To think the Guardian is a joke re: JK Rowling?

[Firesidefox]

So, the Guardian was running a 'person of the year' poll, and I voted for JK Rowling for her bravery in standing up to the extremist wing of the trans lobby.

I went to have a look to see when the results were out, and they've deactivated the poll! According to Twitter, it's because JK Rowling was the out and out winner.

If this is the case, this is PATHETIC.

@TooBigForMyBoots

TBF, none of the UK newspapers are fans of diversity. The Times, Sun and Mail havent changed much from their misogynist, right wing past either.

Indeed I think they've all become worse since media moved online. Bit by bit they've retreated into echo chambers that encourage division, not discussion or knowledge.

Agree with this!

I bet JK Rowling wishes she’d kept her views to herself

I doubt it, given the massive outpouring of positive correspondence she said she’d received.

And what views? People can’t change sex, that’s not a “view”

JKR will be celebrated and vindicated in years to come. When the militant trans lobby is proved to be what it is - misogynistic to it’s core. She did what the powerful should do - speak facts. Rather than pander to the fashionable view of he day.

No she won't. The Times, the Mail, the Sun, Piers Morgan, Donald Trump etc. will claim it as their victory.

JKR will be a side note. She spoke out with intelligence, knowledge and sensitivity. She was brilliant. But she is not a man in power/with influence, that's why she faced so much hate. And that's why she'll be forgotten in this.

@HermioneWeasley

What do they think will happen if they say she’s won the vote?

Owen Jones will have the mother of all tantrums. Sorry, birthing parent of all tantrums.

And that's why she'll be forgotten in this

Not by women, she won’t

Yeah she will. She'll voice another opinion: probably a left wing, feminist, imperfect one, and the Mail will run 27 derogatory and possibly illegal stories about her everyday. Women will think badly of her and denounce her.

You just have to look at what happened to other women who stood up for women.

Look

Probably time to reflect that the Daily Mail was an an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazis, and Adolf Hitler personally. Headlines like "Hurrah for the blackshirts!!!" and all that.

PLus ca change ....

Just been listening to Times Radio. They kept wondering why J. K Rowling wasn't included in the Harry Potter reunion. I couldn't decide if they were clueless or swerving the obvious cancel culture threat to the show.

American teenage youtube star Ranboo also received a huge number of nominations on twitter.. (but I can't find it now..) .. this was not a real poll.

@Berlinkreuzberg

Which mp is that *@whachatalkinaboutwillis* ?

That was one of the things that undid Gordon Brown.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

I can't remember the ins and outs of what the woman said, but I do remember very clearly that Labour under Blair and Brown, with their enormous majorities, ignored the concerns of ordinary voters about immigration from the EU. They could and should have had a frank discussion with their voters about why they agreed to put no limits at all on immigration from the EU and what they thought the benefits would be. They could have reassured them that they would make sure school places, housing, NHS etc would have capacity to deal with all these new UK residents. Instead of which they shut all discussion down and labelled all the concerned people as bigots. People's concerns, founded or unfounded, didn't go away and we see the end result in the Brexit referendum.

Absolutely this.

EU Immigration impacted different communities in different ways, and it is not surprising that communities under pressure had concerns. Even my polish neighbour who got a job as a TA in a school in a deprived area said she was appalled at the number of Polish children in the class who could not speak English and which impeded the ability of the teacher to teach the class.

People had real concerns which were not about being racist but about being communities under pressure. If people had felt listened to and engaged with then maybe we would not have go to the Brexit situation.

Unfortunately, after Brexit, instead of starting to listen the ' you are a RACIST' mantra just intensified.

I agree OP, they obviously closed this one because according to Twitter "sitting in my house" was winning. PATHETIC!

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/20/tell-us-what-were-you-doing-on-15-may-2020

[quote Itsalmostanaccessory]@Waitwhat23

Her complaint, in a nutshell, was that she has to pay taxes whilst "these eastern European immigrants" come over here and claim things she is being told she cant claim.

His would you engage with that concern? You have to pay tax, and you vant get benefits if you dont qualify and immigrants coming over dont just get handed benefits.

She was a bigot.[/quote]
Please stop making stuff up, what you posted is not only factually incorrect but done so to unreasonably support your own belief.

The exact quote from Gillian Duffy in her April 2010 televised discussion with Gordon Brown was:

"You can't say anything about the immigrants because you're saying that you're … but all these eastern European what are coming in, where are they flocking from"

No reference to immigrants unfairly claiming benefits etc etc.

The Oxford definition of a bigot is:

"obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion"

That definition looks a lot like your post.

I would say that a lot of the very real problems during that time were not properly acknowledged by many of the services tasked to deal with them (antidepressants rather than counselling for mh/substandard housing/teachers leaving due to demands) and now we are noticing them. I’m from a migrant family and watched as the floor under people moved away- they could sense it but couldn’t (imv) quite articulate what was tho them bewildering and frightening (esp the elderly). It was that space that became hijacked by the media who then said that is what’s happening and pushed the immigrants narrative. Combining that with the underlying narrative of anti immigration that floated around in many of those old W/c areas and I think many people were saying what they thought they should be saying to the left, wo all of a sudden completely changed their narrative on education and immigration.

I remember graduating and returning to my inner London home borough and being shocked that those who were right wing were in the traditionally left of centre jobs like teaching. I think this was the real point of alarm for many as the whole tone of community conversation changed. To deny this is to really ignore what happened in different pockets of old, W/c communities who for generations had been shunted into following certain dogmas (which many took with a pitch of salt) and then had those same dogmas turned on them. That’s what I heard with Mrs Duffy. I would also add that at that time, I was working in a profession and there really was a disgusting dismissal of so much that had functioned at a local even. There was a frenzy of breaking up old systems, communities and bonds but the very things that were attacked were the very things that sit outside of the social state framework - church groups/mothers spaces, etc. Some people were able to shift themselves to a comfortable position which left many others very vulnerable to attack - and they were primarily the W/c who’d always been told the rules to follow (as opposed to decision makers creating the rules/culture). I also think the numbers properly add up on paper because so many of the tragedies of that time were undocumented or written off as mental health issues.

I, as my family were Labour voters. W/c aspirational, own home, went to university- very much the identity they were pushing but I cannot turn my eyes away from the undercurrent of harm that was caused by not listening to people on crime and resources unevenly shared out.

@JohnHuffam1812 please read my post. The only hope for the PLP now is for them to acknowledge this properly and be honest about the parts they wilfully ignored.

Apologies for errors - I’ve still so much frustration and hurt from what went on. I feel like we were pushed out of our community (home/church/jobs) because we weren’t right wing enough for New Labour.

JK Rowling is the joke as far as I'm concerned.

EU Immigration impacted different communities in different ways, and it is not surprising that communities under pressure had concerns. Even my polish neighbour who got a job as a TA in a school in a deprived area said she was appalled at the number of Polish children in the class who could not speak English and which impeded the ability of the teacher to teach the class. People had real concerns which were not about being racist but about being communities under pressure. If people had felt listened to and engaged with then maybe we would not have go to the Brexit situation."

Anecdote fail.

The whole "pressure on public services" point was dealt with in the referendum. Austerity caused the increased pressure on services, not EU migrants.

@MmeSosostris

I read your post and I see no links to immigration. What I see is communities that were destroyed by deindustrialisation ( because of Tory policy).

Oh good, @PolytheneRam is here to explain to us, clearly and in detail, with reference to J K Rowling's writings, what she has said and done that's transphobic. We've been waiting a long time for this.

Here's a link to the article in case you need reminding about specific turns of phrase: www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/

@PolytheneRam

JK Rowling is the joke as far as I'm concerned.

I’m sure your accomplishments dwarf hers. And you also sound so much more articulate than her too. I mean your succinct use of words is just superb. Tell me, is you username designed to indicate the amount of storage in your head.

@PolytheneRam

JK Rowling is the joke as far as I'm concerned.

Prepare to get flamed.

@PolytheneRam

Given its brevity I thought I would help and expand you post with some actual JK Rowling jokes:

Q: What do you call a gardener that has a beard?
A: Hairy Potter.
Q: How does Voldemort keep his breath fresh?
A: He eats de-mentos
Q: How does Harry Potter get rid of a skin rash?
A: With quit-itch

Do love how this thread is still going when its initial point has been proved to be bullshit.

@JohnHuffam1812

In late 90s London? John you are entrenched in dogma. Didn’t you read Owen Smiths Chavs? He was appalled at the language used to describe W/c people. All of the state mechanisms that failed (education/housing, etc) for some people were being posited as not a failure of organisation but of the individuals fault whilst at the same time failing to recognise that once you enter into the services you are very much bound by the often limited options available.

I can give you a very example of what I am talking about. In 1995 I taught in a school where 2 Somalian brothers escaping the civil war were placed. I was a nqt, little real experience and had to teach them Shakespeare when they had no English. They were known to be much older than they said. As staff we all tried to do our best but there were no resources/external agencies/support. The boys had experienced horrific family trauma and only just escaped and just kept their heads down.

In that same class was a traveller girl (English). Lots of behavioural issues but very, very able. Again no support. The class was a disaster for the year with little achieved as it was (alongside a fairly naughty cohort) too much for a nqt with no ta/support.

Fast fwd to 2017. A syrian refugee came to my class mid year. No English, behavioural issues. Again, school not particularly helpful but individual staff and many parents very supportive. I had no support with him and the person who lost out was a little Pakistani- British girl who needed lots of language input. She tried really hard but there was little English spoken at home and she lost out because (imv) her needs weren’t as immediate as the boys.

It shouldn’t be either/or yet ideologically, that is where some schools are at.

There is more I could say but I think you can piece together the bits in between and work out that, at that time what really went on was a massive exchange of resources - from one group to the next. Not extra - a new disadvantaged/poor were created.

There may well have been funding from central government- but my experience is that older teachers were pushed out, new staff appeared and wages were very generous if your face fitted. That’s now mainstream but in pockets of old W/c areas that all crept in between those years of 97-2010 whilst so many people just got pushed out of the inclusiveness of that time. I would say particularly those of other descent and POC - it was a hard, white nationalist vibe that I couldn’t fit in to or make sense of.

And you mentioned immigration but as others have pointed out it was about resources in communities where the narrative has always been ‘there’s no money’