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I mean yeah, so long as you’re not actually giving money to the evil woman that wrote those books in any way, nobody’s stopping you from enjoying your old Harry Potter books and DVDs.
Heck, if you’re missing one you can buy it on eBay second hand, just so long as you’re not supporting the evil woman with a shiny new purchase, ya know? That woman doesn’t deserve a penny.
There’s a separate conversation you might want to have with yourself on whether your can separate the author from the work while you’re reading it, of course, and whether you’re comfortable doing so or not is a personal decision you’ll have to make for yourself.
Even better, pirate it and instead donate the money to trans rights groups.
No no, haven’t you heard. Pirating stuff is actually supporting the creators!
I’m gonna need someone to explain this lol
Leftist virtue signaling where nothing you do is ever actually good enough, basically
I still don’t get it, honestly
In another comment someone said that popularity of shows etc. Is measured by torrent numbers
Not sure how that helps creators, honestly. No money from torrenters are going to the creators, by torrenting. Unless they decide to buy collectors’ merch in the end, of course.
While mostly yes, all of that affects others opinions of the books, which can increase her sales and fund her hate.
I’ll like HP again when she’s dead.
I’ll like HP again when she’s dead.
And if her estate doesn’t donate to the same kind of heinous organizations that she does
There’s a plethora of artists to choose from that aren’t assholes. These folks keep talking about opening mind to other points of view. If that’s their stance then they can open mind to new options.
No, you need to have an open mind to their opinion, they don’t need to give you the same benefit
I don’t know, but as I grew older and the world became more harsh, out of cynicism I stopped investing in so much pop culture and especially personalities who have or could possibly make an about-face.
My kids and I read Harry Potter a lot. We love it and it’s been a good bonding experience.
We limit our consumption of Harry Potter though. We read the books, watch the old movies and occasionally (once a year) maybe, purchase a lego set.
I have explained to my kids that I would rather not support JK Rowling due to her stance on trans people and for the most part they are cool with things.
I am certainly still not helping but I believe my kids understand pretty well
I like that you don’t go ballistic about it, that you stay moderate while changing your ways in a reasonable way. Fuck fanatic cancel culture.
Wow, great example to set for your kids. Instead of just finding a different (probably better) series to bond over, you show them that it’s not worth actually adhering to your stated values. Great lesson.
What is this, another reddit?
I would say it’s fine to pirate Harry Potter media.
So if you are really that into it, just pirate it.
Better off, pirate it and donate the price of the media to the Trevor Project or something (can someone recommend a British trans charity in the replies, for example?)
Mermaids UK? Though this is more of a mention than a recommendation, since im not too familiar with their work
I disagree.
Interacting with the new show, even through piracy, leads to more voices talking about it and making Rowling’s cash-cow culturally relevant. It also normalises the shit takes she pushes through her stories at children.
I don’t like Ben Shapiro, and wouldn’t pay a dime for his streaming service. But pirating Chip Chilla to show to my kids still gives him a say in how me and my family view the world.
Why does Rowling get a pass? Because I happened to read her racist, classist tripe when I was a kid?
This and just act mature about it with a critical judgement.
Regardless what Rowling says the wizarding world, which is a mix of common mythology and has folklore huge queer potential. Its hard to find media that portrays something like it this well.
The series will have its flaws, the writer will make sure of that, but she will also be too shortsighted to recognise the extension and personal touched by everyone else involved that may not agree with her viewpoints.
Still helps to promote engagement. People can do what they want, but if you really want to make a stand on this, then completely ignoring it is the only way.
I wouldn’t.
Attention is still cause for future contracts, which is how she makes money. Because at that point, publishers and companies just go “this was our money, these are missed sales because of piracy”. They’re well aware of any pirated media and see it as demand.
I was considering playing hogwarts legacy a while back, I decided if I bought it I would donate double what I paid for the game to mermaids.
Whatever fraction of a share of the cost goes to Rowling and whatever fraction of that she uses to push her hateful agenda probably does less harm than mermaids does good.
Conceptually I view it as similar to putting sin taxes on things which are harmful to society but difficult to prohibit (alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food etc.)
I wound up not buying it because there are other games to play from better franchises and my HP nostalgia isn’t all that strong, but I think this is a reasonable approach.
Way ahead of you. I remember when The Half Blood Prince came out, there were leaked photographs of the whole book online a few days early. There was a massive collaborative transcription of the low quality photos into an ebook. Fun times.
So many people in this thread defend J.K. Rowling, or at least the Harry Potter works, under the guise that Rowling’s anti-trans positions are just an opinion. She does so much more than just talk. She uses her personal fortune made directly from Harry Potter to fund legal attacks on the rights of transgender people in the UK.
Imagine if Elon Musk showed up one day to fund a civil case against you for playing rec league soccer or to get you fired from your job. This is what the beginning of genocide looks like. It may take years to get to the camps and the ovens, but we will get there. Hell, the camps are already built here in the US, and they will house more than the transgender.
https://www.advocate.com/news/jk-rowling-anti-trans-organization
It might work better if you recommend them an alternative.
I’ve heard good things about Discworld, for one.
Much better and funnier than anything from that witch.
Recommendations may be nice, but I doubt it can replace the childhood nostalgia for a lot of people.
You can definitely experience nostalgia for things you’ve never experienced before.
If it replaces the childhood nostalgia of at least one person, it will have been worth it.
I have a lot of nostalgia for Final Fantasy 7. Amazingly, when I played Trails in the Sky many years later, I did kind of feel that nostalgia for a well-made JRPG. I guess I’m saying it’s possible.
Yes you can. You don’t speak for all of us. Many of us moved on and expanded our pallet just fine and are happier for it.
It’s actually really good for your brain to keep finding new things for developing it.
Novelty is love. Variety is the spice of life.
(Pallet =/= palate)
If you’re looking for something to read and haven’t read it yet, try Douglas Addams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s public domain, so getting it for free isn’t even piracy (hell, if you wanted to, you could even print and sell your own copies).
It’s not even close to Harry Potter, more of a sci fi comedy, but you won’t regret reading it. When I finally got around to reading it, I couldn’t put it down after I started, and this was well into the time where I was mostly playing video games instead of reading anything. Iirc, I read the first two in that first sitting, went to sleep, then read the rest the next day.
Having read all five books of the trilogy as well as Eoin Colfer’s And Another Thing, I 100% support this suggestion even though it’s not what I’m looking for here.
Discworld is great but something else entirely. Closer comparison would be Percy Jackson or a more ya magic school would be the scholomance books
Potheads are tiring.
I have never even had an inner monologue about wanting to support of continue consume the work of someone who made something I like after they’ve got outed for bad shit. It’s just and instant “damn, sucks to loose that thing but that’s all there is too it.”
I seriously don’t understand people who do that and the whole “separate the art from the artist” shit.
We have more than enough of literally everything, you aren’t giving up something that nothing else can replace. There’s more stuff to like and discover from nice people than anyone can fit in their lifetime.The best way to enjoy something that may benefit a problematic person is to simply acquire it in a way that doesn’t benefit them. Perhaps whilst on board a ship with a nice barrel of grog.
OK, this is a tough one and what I’m about to say might get me some dislikes. Let me just say something that might soften the blow: Fuck Rowling, her transphobia, and the bigots that defend her wretched views. Even if she decided, in an alternative timeline, decided her loudmouth shut, she would still be the scum of the earth for her views on trans people. I repeat, Fuck Rowling.
Now, with that out the way, let’s address the crux of the issue. I know that many of you in the LGBTQ+ community grew up with the franchise and enjoyed it long before Rowling exposed her true colors. If you’re LGBTQ+ and you decide to reconcile, in some way, with the franchise without directly supporting Rowling, you’re well within your rights to do so. The nostalgia you feel for something that brought you joy in your youth is yours to keep. No one, not even the creator themselves, can take that from you. As for the products themselves? You can: buy the books secondhand, pirate the movies, pirate the EPUBs if you have an e reader and buy fan-made merch from LGBTQ±friendly sellers.
If decided to not reconcile with the franchise, you’re also well within your rights to do so. Rowling has to made aware of the damage her views have on people. Demonstrate the hypocrisy of writing about a group of outsiders finding a place of acceptance and discovering their true selves and espousing bigoted rhetoric towards a discriminated group wanting acceptance for their true selves. There’s plenty of other fictional universes you can draw your attention towards (more on that in a moment) that are far less problematic and worthier of your time.
If you’re an ally (like myself), it’s best that we don’t engage with the franchise all together out of support. For me, this isn’t a problem since I didn’t engage with the franchise all that much in my youth (I was more of a LOTR fan). If you do decide to reconcile, much of what I have already said still applies.
In short, the question of reconciliation is a personal matter. So long as Rowling isn’t benefiting, you should be happy with your decision and the stand you take. As for alternatives? Well…
The already mentioned Lord of The Rings
Dune series
Discworld
Elric of Melniboné
Wheel of Time
her books were always about her “real beliefs” just hidden behind her writing. family guy joked about her writing-anti-trans years before she went full terf.
Best way to punish RFK, sorry I mean JKR is for some LGBTQ+ people to shoot videos telling how HP helped them to come out of hiding and reveal their true self to the world. They can go onto to say things like HP has given them the courage to fight for this cause and in some cases, thanks to this courage, they ended up working in institutes that sets policies regarding LGBTQ+ rights.
I’ve lost a lot of favorite musicians, that turned out to be either creepy abusers, or rabid zionists; I think HP fans can read another fucking book.
I think HP fans can read another fucking book.
I dunno, they apparently haven’t done it once their entire adult lives, so…
My SIL is like this and it’s so goddamned exhausting.
