Concerning my Harry Potter fanfics · 3:57pm Feb 13th, 2023
In short, I will not be continuing them. They are, as of the time I post this blog post, deleted. Why? Because I don't feel comfortable making Harry Potter content anymore.
Now for the long explanation.
For those who were unaware, ome time ago, I switched to writing Harry Potter fanfics in order to get my writing drive working. I didn't post much of it, but I've written at least fifty thousand words that I've not published - and none of that will be public in the future, just to let you know. I published two stories in total and haven't gotten far in them.
Alright, now for the longer explanation as to why I won't be making Harry Potter content anymore.
It is no secret that the creator of the Harry Potter books and the larger universe, J.K.Rowling, is a raging transphobe. I was willing to ignore that and continue enjoying Harry Potter fan content and write my own. But now, after digging up more info about her, I can no longer do so. She is not only a raging transphobe, she is also funding anti-trans efforts and uses her fanbase to spread her hateful messages. And by funding anti-trans efforts I mean that her money is used, with her permission and blessing, to legislate trans people out of existence. If not stopped, it will in time lead to unjust imprisonment and murder of trans people for the "crime" of being transgender.
No defense of J.K.Rowling will be tolerated, so don't waste your energy if your intent is to do just that in the comments.
And none of that covers bad elements of the Harry Potter universe itself that I previously didn't consider, willing to let them slide aside. There's a neat but not exhaustive and not the most elaborate list here. It's probably not the best list, but it does it well enough. You can dig deeper if you like, but that's not for me. Just one last thing - some story elements may be defended by "that's how it works in-universe", but the author is who decides how their book universe works. They could've just written it differently, in a way that isn't problematic.
As a kid, I liked Harry Potter books and movies. However, without the nostalgia glasses, Harry Potter doesn't stand up to critical examination.
Last thing - do not buy Hogwarts Legacy or any other Harry Potter product. Royalties from them go to J.K.Rowling, and she explicitly stated that buying Harry Potter stuff means supporting her. And it is true - if you give her money, you do support her. In case of Hogwarts Legacy, it is a mediocre game that perpetuates harmful stereotypes, and at least one voice actor and one developer were extremely bigoted - and were hired to do the job despite that - and it shows in the game.
Harry Potter merchandize or games or whatnot aren't necessities and neither do you need them to lead a fulfilling life. Obviously, reading Harry Potter fanfiction isn't giving anyone money, so go ahead and do that, there is a number of good stories that fix various problematic elements in Harry Potter universe, they're definitely worth a read.
In the end, it's simple - don't give money to a TERF. If you do, you're no friend of mine, and no ally of LGBT+. Don't waste your efforts arguing against it in the comments - I won't tolerate that either.
If u want good Harry potter fiction that 3 characters switch genders, computerneek is the writer, to me that is a big finger to jk.
The rest of his stories are good but I don't think he/she has finished a single one. It annoys me but each story gets better.
How unexpected.
At leadt the Fimfiction Potter stuff is free of this bullshit.
Have a great day/twilight/night Elu
While it's always sad to see a story deleted, I can understand why you did it.
I must confess, I never looked more into the background of some authors and I am shocked to hear about this.
Honestly, I would never thought that of her. Such views are something I can't and won't support, since I belive that everyone deserves to be what he feels most comfortable with.
I know the experience of trying to separate the art form the artist bit and got cured of it with a certain WH40 lore channel who was really fun to listen to but sometime made weird slips that came out of nowhere, until he started to talk a lot about anti-feminist stuff videos a lot and then started to defend some very unsavory people for reasons that sounded really weird or lacked context, it's only much later that I fond out how much of really bad jerks these people are. For a while I told myself it was just his views and that his content and didn't stop the fact that his content was fun to watch, but then he started making videos and streams with them as guests and looking to their own YT channels I just felt weird listening to there content but couldn't get a clear idea why I was uneasy with what they said until until I I realized they were just god awful people spewing mindless hate toward minorities, and the more I re-watched that channel that I like the more I felt sick and uneasy about it, until I couldn't stand it before and just unwatched his content and being much more critical about other channel and how they said thing. I don't the deception that of having a content creator that I really like their stuff turning out to be a horrible person and have to come to terms with that watching their content only helps to boost the algorithm.
I dont support jk rowling but im not gonna skip a game because of it guess i support her cuz i purchased a video game lol
There's a lot of problems with canon potter stories.
Which is why I liked the fanfic versions.
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But you could just not do that. And even if you want to play that mediocre nostalgia bait so much, you could wait to pirate it.
By buying the game, you're saying "I won't support trans people if it means I can't buy a crappy game". And that's despicable, childish behavior.
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I dont see how it is childish to spend my money on something i wish to enjoy does it suck that rowling is rude yea but it has nothing to do with the game and personally i think its rude to say that someone doesn't support trans because i bought a game what she does with her money is her business much like how i wish to spend my money is my business
I'm sorry to hear that i love harry potter cross overs but never ben a fan of the games
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You literally support her and her desire to legislate trans people out of existence by buying the game. It's easy not to buy a fucking game. She's not just "rude", she wants trans people to die and uses her money to help that goal along. Transphobic legislation that she lobbies for directly results in deaths of trans people.
So, either you support trans people or you support Rowling. If it's the latter, get the fuck out of here and grow as a person.
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Exactly, and J.K.Rowling is truly awful.
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Do you really want to support a person who said this kind of shit about trans people? media.discordapp.net/attachments/379941787306950656/1075016650774024304/facebook_1676374313407_7031223488223661286.jpg?width=681&height=647
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I dont support rowling by your logic anyone who spent money on activision blizzard supports there terrible work environment your just blanketing me under something thats bad because i purchased a game
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If someone is aware of the issue yet still give them money, that does mean they support it. You don't need to buy from that company just like you don't need to buy the antisemitic terf game.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but that doesn't mean you can't make choices that are more ethical than the other.
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I understand completely that you can make more ethical decisions in terms of buying from shady companies but why should we boycott a companies product because of the actions of someone who had nothing to do with the game other than licensing
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In the case of Rowling, she still gets royalties from it. Also, at least one voice actor of Hogwarts Legacy is a bigot, and a former lead designer is also one as well - the latter stepped down after the fact arose, but they were initially hired with the employer fully aware of who they are. And it's not like the lead designer's work was erased - there is thinly-veiled antisemitism in the game. I don't see why you would want to give them money unless you're some asshole conservative with zero empathy who does dumb stuff to "own the libs".
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I have no political alignment im completely neutral in terms of party i dont care that she is getting money thats not my problem i bought the game because the books and movies were an interest of mine long ago dont know why your bringing politics into this as that has nothing to do with my purchase of the game
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Oh, you're one of those people... Unconcerned with stuff that literally runs the entire fucking world. Someone without any spine or convictions. Someone who apparently was never impacted by politics... somehow.
Guess what asshole, a lot of people are not in a position to not care. I can't be myself in a lot of countries, I can't freely express myself in more countries, and I'm not even transgender.
Fuck off, unfollow me, and don't come back until you grow up from that childish mentality. I don't want people like you around, you disgust me, you empathy-lacking dick.
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That's a lot to unpack in here.
First of all, I never said people should stop consuming Harry Potter content. They should, however, stop paying for it, because the money from it goes towards hurting trans people. Recently in the UK, a trans woman was murdered because of the exact rhetoric Rowling spouts.
Second, the point of the boycott isn't to somehow make Rowling destitute. No one thinks the boycott would do that. The world we live in is still largely transphobic, and plenty of people who are fans of Harry Potter don't know or don't care about Rowling. The point is to bring attention to this all, to show where all that money goes, and who benefits and who suffers because of it.
I'm not vegan because I believe animal exploitation will be stopped in a year, five years, a decade, or even within my lifetime. I am vegan because I believe it's the right thing to do even if the ultimate goal isn't reached. I won't give up simply because I alone can't stop the massive animal agriculture industry on my own.
Third, there is no reasonable argument that you or anyone else can put out in support of giving Rowling more money. She already has a lot, yes, but why is that the reason to give her even more?
Rowling doesn't have a "terrible ego problem", she hates trans people and thinks that they are, in her own words, violent, duplicitous rapists. She thinks that people like you are that. Why in the world would you want to give her money or support anyone who does so with full knowledge of who Rowling is?
Consider this - if I don't pay them, I go to prison. If I speak out against the government - I go to prison or at least slapped with a fine I cannot afford to pay. This is far different compared to buying a game.
As for buying a phone, my last phone was not bought by me and I don't plan to buy another until this one stops working or if my needs demand that I buy another phone. I will also seek to buy an ethically-made phone. When I bought my last phone, I wasn't entirely aware of what happens when phones are made. Though, to be entirely fair, a phone is now a necessity, you simply can't function in modern society without one.
I've not paid for anything Disney in a while and don't plan to give them any money in the future.
A cursory look is hardly something a regular person can't do. Besides, if you pirate a piece of entertainment, I don't think it matters much - you're not giving them money.
Obviously we can't be perfect because, as you said, there may be developers that are bigoted but haven't voiced it publicly, but we can be more ethical and thoughtful about our purchases. In current society, we can't be perfect, but it's no excuse to completely give up.
I don't think a franchise is tainted by bad people if the said bad people are removed from benefiting from the franchise in question. That's not happened with Hogwarts Legacy - people with known bigoted views were hired despite the employer being fully aware about it. Harry Potter also still belongs to Rowling, who is a hateful bigot.
If Rowling stops being the owner and steps are taken to address the bigotry properly then perhaps Harry Potter can be salvaged. But not until then. Like with Notch - he is no longer part of Minecraft in any way, so you're not supporting his shit by buying it.
In the end, Rowling calls trans people 'violent, duplicitous rapists', and if you give her money knowing that, you support it. There are no two ways to go about it.
Also, I entirely ignored your "it's a bad look on trans community" bit because it's "civility politics", which is bullshit. If people hate trans people because they said "hey look, this stuff benefits a person who wants to kill us and who funds legislation to make it possible, maybe you shouldn't do that?" then it's on them and not on trans people.
If you are transgender like you claim you are - and a lot of people came out of the woodwork in support of Hogwarts Legacy whose claims are questionable at best - then it's sad that you've spent so much time trying to argue against "Please don't buy a product that benefits a violent transphobe". As I already said before, a trans girl was killed because of the views Rowling spreads. Please consider, what if you were in that girl's place? She was bullied for being transgender before she was violently murdered.
There is no possible reasoning that supports giving money to Rowling that doesn't paint you as someone who wants trans people dead.
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And if none of that is somehow convincing, maybe this video will. And if not even that, then, well... we'll get to that.
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Okay, and? Does that mean that everyone gets a free pass? I don't think so.
Because she has a large fanbase and uses it to spread hate against trans people while also spending money to lobby against laws that would protect transgender people. Oh, and she hangs around a bunch of people who are quite open about wanting to erase transgender people from existence.
There are many transphobes, yes, but nowhere did I fucking say that I uniquely tie it to just Rowling.
And that is a problem. You can't divorce your actions from the consequences of your actions.
Hurting you how? By showing just how many people are willing to hurt trans people? That's not news at all. All kinds of activism attracts unsavory people who go against the said activism.
And I wish people applied "live and let live" to animals, but not everyone gets what they want, right?
Also, I became a vegan because it was pointed out that I was doing a horrible thing. You can hardly make someone a vegan without pointing out that their actions are bad. Because veganism is an ethical position.
I have said it again, but I will repeat it - this does not give anyone a free pass. Just because it's "unrealistic" doesn't mean it should be ignored. You can certainly not buy Harry Potter stuff, Marvel stuff, Call of Duty stuff, etc. All those games and movies... they're luxury entertainment. And besides, you can pirate them if you still really want to get them.
Having some semblance of self-control as well as moral standards isn't the end of the world.
By adding a token trans character?
Okay, so you did buy the game, and that's why you're so adamantly defending it. You know what you could've done? Shut the fuck up and simply played the game. But no, you decided to be a pick-me trans woman ("look at meee, I'm fine with giving a violent transphobe money so that people like me get bullied to death, denied our rights, or killed outright!").
All you've done so far is give shitty excuses, trying to justify your own actions to me and also try to defend people who don't need defending. Fuck right off with this shit, I'm tired of reading it.
Talking to you is not worth my time or effort, and I regret not deleting your initial comment outright.
Get the fuck out of this blog and don't message me until and unless you grow the fuck up and stop being a spineless coward with no principles to speak of.