JK Rowling just spoke again. She's fighting back

submitted by Lilith_Fair from self.GenderCritical

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[–]Lingenfelter 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (15 children)

The irony here is that JK was one of those liberal who was moralising everyone about diversity a few years ago...

[–][deleted] 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

And what's wrong with diversity? That's a completely different argument than the one that says women should just disappear so a bunch of LARPing assholes can take our places, badly.

[–]wrongthink 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

I think people were bothered by the "Hermione is black and everyone is secretly gay" allusions she made on twitter to pander to the woke crowd that now wants her head.

[–]leche_flan 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

She announced that Dumbledore was gay in 2007. One year before gay marriage was legalized in the US. The "woke crowd" did not exist in 2007.

She didn't say Hermione was black. She simply approved of Hermione's black actress in Cursed Child. She said she never specified that Hermione was white (Caucasian). Some people tried to "gotcha!" her, saying there's a line in the books where it says "Hermione's white face" -- which at best, implies that Hermione is definitely light-skinned. Her race, however, is never stated outright in the books.

Her 'pandering on Twitter' was simply her answering inane questions from fans about random details in the books. I recall JKR receiving flack for saying Anthony Goldstein was Jewish. She did not tweet that out of nowhere: it was a reply to a user who asked her if there were any jewish students at Hogwarts. What was she supposed to say? No?

[–]TherealSimbul 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

And she didn't "announce" Dumbledore was gay. She was doing a Q&A and someone asked if Dumbledore had ever had a girlfriend. That's when she said no, he was gay.

[–]Veronica 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'd just like to point out that, except for Dumbledore, no character in the Harry Potter franchise was said to be gay by JK Rowling. Not a single one. It's the fandom that is obsessed with writing fan fiction where every character is suddenly gay/lesbian/bi/pansexual/trans/genderfluid. (There is a blog on Tumblr dedicated to the theory that Snape is actually a transwoman, check it out if you want to laugh.) Speaking of Anthony Goldstein, he's part of a list of characters that Rowling wrote back in the nineties before she started writing The Philosopher Stone and his surname is Jewish. So she's been knowing that Anthony Goldstein was Jewish for two decades before speaking about it on Twitter. (Just because someone asked her if there was some Jewish wizard at Hogwarts, not because she was trying to make a statement)

[–]leche_flan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes indeed, thank you for clarifying.

[–]lefterfield 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My take on it is that it doesn't really matter what race was specified in the book, translating characters to a stage/screen is never going to have them looking the way we imagine them when we read about them anyway. It's a bit strange to switch now given that the movies had already come out, with a white actress as Hermione, but... her race is a negligible issue, in the context of this story.(in some stories the character's race is important) So if a black actress was the best one for an entirely different adaptation, then sure. It's somewhat unusual, but I don't see the problem.

[–]windrunner 0 insightful - 1 fun0 insightful - 0 fun1 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

If she didn't aprove the actress in cursed child they would've called her a racist anyway. You can't win with these people.

[–]leche_flan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The actress ended up turning against her anyway because of her essay. It's all so stupid.

[–]windrunner 0 insightful - 1 fun0 insightful - 0 fun1 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

lol

[–]venecia 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah looking back on that I seriously cringe lol. But let's be honest, that's the exact kind of bullshit any of us would pull when faced with those frothing lunatics. She's learned better than to indulge them.

[–]wrongthink 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm a more quiet and private person so I don't know what it's like to be the richest and most famous author of her era. From my perspective I just wouldn't engage with these questions in the first place. If she felt like she had to respond I guess it's understandable that she would lean into her fan's delusions but I think a written work should speak for itself without needing further input from the author to make it "more correct" for trendy sensibilities.

[–]OrangeFirefly 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Which is why you would think her former fans would pay more attention to what she is saying now!

Is it more likely that she is: (A) a closet Nazi who is creeping out of the right-wing closet after 20-odd years of left-leaning politics or (B) someone who has thought deeply about these issues and who is troubled by the logical consequences of trans ideology

[–]Jamiethiel2018 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Exactly, and the same could be said of LGB Alliance, etc. It would seem the first step in identity politics: detach brain.

[–]jet199 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Diversity only brings a benefit because it means there is a diversity of POV and opinion. If everyone thinks the same but just looks different diversity brings no benefits. However the latter kind makes people a lot happier, diversity is difficult and stressful and people will often complain about working in that kind of environment but the end product is just so much better.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5ec541f8-2e6e-11ea-af3f-b11f88c70ecc?shareToken=cff2c582886e5e68ebf67eb42ed96635