Natives. But no one ever talks about that.

Insofar as the great suffering and mistreatment of Black Americans, though, there is no direct link between that misery and myself. Yet you call me to account for it. You call it victimhood, but you're calling me to account for things as you said are "factors out of my control." The main factor is having been born with white skin and a penis, and having been baptized against my will as an infant. Nothing beyond that. Why should I pay for those things?


.

You are the master of making yourself look worse. I think I am less sympathetic to your beliefs than before I read that rant.
[/quote]

The plot twist is there was never point at which you were going to be sympathetic, nor am I asking you to be sympathetic either. I frankly don't care in the SLIGHTEST what someone like you thinks of me. Because it's clear we are worlds apart politically and in every sense of the word, metaphorically speaking. I don't need your sympathy, nor do I want it.

Actually, I think I've made my simple request quite clear: I am not a party to these issues, I am not guilty of these problems, so don't call me to account for them.

It's simple.

[It’s so Joever]

[quote author=Ferguson97 link=topic=394529.msg7581814#msg7581814 date=1600300773
All that's really being asked to simply acknowledge the massive advantage that you have for factors mostly out of your control, and to what you can to help lift others up and reduce this privilege gap.

Is that really so hard?

Thing is, I don't really see it. What can I do to help others, you mean, aside from hanging my head in shame, humbling myself and giving a portion of MY income - not some ancestor's wealth - MY earned income because of some dead slaver? Why should I do that? Why is MY problem?

I mean especially when you take into account that for me personally, I can proudly say that I have not a single slaver in my family tree. On all sides. Thoroughly researched. I'm Italian and I'm Irish. My Irish side on one side came over in the 1840s and fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War. Didn't own slaves, didn't later have a servent. The other Irish side came over in the 1920s. The Italians came over in the 1902 and 1906 respectively on both sides.

Not a single slaver, nor a single proponent of Jim Crow in my direct family line.

As far as familial wealth...There is none. My people were pretty poor planners. My great grandfather by his death amassed three houses and other property. His children squandered their inheritance and sold it piecemeal, the last piece being sold off 18 years before my birth. My grandfather sold the home he was raised in 1998 for $300,000. It's now worth $1.4 million.

So...no inherite wealth that came off the back of an African American or Native Indian either. You could say I sit on stolen land - that's true. All American land technically is stolen. Should I give it back? What can I do about that? It's a sad fact that the Natives were treated the way they were.

I'd sooner donate to a Native charity or cause than I would a Black charity, and I'll explain why. Directly - in a straight line - The suffering of some Native is the reason I am sitting in the home I am renting. Maybe 200 years ago, maybe 400. Maybe it was some Dutch trader, or an English settler, but someone took this piece of land probably from some Native whose family had it. So, in that sense, I directly benefit from injustice by virtue of where I am sitting. I would gladly as such pay for any reparation package for the Natives. But no one ever talks about that.

Insofar as the great suffering and mistreatment of Black Americans, though, there is no direct link between that misery and myself. Yet you call me to account for it. You call it victimhood, but you're calling me to account for things as you said are "factors out of my control." The main factor is having been born with white skin and a penis, and having been baptized against my will as an infant. Nothing beyond that. Why should I pay for those things?


.

You are the master of making yourself look worse. I think I am less sympathetic to your beliefs than before I read that rant.

The plot twist is there was never point at which you were going to be sympathetic, nor am I asking you to be sympathetic either. I frankly don't care in the SLIGHTEST what someone like you thinks of me. Because it's clear we are worlds apart politically and in every sense of the word, metaphorically speaking. I don't need your sympathy, nor do I want it.

Actually, I think I've made my simple request quite clear: I am not a party to these issues, I am not guilty of these problems, so don't call me to account for them.

It's simple.
[/quote]
I’m pretty anti-cannabis, but you clearly could use some.

[Higgins]

[quote author=Ferguson97 link=topic=394529.msg7581814#msg7581814 date=1600300773
All that's really being asked to simply acknowledge the massive advantage that you have for factors mostly out of your control, and to what you can to help lift others up and reduce this privilege gap.

Is that really so hard?

Thing is, I don't really see it. What can I do to help others, you mean, aside from hanging my head in shame, humbling myself and giving a portion of MY income - not some ancestor's wealth - MY earned income because of some dead slaver? Why should I do that? Why is MY problem?

I mean especially when you take into account that for me personally, I can proudly say that I have not a single slaver in my family tree. On all sides. Thoroughly researched. I'm Italian and I'm Irish. My Irish side on one side came over in the 1840s and fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War. Didn't own slaves, didn't later have a servent. The other Irish side came over in the 1920s. The Italians came over in the 1902 and 1906 respectively on both sides.

Not a single slaver, nor a single proponent of Jim Crow in my direct family line.

As far as familial wealth...There is none. My people were pretty poor planners. My great grandfather by his death amassed three houses and other property. His children squandered their inheritance and sold it piecemeal, the last piece being sold off 18 years before my birth. My grandfather sold the home he was raised in 1998 for $300,000. It's now worth $1.4 million.

So...no inherite wealth that came off the back of an African American or Native Indian either. You could say I sit on stolen land - that's true. All American land technically is stolen. Should I give it back? What can I do about that? It's a sad fact that the Natives were treated the way they were.

I'd sooner donate to a Native charity or cause than I would a Black charity, and I'll explain why. Directly - in a straight line - The suffering of some Native is the reason I am sitting in the home I am renting. Maybe 200 years ago, maybe 400. Maybe it was some Dutch trader, or an English settler, but someone took this piece of land probably from some Native whose family had it. So, in that sense, I directly benefit from injustice by virtue of where I am sitting. I would gladly as such pay for any reparation package for the Natives. But no one ever talks about that.

Insofar as the great suffering and mistreatment of Black Americans, though, there is no direct link between that misery and myself. Yet you call me to account for it. You call it victimhood, but you're calling me to account for things as you said are "factors out of my control." The main factor is having been born with white skin and a penis, and having been baptized against my will as an infant. Nothing beyond that. Why should I pay for those things?


.

You are the master of making yourself look worse. I think I am less sympathetic to your beliefs than before I read that rant.

The plot twist is there was never point at which you were going to be sympathetic, nor am I asking you to be sympathetic either. I frankly don't care in the SLIGHTEST what someone like you thinks of me. Because it's clear we are worlds apart politically and in every sense of the word, metaphorically speaking. I don't need your sympathy, nor do I want it.

Actually, I think I've made my simple request quite clear: I am not a party to these issues, I am not guilty of these problems, so don't call me to account for them.

It's simple.

I’m pretty anti-cannabis, but you clearly could use some.

[/quote]

Tried it. Don't like it. Slows the brain.

By the way, you probably think I support these things, right?

No. Actually, I've come to feel that the entire settling of America was either a mistake, or at best horribly mismanaged morally and ethically. I understand from the point of view of the Europeans why they felt what they did was right - but at the same time, I don't think if I was alive in 1620 or so I could've owned a slave in good conscience.

What makes the whole story even more sad is that most of the people who ended up mistreating Natives or Blacks were deluded into doing so at the start by greedy moneymen who wanted this land for themselves, and someone to till it for them. Most of the actual Colonists were pretty unskilled, lazy, poor laborers who were exploited by their own people. Some of them even had sympathy for the Natives.

But as with many poor people, they were misled by rich men who sought to use them, and in their ignorance made able to believe that because "The Indians didn't use the land" that meant they had forfeited a moral and legal right to it. It's quite fascinating how the whole process developed. It's also sad.

As to African slavery, we know that from the beginning there were abolitionists. But African slavery was something that began among the Africans themselves, then spread to the Arab traders, than to the Portuguese, than the Spanish and the English and so on who made what was already an enterprise into a global trade.

Slavery was like a cancer, perpetuating itself over the centuries, until it became a fixed institution and global enterprise that only a few good souls questioned.

The only good thing about it (or slavery in any form, since slavery was with humanity from pretty much our dawn) is that it ended.

I recommend reading American Colonies by Alan Taylor. It gives good perspective on all these things.

[Beet]

The Ferguson97 "New Racist" Perspective:

These racist anti-White screeds by Salon are completely correct. White people are literally killing us (I'm White so I'm killing myself). There is nothing wrong with viciously hateful headlines imposing collective guilt on an entire group of people who are entirely innocent in themselves solely on the basis of race and gender.

The Higgins "New Racist" Perspective:

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Some people are anti-White racist, so it doesn't matter if Trans people are shown by evidence to have legitimate issues. There is nothing wrong with viciously hateful treatment of Trans people who are entirely innocent in themselves simply because a group of people I don't like sticks up for them. Like my opponents I impose collective guilt.

The Common Sense Perspective that Everyone Used to Agree On When I Was a Young Man, and That I Somehow Still Hold:

Everyone is an individual and should be judged based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Racism is bad. As far as Trans issues, these should be resolved based on the weight of the scientific evidence as a matter of dispassionate debate and discussion in a free society.

[Higgins]

The Ferguson97 "New Racist" Perspective:

These racist anti-White screeds by Salon are completely correct. White people are literally killing us (I'm White so I'm killing myself). There is nothing wrong with viciously hateful headlines imposing collective guilt on an entire group of people who are entirely innocent in themselves solely on the basis of race and gender.

The Higgins "New Racist" Perspective:

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Some people are anti-White racist, so it doesn't matter if Trans people are shown by evidence to have legitimate issues. There is nothing wrong with viciously hateful treatment of Trans people who are entirely innocent in themselves simply because a group of people I don't like sticks up for them. Like my opponents I impose collective guilt.

The Common Sense Perspective that Everyone Used to Agree On When I Was a Young Man, and That I Somehow Still Hold:

Everyone is an individual and should be judged based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Racism is bad. As far as Trans issues, these should be resolved based on the weight of the scientific evidence as a matter of dispassionate debate and discussion in a free society.

That's actually a fair point and I will concede that you are correct, and I agree with your common sense perspective.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

HP, here's why:

Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol' American hot lead.

Basilisk? Let's see how tough it is when you shoot it with a .470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You aren't looking at it--you're looking at a picture of it.

Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12.

And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe it's because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal.

Now I know what you're going to say: "But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun!" Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies). But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger?

Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.

HG, I know we've had our disagreements, but that's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Is this about the revelation that Luna Lovegood is trans?

We don't know what this thread is about, really.

[Intell]

Transphobic never liked her books so HP, but it's fine to enjoy her books/think she's a good author. (sane)

[Velasco]

Is this about the revelation that Luna Lovegood is trans?

We don't know what this thread is about, really.

I had to search "Luna Lovegood" in Google, but anyway I'm shocked by the revelation. Is her trans condition affecting her loony reputation at Hogwarts? Did JK Rowling release a statement in her Twitter account?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

To expand on my earlier thoughts, I definitely think she's a HP for her recent comments. Her new Cormoran Strike book, which is a series I've enjoyed in the past, isn't necessarily transphobic in a vacuum, but given her stance it makes it seem that was certainly her intent.

This. The relative lack of outrage about, say, The Silence of the Lambs is because Thomas Harris is not a transphobic political actor as well as a potboiler author.

Now as for cancelling Harry Potter, I don't think that's necessary. Lots of people, including LGBT, have been inspired by the books to be advocates and stand up for themselves. The author being a TERF later doesn't change that. Just think how many great book series had problematic authors. I highly doubt C.S. Lewis or rad-trad J.R.R. Tolkien would have been in favor of trans-positivity. But kids still read those books.

I have to stick up for Tolkien here and say that he wasn't really a radtrad as we understand that term today, since he accepted the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council despite openly disliking many of its decisions. There's also circumstantial evidence in his letters that he was noticeably less homophobic than you'd expect from a severely conservative British Catholic of his generation, although relative mildness on gay issues is not the same thing as outright wokeness on trans issues.

[Former President tack50]

Is this about the revelation that Luna Lovegood is trans?

Honestly given this never appeared on the books I would not consider it canon, even if Rowling herself confirmed it.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Also, it says a lot about Rowling's shambolic approach to the Harry Potter canon in the decade-plus since the main series ended that multiple posters haven't been able to tell Аverroës is joking.

[Skunk]

If you support JK Rowling, you're on the same side as the person who made this. And do you really want that?

[John Dule]

If you support JK Rowling, you're on the same side as the person who made this. And do you really want that?

Better that than being on the side of the person who created Assigned Male.

[SWE]

Pete as Ron does work though

[Velasco]

If you support JK Rowling, you're on the same side as the person who made this. And do you really want that?

That picture is before or after the sensational revelations concerning the identity of Luna Lovegood?

Wearing school uniforms should be banned for adults, with the sole exception of the AC/DC guitarist Angus Young

[vileplume]

I'm honestly going to say neither.

Despite the hysteria, nothing she's written suggests to me that she hates trans people or wishes them ill. However she does very obviously misunderstand the issue and (I genuinely think unwittingly) plays into some transphobic tropes.

The hysteria over her latest book though, which is based entirely on hearsay from an article the Torygraph (of all places) and doesn't even feature a trans person, is absolutely ridiculous and yet another indictment of the ill-informed mob culture into which political discourse across the western world has descended. This pile on from the 'woke' Twitterati will, of course, likely do nothing else but boost her book sales anyway. So well done for that, I guess...

[Never Made it to Graceland]

To expand on my earlier thoughts, I definitely think she's a HP for her recent comments. Her new Cormoran Strike book, which is a series I've enjoyed in the past, isn't necessarily transphobic in a vacuum, but given her stance it makes it seem that was certainly her intent.

This. The relative lack of outrage about, say, The Silence of the Lambs is because Thomas Harris is not a transphobic political actor as well as a potboiler author.

Now as for cancelling Harry Potter, I don't think that's necessary. Lots of people, including LGBT, have been inspired by the books to be advocates and stand up for themselves. The author being a TERF later doesn't change that. Just think how many great book series had problematic authors. I highly doubt C.S. Lewis or rad-trad J.R.R. Tolkien would have been in favor of trans-positivity. But kids still read those books.

I have to stick up for Tolkien here and say that he wasn't really a radtrad as we understand that term today, since he accepted the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council despite openly disliking many of its decisions. There's also circumstantial evidence in his letters that he was noticeably less homophobic than you'd expect from a severely conservative British Catholic of his generation, although relative mildness on gay issues is not the same thing as outright wokeness on trans issues.

Interesting, I didn't know that about Tolkien. The only thing I really knew was that he preferred Latin and refused to switch to English, and that he wasn't a fan of the 60s "counterculture" that had grown around LOTR. Thanks for the background!

[GeneralMacArthur]

Yeah the whole "Luna is trans" thing is just another way that she's become weird and annoying since the end of Harry Potter.

Honestly I think she's just really bored and lonely and wants people to pay attention to her, so she says these weird things that she thinks will get her some positive attention.  Coming down from the Harry Potter high, when she was the world's biggest celebrity for five years straight, has to be rough.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Wait, hold on, Аverroës wasn't joking?! Geez louise.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Wait, hold on, Аverroës wasn't joking?! Geez louise.

Wait, what? I couldn't find anything confirming it from Google, so I just assumed it was a joke. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If you support JK Rowling, you're on the same side as the person who made this. And do you really want that?

Better that than being on the side of the person who created Assigned Male.

That is easily one of the worst webcomics I've ever seen. Got to love how the main character is supposed to be something like 10 and yet talks like a gender studies student at a private liberal arts college.