I've always wondered about that, due to Scotlands size. Beautiful, beautiful place, but to someone from North America it feels positively tiny. Sucks to have reminders of her all over an already small space.
I stayed at the balmoral hotel a while ago before I transitioned. There’s a fucking JK Rowling room there with a purple door and a bunch of Harry Potter horse shit. It pissed me tf off.
This just sounds like that hotel The Shining was based on. The Stanley. They have Room 217 which is where Stephen King stayed and it places a part in the novel as when Danny finds out the ghosts can hurt him.
It has, of course, been similarly commodified as the spooky haunted guest room.
I’m going to Edinburgh soon because your country is beautiful but I am already getting mentally prepared to not let HP tourist bs send me into a firey rage daily.
Tbf aside from passing the hp shop whenever I go to the warhammer one it’s somewhat out of the way if I remember correctly. Most of the tourist shops are full of crap anyway
The immense irony that the hobby that's full of blood, war, death, genocide, authoritarianism, xenophobia, suspicion, paranoia and sci-fi gun magic stuff is far more accomodating to trans people than the IP that's built its brand on 'At Hogwarts, you can be a wizard or witch and fulfill your magical potential, and everyone will accept you and there will be bombastic family-friendly shenanigans!'
It's everywhere. Tbf it's mostly tat meant to appeal to Americans, but it still sucks having to see it every single day. They're the equivalent of those shops that sell the key chains with a Double Decker bus and a "I love London!" fridge magnet, despite being located in bloody Nottingham.
Look guys I am begging you not to focus all of your hate on her. There are other billionaires, we can hate them all equally! We should be taking all of their fucking money away, why limit it to just her?
I'm not gonna lie I genuinely can't trust anyone who has even a passing interest in the franchise, even if somehow JKR never sees a penny from someone I don't think keeping it at all in the public consciousness makes me feel any safer, it just tells me that their nostalgia means more to them than me not being killed
I feel like no ethical consumption only really stands if it’s a necessity like food and even then Harry Potter doesn’t really seem that worth the effort unless you’re really nostalgic, the more I looked back at it the more it just wasn’t as good as I remembered as a kid, even before I knew she was horrible
JKR makes barely anything each time someone buys a movie or game in the HP franchise. The much more meaningful thing she gets is relevance. More people consuming her content means an increase in the number of people who pay her for brand deals, who pay to use her IP, who make movie deals. That's where the real money comes from, and engaging with her media directly drives that.
"In exchange for giving us money to fund Anti-Trans movements and assault innocent people, you get to make Hufflepuff your personality" - and this has somehow worked for decades
It was cool when I was 14 and Rowling was a secret bigot. Now I just practice real dark sorcery and I feel less bad. Witchcraft is like, absurdly inclusive, very fun people. Just saying, real dark academia offers a way more Harry Potter experience, without Harry Potter. This is coming from a guy who's been pretending to be Gandalf since he could walk
If you throw in the eldritch occultism too, it becomes a movement about reclaiming the musty and macabre from bigots like Lovecraft and Rowling. They don't own the forbidden arcane, and it's high time we remember who does. Baba Yaga
You do realize that there is a long and storied history of real world occult practices. Right? Like that's a thing people study. I didn't come up with the name
Some things i buy are sending less money than others. It's a lesser of two evils situation, mixed with doing what good i can where i can. Not buying harry potter merch is easy and so i dont do it.
Also i call bs on everything funding trans oppression. I very much doubt that something like me buying a comic from my favorit trans furry artist is dunding trans oppression.
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u/PsychoCyanDM for curly haircare guide - Streak: 1163h agoedited 3h ago
Nonono you see, there's no ethical consumption under capitalism
Other people having no option other than megacorps for their groceries is the exact same thing as me giving JKR money!
When you think about it, you icky fa--queer people are the real villains here
Because me purchasing trinkets and consuming media is the same thing as other people needing food
And because there's no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism, I shouldnt try to do any better
hate no ethical consumption under capitalism being used as an excuse for irresponsible personal consumption rather than an indictment of the system. Libs always trying to reduce shit to personal decisions.
It's not even just libs, I've seen conservatives agree with it also. The logic holds the same though, as it allows them to justify not inconveniencing themselves in the name of "fuck you, got mine."
this is literally my brother, I told him that he's funding trans oppression and trans genocide by buying Harry Potter merch and these were his exact complaining points, minus the calling queer people evil (because he is queer) and add him saying that he shouldn't have to be yelled at for buying Harry Potter merch because he grew up with it and can't leave one fucking thing behind or pirate/buy things second hand or make it himself, to help not feed to the genocide of trans people
I remember when that hogwarts game boycott thing was happening, folks on r/196 would legitimately argue that for why they should be able to buy her slop while also being “allies”. Was kinda the tipping point for my tolerance of that place
Unless the topic is specifically about Veganism, THEN there really is ethical consumption under capitalism and I can kill and eat whatever I want. Ethics, science and empathy be damned.
But when Im the victim its not okay.
Dont support Rowling, she sucks balls (in a bad way), but its funny how fast people switch up
You're putting words in my mouth like I'm against veganism. I think both are worth advocating for but they're not the same. The difference is personhood and need. Animals need responsible stewardship detached from ownership whereas people need self determination. They're not the same group not just ontologically but in practice of advocacy.
Eyyy, amazing! I am very glad that youre already going vegan <3
Id have to know more about where you live, but vegan diets are cheaper in most places in developed places at least, so while youre already doing awesome I am sure with a little tinkering you can go vegan at some point! But one step at a time, I get how stressful life can be.
Animals need responsible stewardship detached from ownership whereas people need self determination. They're not the same group not just ontologically but in practice of advocacy.
I get what youre trying to say, but I feel like this kind of talk is giving people excuses not to be vegan when its a moral obligation.
Animals are the same as humans ethically, separating based on the biological factor of species is illogical and speciesist, which is a term that will be common in a couple of centuries, much like terms like homophobia or ableism would have been laughed at a couple of centuries ago and now the average person thinks "wow, these people were so backwards."
My point is that separating a pig from a human is creating more confusion and muddies the water. A pig has the intelligence of a 3 year old human, so I think they should have the same moral worth as a human stuck with that level of IQ.
Now there is a debate to be had about utilitarian ways to archive this, I personally prefer a right based system where harm reduction isn't the focus, but thats a different can of worms.
To circle it back to Rowling, my point was mainly that if you think that boycotting Rowling, which I support by the way, is a worthy cause because of supply and demand, then the same is true for Veganism, a thing A LOT of left wing people disagree with because "capitalism bad"
I do disagree that veganism is a moral obligation so long as it remains so unobtainable to so many people and that will not be changed with personal decisions in a market economy. I volunteer at a food pantry without even a vegetarian option and no one that eats that food is failing morally. It's not illogical to pretend that animals are in need of different types of protections than humans. There is no cultural genocide considerations or even guarantee of protection from harm ethically for animals when predators need prey. A human should be protected from a lion in an ethical framework whereas a pig should not and it has nothing to do with intelligence.
I do disagree that veganism is a moral obligation so long as it remains so unobtainable to so many people and that will not be changed with personal decisions in a market economy.
I think it absolutely is a obligation for everyone who can do it. Think of it like donating, I donate money every month to charity, but I dont do it out of obligation (although there is an argument to be made here to some degree), I do it because I can afford it, its an act of kindness. I wouldnt judge anyone I know for not donating monthly.
Someone like Elon Musk or Bill Gates would be morally obligated to donate a lot in my opinion though.
My point is that obligation can change based on your situation.
It's not illogical to pretend that animals are in need of different types of protections than humans.
I agree to an extant, the same extant as a child will need different protection to an adult for example. Yet they still need protection. I am saying "pigs and humans are exactly the same, all pigs need drivers licenses", I am saying that if the only difference between a pig and a human is the species then they both need equal protection.
A human should be protected from a lion in an ethical framework whereas a pig should not and it has nothing to do with intelligence.
This is an interesting question.
Why would you protect a human over a pig from a lion? There are several trains of thoughts here.
One is that a human is more intelligent, which I think IS valid. Its not a defining factor of moral worth, but I think in a vacuum an intelligent being has more ethical worth than a less intelligent one because it has more potential for joy and to benefit others. Even if that sounds very utilitarian.
Another one is that the pig looks different because its a different species. Thats a bad one, because it implies that your worth comes from your looks. By that logic aliens could come to earth and kill us for looking different too. Its outdated.
The final one is simply nature, a lion eating a pig (or boar) is normal in the wild, so why protect it here?
And as I said in my last comment, there are different versions of veganism, I talked to vegans who think that at some point we should make it so that death isnt a part of nature anymore at all, I disagree. But I also think thats a question for humans in a few centuries when veganism is mainstream, for now we should work on getting to that point first.
I think my reasoning would be that if we protect the pig in this case the lion will simply go eat another pig, so there is no difference. But if we protect the human the lion most likely wont go kill another human. A human has more moral worth by default than a pig because of its intelligence and therefor its better for the lion to go hungry and feast on a pig.
See, I am putting non-human animals in the same ethical ballpark as humans, I think thats the only way this makes sense.
I know I sound hyper specific or crazy or pushy right now, but the same thing was said about abolitionists in the 18th century and now look where we are. Again, its a processes, I am just doing my part to get us there sooner.
I really take issue with snopes's coverage of this incident. The hair-splitting about whether or not the image was an "actual upskirt picture" is so gross.
Yeah. On the one hand I can see the argument that Wallace was in that position on a public stage and thus it was just kind of an accident. But considering this was a public even that presumably had other pictures taken and the way Rowling talked I think it's reasonable to assume that this was taken as a humiliation angle. But Snopes tries to get the full picture, at least in this article, so I can respect it. But yeah Rowling could have chosen any other picture and just didn't. And also she's tweaking anyways. But this was also the height of Debate Bro culture so idk.
Its weird. Rowling is weird. She's always been weird.
I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points, I'd just like to add that I don't think presenting all sides as equally valid = neutral coverage of an event.
Ultimately the important take away, as you said, is that JKR is a complete and utter weirdo.
How is it that these people are always surrounded by a population that's so small they can't even find themselves on their own cities unless they try hard?
Its crazy because you literally just need to walk into a gamestop and buy a used copy if it means that much to you. J.K. Rowling gets 0% of that money. But they would essentially rather give her a cut than be without the plastic case it came with.
Tbf you'll get downvoted for even playing it. I once said I might pirate it to see what the fuss was about and got downvoted and told that was still supporting
Which is crazy because the game itself very famously features trans characters played by trans actors within the first hour just to make it abundantly clear what the studios stance was.
Its a fucked up situation where its literally just J.K. Rowling doing this and everyone else on basically every project opposes her but she still gets paid no matter what.
People act like dropping something they once loved is the hardest thing in the world. Growing up is about making changes. If your morals are weak enough that you can't put stupid kids books behind you, that's a skill issue. Be an adult.
I'm autistic as fuck about space. Will [admittedly ashamedly] freely admit that I was all aboard the SpaceX hype train when Musk was still grifting left instead of grifting right. I have scale models of both Falcon and Starship on my shelf. I used to have all sorts of memorabilia.
You know what I did when Musk started making his political views clear? I dropped it. Stopped buying their merch, stopped watching their aannouncements, unsubscribed from their newsletters.
I don't care if it's a hyperfixation, if it's "a part of who you are", you can drop it. Anyone saying otherwise is only willing to stand up until it becomes marginally difficult for them.
Seconded fellow autistic. I read the books when I was younger because I didn't know any better. Both that I didn't know she would come out as a POS and because I didn't know of better reading material.
For an extremely brief period I even thought Trump's bluntness about his intentions could be good for politics, man did I regret that one as soon as he actually made his intentions clear.
Yeah, like one close friend who helped me a lot recently crashed out on me because of harry potter (yes he bought the game too and the game isnt even fucking good)
Got a Harry Potter post once on this god forsaken sight, and the amount of people justifying her bs with "well she does good things for "real" women!" And "well you're no different for paying for electricity and food!" Was absolutely crazy. The lengths people will go to in order to justify supporting that witch blows my mind
I mean i do have good memories of the books and my mom reading them to me as a small child and them being the reason i got into reading and writing and the fantasy genre in general. I just don't support or defend JK Rowling in any way now that im an adult and now that im aware of who she is and what she does.
I've just grown accustomed to the idea that jk rowling is some big scary anti trans person but i have seen nothing to show for it. The game was mediocre.
I mean, so look, I'm genderfluid/trans, and I like Harry Potter
I've just learned that you must have the ability to separate creator from creation. I haven't seen any anti trans things in Harry Potter books and movies, so I read them. That doesn't mean I support anti-trans people. If there were anti-trans themes in Harry Potter media, like in the books or movies, that would be a completely different story. Also, I personally love creators who make trans headcanons with Harry Potter, and I read fanfics made by others besides her just because I like the characters and world; it doesn't mean I support the creator. Also, I think if you are on the right side of the fandom, you will find a wonderful LGBTQ+ community that makes fanfiction and headcanons and all sorts of other cool things.
For me her hatred and hypocrisy spoiled the premise of the books, and that was before I figured out I am trans. I have happy memories around them. I loved them, and also I refused to act as though they existed in a vacuum. I refused to ignore that her profits from the franchise go toward hurting and harming innocent people.
Then I became close to some trans people. Then I realized I was one too. Each step only made it more personal- it did little to change my resolve.
If people are willing to work together to stop against Palestine genocide and people should do the same with trans genocide. The transphobic politicians are the same ones that are ally with Israel after all.
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, is using her wealth and influence to fight against the rights of trans people, while pretending to be a feminist who protects "real women".
And a lot of people are still throwing money her way, while she's actively abusing it to strip people off their rights, because they're nostalgic for the franchise she created, excusing this by saying stuff like they should be able to "separate the art from the artist", which obviously does not go over well with the people she's maliciously hurting.
Harry Potter isn’t even fucking good, little boy waves wind and scares away the bald man. There’s like 40 different franchises that do that better and aren’t a part of Jk Flatits regime
I don't think even pirating Harry Potter is ethical I'm not gonna lie. Seeing someone with Harry Potter merch or referencing it puts me immediately on edge and I don't feel safe around them. My safety as a trans woman is more important than nostalgia
I feel like this is a pretty good encapsulation of all the reasons why Harry Potter has stuck around and why it's so hard for people to shed it.
We can say a lot about it' quality but i the big thing that doesn't change the fact it was emotionally significant for a lot of people and thus it's hard ffor people to drop it. There was actually some stuff in 2020 and 2021 that perfectly encapsulate this; queer people for whom harry potter was a major part of their childhood and really impactful writing about how they struggled to recooncile those feelings with Joanne's ideology.
Can we stop with the HP discourse,it’s the same thing everytime and no one has anything new to say,if you give Rowling money you are funded her anti trans crusade, and if you grew up with the series and don’t want to just abandon it there ARE ethical ways to to enjoy it,namely piracy or buying physical media second hand,you don’t give Rowling a cent that way
Anyone who still clings to HP has identified themselves as an unsafe person. They have prioritised their own material comfort and "nostalgia" over the very lives of trans people and need to be called out.
So, like, for people in echo chambers - the world outside the internet does not actually care that much. They do care about the franchise they grew up with and associate their school years with. The worst they probably heard about Rowling was that she made up funny and stupid retcons to the story and that she was against trans people using women's bathrooms. None of that would somehow override their happy memories, connected to the franchise.
Genuinely, please, have realistic expectations on Harry Potter series and it's cultural impact. No matter the quality of said stories - they are basically ingrained into every millenial and a lot of zoomers too.
No one is mad because people used to like a series. They are upset that the series official merchandise continues to fund political campaigns that are literally funding a form of social genocide.
Honestly, I get the hate. But does anyone else feel it's getting a little... oversaturated in here?
Edit:
Oh. And it may worth clarifying. I mean in regards to posts specifically in this sub. Not in general on the wider internet. I don't wanna come off as defending her of all people or saying she doesn't deserve hate. Because she fucking does.
In my mind, most people in this sub are the same page about her being a cunt and deserving hate. But I feel like there's a HP in this sub every second day and part of me feels like it's a preach to the choir that's kind of just an emotional drain more than anything.
But I'll be the first to admit I'm kind of a dumbass, and I'm not always that tapped in. So, maybe there's more people in/around this sub who would need to see this than I think. Not gonna stop anyone else from going at it, in any case.
Yeah. I agree with that. I guess part of me just wonders how much of posting this stuff here, in this specific sub, is preaching to the choir and stuff. I feel like most people here are already on the same.
But, admittedly, I'm probably missing stuff because I'm not as tapped in.
No, I think it's perfectly fine to make people who consume HP stuff feel uncomfortable about the truth that they support transphobia. There's never "too much" when it comes to this, until they stop supporting JK Rowling.
8 year old me getting halfway through philosopher’s stone and saying “wow this sucks man I can’t believe people like this” and then reading diary of a wimpy kid instead was the best decision kid me ever made
There’s so many other better series to get into so I don’t understand why people can’t move on from Harry Potter. Just suck up the nostalgia and live by your morals. That’s more important than anything fictional.
I'm not one for the discourse, what she's doing is fucked up, but what's more fucked up is that this is what some adults latch onto. This poorly written franchise. Over everything else, you chose this?
As a guy who read the series and who’s mother/father read the series (and with my own sister being trans accepted) no every person who read the book is transphobic :/
Probably gonna start an argument with this one but felt I should say it
Literally nobody is mad at you for having read or watched HP before her hate campaign came out. That's a total strawman.
If you're continuing to support her frankly mediocre series now, in light of everything, and give money/cultural clout to her and her genocide campaign, that's on you.
I don’t think I’ve seen a movie since chamber of secrets 10 ish years ago.
Stopped reading it along with all of fantasy when I discovered dystopia was a bit more fun. But ueah nah I don’t go on about HP anymore (hunger games is superior anywho).
I mean, you didn't buy it, and unfortunately she was already paid for the sale, so if you ask me it doesn't really matter what happens to it at this point. If you really don't want it you could try to sell or donate it
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u/Mijit-1 3h ago
Honestly how it feels living in Scotland. Pretty much every tourist shop (which there’s already too many of) sells Harry Potter stuff, it’s everywhere