J.K. Rowling #4 JK and the Goblet of Ire

[emmer_moans]

I put HP and the Philosophers Stone in my shopping trolley today. I plan on re-reading the HP books because the last time I read them was over 15 years ago. I remember back then being fascinated by a lot of the intertextual references (mythology, folklore) and I’ve recently listened to Stephen Fry’s Mythos audio book series so I thought it might be nice to read HP again and see if there’s more detail I can understand this time. I also remember liking how JKR writes so thought it might be fun. I’ve also put the first Strike book in my amazon basket awaiting payday so I’m looking forward to that. I know JKR doesn’t need our money but imo, it’s a small way of appreciating her art in a time when a lot of people dislike her. They had loads of copies in the supermarket so I do actually wonder if her sales ever dipped in last year’s furore or if lots of parents and kids are happily oblivious to the TERF-hunters and have carried on buying them anyway.

 

[Lanavalentine]

I know I’m late to this, but that Reddit thread just highlights that so many of the TRA crowd are incapable of critical thinking.

Not only do they not understand the concept that good fiction writing usually involves characters who are well-rounded and have obvious blind spots, faults and prejudices, likely formed by their own experiences (you know, like real people do)... but they also seemingly cannot understand that fictional characters do not necessarily represent the authors’ own opinions and feelings?!

The mind boggles.

 

[SqualorVictoria]

Well if that was true and characters represented the thoughts and feelings of an author, if I wrote a book it would probably be the most boring one ever as all the characters would be based on me! So just as well I'm in no danger of writing a book

They really are idiots

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

They had loads of copies in the supermarket so I do actually wonder if her sales ever dipped in last year’s furore or if lots of parents and kids are happily oblivious to the TERF-hunters and have carried on buying them anyway.

I don't think anyone outside of Twitter and Tumblr particularly gives a flying broomstick about it really.

 

[Scotch Mist]

I don't think anyone outside of Twitter and Tumblr particularly gives a flying broomstick about it really.

The power of the Twatter mob is grossly overstated. They do not speak for the majority of people in this country. The TRAs atracking JK are just a rabid bunch of lowlifes who narcissicly deem themselves important. They are not even on the radar of the majority of the population.

All the wokesters who give in to their harassment don't seem to realise how marginalised they really are. A little echo chamber of nasty abusers.

 

[Annabanana40]

Twitter, 20% of adults use twitter (Facebook well over 60%) and of that 20% only 2% generate 80% of tweets. It really is a tiny minority, unfortunately it's an easy platform for journalists to lift quotes from so gets outsized influence. Most people only hear of twitter when msm quote it.

I don't think many people are than aware and most that are agree with JK, her sales won't suffer long term and the mob know it, hence their venom.

 

[Chisme]

Interesting video from a transwoman, she basically states that the trans community would never argue against sex & it's those who consider themselves 'allies', in a desperate bid to look woke, mistakenly trying to play white knights. I haven't seen many speak out from this perspective, so it's refreshing to hear.

 

[Zenchick101]

Interesting video from a transwoman, she basically states that the trans community would never argue against sex & it's those who consider themselves 'allies', in a desperate bid to look woke, mistakenly trying to play white knights. I haven't seen many speak out from this perspective, so it's refreshing to hear.

Blaire white usually has a nuanced point of view and is more level headed then other voices out there, but it seems like she's wrong she talks about how no trans person conflicts sex with gender (if i remember the video well.

 

[Chisme]

Yeh, that's true! I never really use YouTube so maybe I'm late to the party but when I stumbled upon her videos I was impressed by 1. How much support she seems to have for a perspective which is not usually voiced (from what I've seen on social media) and 2. Her comment section...where a lot of people were highlighting how vicious Twitter is these days and reinforcing what you've been saying. Glad I deleted my account!

 

[HockyRorror]

Not trans, but this drag queen also speaks sense on drag queen story time (apart from addressing only heterosexual women - I’ve seen hereto dads equally as eager)

 

[Sven]

Does anyone follow Jess DeWahls?

 

[AnderbeauJohnson]

You basically summed up how I felt after reading the comments on that thread. I couldn’t believe when someone said about how the Weasley’s weren’t poor enough because they just about got by and weren’t starving. Compared to the other families in the books they certainly were poor. I also think JKR knows a thing or two about being poor considering her background. It’s like their whole argument is that the characters are flawed therefore they are bad, when actually it’s good for characters to have faults. I actually don’t read an awful lot of books myself, but these people sound like they have never read anything in their life before or after Harry Potter. There are valid criticisms for the series, the same as any other book it’s not beyond criticism, but these are not it.

Oh, I always assumed this thread was an anti-J K one, this was a nice surprise to read through

There are, sadly, a lot of children in this country who are in much more dire financial straits than the Weasley family were but there are also many who live below the poverty line while interacting with mostly middle class friends at school (we were such a family) and having that representation was fantastic in a children's book.

It was a great way to teach empathy to children who may not realise (like Harry often didn't realise) that just because their friend wasn't starving that they were from a different social/financial class and that it did impact both their day-to-day lives and their self-esteem. It was also great for teaching empathy the other way around, that just because your friend (Harry) has a lot of money it doesn't mean that his life is a bed of roses and that everybody has struggles in life, not just you.

I've been looking for a new audible book to spend my credit on so just download the first one - haven't read it for over 15 years so looking forward to hearing it as an adult. The reviews were wild though, so many salty 1 stars.

 

[Ensay]

I liked the Harry Potter books, but I never really understood why she waded into the argument and kept going on about it at length. Maybe it's because she missed the notoriety she once had?

There are quite a few people who've got involved in that particular argument and almost all of their tweets are about it. You can have an opinion and state that opinion of course, but when most of your social media posts are about the same thing, it's perhaps time to look at whether it's doing you any good.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

I liked the Harry Potter books, but I never really understood why she waded into the argument and kept going on about it at length. Maybe it's because she missed the notoriety she once had?

There are quite a few people who've got involved in that particular argument and almost all of their tweets are about it. You can have an opinion and state that opinion of course, but when most of your social media posts are about the same thing, it's perhaps time to look at whether it's doing you any good.

Nothing to do with notoriety, JKR is always going to be a household name at this point. She is standing up for women’s rights, that is all.

 

[Ensay]

Nothing to do with notoriety, JKR is always going to be a household name at this point. She is standing up for women’s rights, that is all.

I get that but I just question her motivation. I've always been a cynic, though.

 

[judgejohndeed]

I don’t really see the issue at all. It’s very common for people to pick one cause that they feel strongly about and talk about it often. People can’t be activists for several causes and do it well IMO. I don’t think anyone would be questioning the motivation of a famous gay person who tweets a lot about homophobia for example. So not really sure why a famous woman Tweeting about women’s rights is problematic or reason to doubt her intention with it. She’s female and it troubles her, surely that’s it.

 

[emmer_moans]

I liked the Harry Potter books, but I never really understood why she waded into the argument and kept going on about it at length. Maybe it's because she missed the notoriety she once had?

There are quite a few people who've got involved in that particular argument and almost all of their tweets are about it. You can have an opinion and state that opinion of course, but when most of your social media posts are about the same thing, it's perhaps time to look at whether it's doing you any good.

JKR hardly posts though (hasn't tweeted yet in 2021, probably due to unfair hatred towards her). She's not posting lots and lots. She's standing up for women, because her voice is heard above a lot of womens. She's calling out against mysogyny. She is also a victim of physical abuse in her past so it is a cause close to her heart, not really to do with notoriety to be fair.

 

[Ensay]

JKR hardly posts though, she's not posting lots and lots. She's standing up for women, because her voice is heard above a lot of womens. She's calling out against mysogyny. She is also a victim of phsyical abuse in her past so it is a cause close to her heart, not really to do with notoriety to be fair.

I just thought it was strange how she went from never mentioning it to going on a crusade (by comparison). She could have almost written a similar character...

I must say as a new poster, I'm surprised this thread is so one-sided. Most of the other topics I've read are refreshingly critical (especially of some of the dire social media 'influencers'). I was expecting a few more on my side of the argument. Ah well!

 

[emmer_moans]

I just thought it was strange how she went from never mentioning it to going on a crusade (by comparison). She could have almost written a similar character...

She did a few tweets and an essay, because she felt compelled to speak up against rife misogyny which has been becoming more unbearable in society the past year or so. Anyone who reads her actual tweets and essays will see she hasn't been a transphobe or even a prolific tweeter on the subject. People keep projecting onto her.

What are women supposed to do, never speak up? We need more high profile people to be brave like her in order to highlight the injustice.

 

[Ensay]

She did a few tweets and an essay, because she felt compelled to speak up against rife misogyny which has been becoming more unbearable in society the past year or so. Anyone who reads her actual tweets and essays will see she hasn't been a transphobe or even a prolific tweeter on the subject. People keep projecting onto her.

I just thought she was more left wing/liberal than she turned out to be. Which is absolutely her right.