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Feb 14, 2023Liked by Suzy Weiss

Growing up as a (closeted at the time) gay kid in the suburbs, the Harry Potter books transported me to another world, one where I didn’t have to feel alone, where as Rowling said of her own books “by page or by screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home”. So many of my LGBTQ+ friends (Trans included) felt so seen by these books growing up - there was something about Potter that really resonated with the idea of being the outsider, etc. Rowling has done so much good for the world, especially for so many children with her various charities like Lumos (she is the first UK Billionaire to lose Billionaire status from donating so much to charity) and now that everyone is boycotting her, do they even realize so much of her money actually goes to supporting incredible causes? Very excited to check out this podcast, and still a huge Potter fan to this day, as it saved my life as a kid, and countless others

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Harry Potter came out when I was in my twenties. I used to see people on the T in Boston reading it all the time and thought, “I can’t believe these adults are reading a children’s book. They need to get a life.”

Now I have children and have read the entire series and realize how wrong I was. As noted in the article, if you want your kids to learn about the qualities that make for a good person, read Harry Potter (and the James Harriot series). JK Rowling is an inspiration.

The thing that bothers me the most are the ungrateful assholes who starred in the movies and now try and distance themselves from Rowling. They only reason anyone know who the hell you are is because of Rowling. You should have shrines set up to her in all of your houses.

Fun fact- did you know Emma Watson loves children so much she sits on the board of the parent company of Balenciaga? Big fan of kids she is...

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To my mind the issue is simple: it is possible to have a same sex attraction and be mentally normal. It is possible to have a fulfilling sexual encounter with someone of the same gender .

It is not possible to CHANGE your gender. Period. Full Stop. There is no second option.

It is possible to change your gender PRESENTATION even to the point where your external genitalia are changed and your internal hormonal environment artificially altered (in what are likely profoundly unhealthy and life shortening ways), but you CANNOT CHANGE YOUR GENDER. Unless you are a hermaphrodite, you are born XX or XY. That is one of the most basic postulates of Biology, even if even that field is getting corrupted by politics.

So claiming that you can change your gender is delusional. Nuts. Insane. And demanding that others join you in that delusional belief is abusive and fascistic.

And as she said, Feminism has no meaning if anyone can be a woman any time they choose, even if they were born with a penis.

The whole Trans agenda is nuts, and I honestly think the people funding and driving all this have it as their intention breaking and shaking any remaining social cohesion we had to smithereens.

And to be clear, there have always been, in all cultures, people who identified as other than their birth gender. In some times and places they were punished severely, and in others accepted and even given a name that amounted to Other (as in Male, Female and Other). There is nothing wrong with being different in this way.

What is wrong is claiming that you actually CAN change gender, and in pushing pro-Trans propaganda relentlessly on our children, and then making it easy for them to make permanent bad decisions.

That, and of course cohering in violent mobs. There is nothing Liberal about that.

Kudos to Rowling for sticking to her guns in what truly is a cultural war.

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I had never read her books but she turns out to be much braver than almost every writer out there (exception being obviously Rushdie). That so many writers organisations have been mealy mouthed instead of in full defence of her free speech is not only disappointing it's pathetic.

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founding

“They removed photos of her from their websites and Potter tattoos from their bodies.”

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I actually can’t think of anyone I respect less than the person who gets a Harry Potter tattoo removed.

Like the baseline we are starting at is that you have a Harry Potter tattoo. So you’re already a moron. But then you get the tattoo removed because you’re a huge fan of child molesters and you feel offended on their behalf.

I just can’t even believe these are real people.

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Okay. This is one podcast that I _will_ listen to because I greatly admire J.K. Rowling.

_Not_ as the author of the "Harry Potter" books, which (while I _did_ read them aloud to my children when they were growing up) I considered rather pedestrian in style though A+ in world-building. So far as magical children's literature goes, though, I personally much prefer E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, Andrew Lang, and even Kipling.

But I _so_ admire that quick retort: "Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"

Rowling is an absolute hero to me.

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the feminist movement I more-or-less grew up with. I guess they'd call it first-wave feminism.

To me, the whole creeping politicization of the trans phenomenon is such a blatant attempt to co-opt that movement. It makes me want to scream.

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No matter how often I read or hear asinine terms like “people who menstruate”, and “assigned at birth”, I still cringe. And, too, the way these ideologues manipulate language is far worse than Double Speak. That I had to explain to my daughter a week after she finished health class what a person’s sex is, that the words “sex” and “gender” are not interchangeable, is ludicrous.

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Sorry, but no amount of surgery, chemicals or wishful thinking will turn a man into a woman or a woman into a man. I could not care less if men want to pretend that they are women or women pretend they are men. We are all a little bit weird in one way or another, so who am I to judge? However, when we start allowing men into private spaces for women and allow men to compete in women's sports, I draw the line. This nuttiness that has infected the Democratic Party will prevent me from ever supporting them.

Huzzah to J.K. Rowling! Too few public figures today are willing to stand behind their convictions...

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The “Harry Potter” series is exactly like a Bible because it’s a salvation story. Harry Potter is Christ who faces death and overcomes.

I don’t think Rowling finds any of the hatred she has been confronted with surprising. After all, that’s another lesson from the Gospels: if you speak the truth, the world will hate you.

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I taught a course on the topic of liberty, a "Gen Ed capstone course," for senior-year students for many semesters at a local college. I will not teach the course again although students found it more than worth the effort to read books such as "On Liberty" by J.S. Mill. On the issue of free speech, students were exposed to the doings of the church alluded to in the essay. In the current truthophobic environment, a career can be ended by exposing students to a sign stating "God hates fags."

I found it cathartic to share with students how my own views on such issues as homosexuality had changed drastically because others, exercising their own freedom of speech, persuaded me that my position on issues did not stand up to scrutiny. I think it was Keynes who admitted something close to "when the facts change, I change my opinion."

The first assigned reading in the course was Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of a Slave," his first autobiography. It contains the word that begins with "n" that can no longer be uttered unless you have the right color skin. The college does have a course titled "Harry Potter" with something else in the title that currently escapes me. I think this essay and the issue it addresses would be an excellent topic but I admit being fearful of sending it to the professor for that course.

It is painful to choose to remain silent sometimes because the cost of being vocal can be career ending. Fortunately, J.K. Rowling made a fortune serving society and can withstand the financial consequences of exposing Truthophobia. I look forward to the series. Thanks for an excellent essay.

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Feb 14, 2023·edited Feb 14, 2023

I can't understand why people need to be reduced to their genitals (person with a penis, vulva, etc.) in order to be inclusive and accepting of transgender people. Transgender rights is not the same thing as Gender Ideology. Proponents of Gender Ideology know their arguments are illogical, so their only way to defend their position is to bully, slander, threaten and cancel those who try to argue with them.

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Feb 14, 2023·edited Feb 14, 2023

Megan - this is considerably off-topic, but I wanted to tell you how happy I am that you have separated from the evil that permeates your family. My childhood's closest friend, D.S., was killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion at Montcoal, WV, in 2010. A series of "protesters" - carrying "God Hates Dead Miners" signs and hailing from you-know-where - planted themselves at the vigil before it was known that there were no survivors.

I never forgot nor forgave them. There was a young woman there as well. During a time in history when there seems to be neither forgiveness nor redemption, I am glad to say that - at least for her - there has been both. Bless you.

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J. K.’s biggest sin, was that she didn’t lock-step with the true aristocracy/academia, who will ruin everything about the person, when they don’t believe like they do. Reminds me of Cersie Lannister (yes I’m kind of a dork), and her trials with the state religion.

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I’m not sure it really is all that “complex”. There are two “genders”, “sexes”, whatever. There is a VERY small minority of people that struggle with their gender “identity, the VAST majority of us are VERY comfortable with our assigned genders at birth. Medical and especially surgical mutilation of children is criminal child abuse. Adults have autonomy. Not that difficult!!

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As Rowling's story confirms, the wrath of the righteous is the surest evidence of the evil that exists just below the surface of civil society. Intolerance of different ideas, beliefs, or philosophies underlies not only book banning, but the Salem witch trials, race riots, the martyrdom of the unorthodox, the persecution of the Jews, etc., etc. Those who are absolutely convinced of their moral correctness, their favored status with God, science, or history, are the most dangerous bigots in the world. It is not only Nazis who burn books. The progress of "Political Correctness" and the "Woke" movement is just another example of this fact.

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There’s a lot of talk these days about separating the art from the artist. But I don’t see how you can do that with Harry Potter. Rowling’s sense of morality permeates the entire series and it is decidedly not woke.

For one thing, the books are steeped in history and mythology, indicating Rowling’s reverence for these subjects. And memory in particular is a critical theme. The past is essential for understanding the present, and erasing it or replacing it with lies (in the press or other places) is counterproductive and invites evil and corruption. That is a consistent lesson.

For another, Voldemort’s entire philosophy hinges on eliminating the distinction between good and evil and replacing it with power politics. The only sides that matter are who has power and who is oppressed. Voldemort believes the muggle world and muggle-borns by extension oppress the magical world. This oppression is evil and the only way to right it is to reverse it. This is how he justifies his desire to rule the world and establish a new hierarchy where pure blood wizards are at the top. Rowling was trying to draw a comparison to Nazism of course, but the principle is broadly applicable. If you believe that the world can simply be divided between oppressors and the oppressed, you believe the same lie as Voldemort.

And lastly, no, the books are not about acceptance or finding yourself. They are about having the courage to face adversity, stand up to evil, and tell the truth even when nobody believes you, even when everybody hates you.

So of course Rowling doesn’t care about being beloved and she is determined to speak the truth! The wokeists are an army of Dolores Umbridges and Rowling is more than happy to scar her own hand to not tell lies.

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