I guess moderation is the theme of the day, so, here goes another one: denying resources to JK Rowling is unequivocally a good thing.
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People need to know what a monster she is. Providing good factual information about what she is doing with her money is great. Critiquing the books is great; giving people some analytical tools to help them let go of emotional attachments to some its shitty themes is also good. So I'm not saying "don't be critical". But being mean for the sake of mean because you're *right* doesn't prove anything except that you're an asshole. Ironically the kind of asshole JKR valorizes.
There is of course a strong identity component here. Trans people who want to feel a certain way about people portraying symbols from the series, or engaging in intra-community discourse, have feelings that are beyond my purview to criticize. But there's a growing contingent of straight, white, cis folks who have started to take it upon themselves to be competitively cruel to HP fans to demonstrate their allyship and it's really not a good look. Cruelty is never good allyship.
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@glyph those books are dogshit and I do not particularly see the value in coddling self-hating trans people, or cis people who haven't moved on from the terrible wizard books.
I got better more than a decade ago. skill issue.
@lunemercove I was midway through typing https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116297462419011907 when I saw this, and hopefully it covers that. Definitely not telling you to make space in your life for people who are adorning themselves in hate symbols for you
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@glyph those books are dogshit and I do not particularly see the value in coddling self-hating trans people, or cis people who haven't moved on from the terrible wizard books.
I got better more than a decade ago. skill issue.
@lunemercove @glyph but you understand that not everybody agrees with your opinion, and that the books are personally important to a lot of people, right?
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@lunemercove @glyph but you understand that not everybody agrees with your opinion, and that the books are personally important to a lot of people, right?
@Amoshias I'm not required to respect dogshit opinions. there are so many better books out there than the wizard series full of racism, transphobia, antisemitism, and classism.
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@lunemercove I was midway through typing https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116297462419011907 when I saw this, and hopefully it covers that. Definitely not telling you to make space in your life for people who are adorning themselves in hate symbols for you
@glyph I'm just not sympathetic. it's been years that people have known JKR's a terf and that supporting her work hurts trans people. If that doesn't get you off the series, or at least stopping talking about it publicly (which is generally what these conversations turn on), then yes I think you should get hate for it. get better. find something else to build your identity on. many of us already have!
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@Amoshias I'm not required to respect dogshit opinions. there are so many better books out there than the wizard series full of racism, transphobia, antisemitism, and classism.
@Amoshias try reading the post you replied to about how I used to like those books before jumping to lecture a trans women about Just Letting People Enjoy Things.
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I guess moderation is the theme of the day, so, here goes another one: denying resources to JK Rowling is unequivocally a good thing. Being personally vicious to people who like Harry Potter—particularly if they are already mourning its destruction and AREN'T giving JKR any money—is performative bullshit.
Personally I never liked the series much; I fell off entirely around book 4. But I know *several* trans people that the story still resonates with. They don't need you to tell them JKR sucks.
@glyph I think those people should stop publicly engaging with it. Even people who aren’t giving any money are giving cultural power that helps her earn money too.
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@glyph I think those people should stop publicly engaging with it. Even people who aren’t giving any money are giving cultural power that helps her earn money too.
@porglezomp The specific examples I'm thinking of have long since stopped publicly engaging with it, and are more affected by the splash damage of general abusiveness towards the source material. I think "hey you shouldn't publicly engage with this, because it is potentially doing sales for her" is fair feedback. I've given that feedback, privately, and often uncomfortably, several times myself.
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There is of course a strong identity component here. Trans people who want to feel a certain way about people portraying symbols from the series, or engaging in intra-community discourse, have feelings that are beyond my purview to criticize. But there's a growing contingent of straight, white, cis folks who have started to take it upon themselves to be competitively cruel to HP fans to demonstrate their allyship and it's really not a good look. Cruelty is never good allyship.
Anyway, if you need to help a child develop a love of reading and magical fantasy, give some money to B.B. Alston instead https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53240817-amari-and-the-night-brothers
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I guess moderation is the theme of the day, so, here goes another one: denying resources to JK Rowling is unequivocally a good thing. Being personally vicious to people who like Harry Potter—particularly if they are already mourning its destruction and AREN'T giving JKR any money—is performative bullshit.
Personally I never liked the series much; I fell off entirely around book 4. But I know *several* trans people that the story still resonates with. They don't need you to tell them JKR sucks.
@glyph it’s a good morning to pre-emptively block a rando or two who are advertising they are on social media to vent through cruelty to other randos who are on their fucking side
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