The false equivalency drives me mad...

my biggest issue with the “JK Rowling supports violence against women because - Johnny Depp” argument is that the posters seem to think that Rowling is the only person who needs to loudly condemn Johnny Depp. He’s been hired and worked with by a multitude of other people but they arent being accused of anything because of their association with him yet Rowling (who probably had very little to do with his casting) needs to offer a public apology or his crimes and failing become hers.

I'm not sure if this comment is meant to be slightly tongue-in-cheek, and don't wish to derail this thread by turning it into a lengthy discussion about Johnny Depp's character or misdeeds, but he isn't a good example for this -- for instance, suggesting that Amber Heard be drowned, burned and defiled to ensure her death ("I will f**k her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she's dead" to be more precise) in the messages he exchanged with Paul Bettany was clearly a lot more than what could or should be reasonably excused as not being squeaky clean, even though he claimed he was not being serious and merely venting.

Agreed. While we are on the subject let us also remember that Fred West was on remand, so not convicted. And so was Epstein having served time for a previous conviction but on remand for other offences. If we are going to give Savile a free pass let’s make sure we are even handed. 😐

I mean, we don’t want to appear to be giving JKR the benefit of the doubt do we, when apparently she too has committed heinous offences but not been accused, charged or convicted.

The whole transgender concept is so devoid of factual validity or even common sense that it pushes its supporters into the realms of #nodebate, or #bekind, or 'you are all just hate-fuelled bigots' or whatever, because there just isn't enough sold fact there to defend the concept rationally.
Desperation turns to nonsense turns to insult turns to attack .. turns to slander turns to libel, if they're not careful.

A footnote - when I googled slander and libel, I came across this example of slander:

• Making untrue statements about someone’s professional competence that result in lost opportunities or income LegalKnowledgeBase.com.

Not that I expect SP to act on it, it's just that it was an aspect of DrU's behaviour that many of us found particularly underhand and despicable, so it's interesting to see that it might have been slanderous/libellous.

Living in a bubble in which people affirm their view

Hair dye….

Cognitive dissonance, knowing they're speaking nonsense and, for a few unfortunates, they've allowed it to harm their children.

Wondering, not for the first time, what makes TRAs so addled and unhinged.

To be honest, if you want your male actors to all be squeaky clean never having done a bad thing in their lives then you obviously just have Keanu, right? Which is great but the poor guy can't do it all on his own.

I think the full list include mocking some trans identifying men (mostly by pointing out that they are actually men), and “employing” Johnny Depp (although I don’t think she was responsible for the casting) and therefore she cannot be a supporter of women.

Tendentious and weak, but that’s all they’ve got.

This one is my personal favourite, played with a dead straight bat right over the boundary:

https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/1789590944976650436

Yes, I’d love to know what shady things she’s done. I’m putting my money on “nothing”.

I always ask people who say this, what JKR did to be called a monster in the first place. They can never tell me.

What started all that abuse, in 2020, was that JKR responded to a tweet about ‘people who menstruate’ by saying there used to be a word for those people — “What was it? Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

The response to this harmless little joke was a cascade of abuse. At first JKR was apologetic, fearing she had hurt the feelings of some deeply fragile people. But the abuse has continued since then, including, as she once said, enough death threats to paper the walls of her house. And she eventually hardened her responses, realising it was pointless to try to soothe or reason with these trolls.

JKR is a major benefactor to good causes, including Scotland’s only all-female rape crisis centre, Beira’s place, which she funds. She’s a treasure.

what "very shady things" be specific, please

I can see your grounds for viewing JK Rowling as a person of bad character.

But would it be wise for a reader, even a young one, to measure the safety of a book on the basis of its author’s morals? The author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ had some very unsavoury feelings about little girls: should girls be advised not to read it? Should Jewish children warned against reading anything by Roald Dahl? He was, without question, a rabid antisemite. Shakespeare gave a sympathetic platform to some pretty unacceptable views on marriage. Should we cancel him?

I don’t want to challenge your assessment of JKR as a person. But by teaching children that a book is only safe to read if the author had the same ethics as the reader, we do them a disservice. They should be confident enough in their own views not to experience complete moral collapse on contact with a person who does not share them.

@Toastess, it's totally understandable that you feel you can't be forthright about your opinions at work

FWIW, I think what you said was perfect. You did express dissent. And you said something mild and of good sense, which highlighted how ott his own comment was. You may well have emboldened your other colleagues to express their doubts or dissent in the future

Whatever about the changing details of TPAs story, they bear the hallmarks of someone who has affirmed someone close to them and now cannot psychologically cope with any suggestion that this was not the right decision.

What an utter mess all of this is.

It smacks of someone who is utterly immersed in their own psychological drama to a very unhealthy degree. Being eaten up with hatred and toxicity and unable to think clearly. Everything distorted, magnified and out of proportion.

Still flinging it and hoping some of it sticks, TPA?

#letthemspeak

Rowling should never be compared to a paedophile. Ever.

Her record of hiring and defending a proved domestic abuser, though, stands for itself.

Oh and the malicious attacks on trans, asexual and non-binary people. Can't forget how she validated offline violence with her nasty opinions.

She's nothing like Harris. But in a league of her own, with how she's traumatised minority children who thought her books were a safe space, who trusted her.

Could mention all the terrible things she's said, but it would take all day - notably her repeating utter lies about the number of trans children receiving gender-affirming surgery (it's overwhelmingly cis boys) and objecting to individual trans women having jobs, posting their photos and watching the harassment. Objecting to inclusive medical.language which saves lives, bolstering horrific conspiracy theories and making everyone who's harmed a trans kid in school feel validated...yeah, it's a long list.

She's never apologised for hiring Depp. What a feminist.

She never apologised to Lin yu-ting for calling her a man who likes hitting women. Absolutely abject behaviour.

She's nothing like Harris. But the harm she's done is real.

Oh my life!! The Depravity!! How dare she?!

She ate an After 8 at 7.55 🫢

People have a free choice as to whether they agree with the views that JK Rowling expresses. Savile's and Harris's victims had no choice at all.

Hope that clears things up.

She did WHAT??!! The sheer monstrosity! And I bet it was a Cadburys Dairy Milk!!

Wow. And that's your concept of equivalence to serial sexual abuse of children?

Next you'll be mentioning that she once bought chocolates after 8 pm.

Most monsters are known/related to their victims, good advice.