To think that JK Rowling is being vilified for standing for women and children?

[ExtraPlinky]

Getting sick of seeing her being torn down constantly on social media.
Her essays are thoughtful and careful and she's primarily concerned with safeguarding.

AIBU to say it's a witch hunt?

WorriedMums and DrSbaito - I've just said that I'm not comparing the two. A poster said "I wonder if he has" and I responded "I'm sure he has".

WorriedMums, I'm really not sure why your responses towards me are so aggravated? I have not for one second disregarded what JKR has been through, I have not personally insulted her/criticised her in the slightest.

I also have acknowledged that whilst my point remains valid in my own head, that this probably wasn't the place to post it, the above reasons are why I did, and turns out was wrong about it as I don't know the history of some posters here.

I'll save you a little bit of time. This topic on MN is brusque. Quite sweary. Has little truck with any version of 'be nice' - as it usually translates into "Women stop saying no" or some such.

Posts such as this are usually moved to the Feminisn Boards, because someone complains that the topic is boring, overdone, nasty, transphobic etc. That this one is still here in AIBU days after it was started is something of a miracle. Many, including me, will post almost assuming it has been shuffled off to the Naughty Step (the corner of MN that is for Feminism, recently buggered around with because of yet more cries of "It's boring/not fair/ too busy, etc")

That and MN is, in general, quite a brusque space. You might need to buckle up and go with the flow sometimes

I usually respond to half baked ideas with sarcasm. It's a personal flaw.

I am mostly just tired of people who think they know what they are talking about trashing her and those that support her, with no evidence other than wishy washy feelings.
I do hope that you read her essay and pwrhaps research the types of threat she received and the volume. At least then you'll have a good context to refer to next time you accuse posters defending her of xyz.

I stand with JKR 100%

@CosmosLily

WorriedMums and DrSbaito - I've just said that I'm not comparing the two. A poster said "I wonder if he has" and I responded "I'm sure he has".

WorriedMums, I'm really not sure why your responses towards me are so aggravated? I have not for one second disregarded what JKR has been through, I have not personally insulted her/criticised her in the slightest.

I wonder if it's because the sidestep into 'oh yes, everyone in the public eye gets threats of rape' is A) difficult to prove, despite you being sure, and B) deliberately misses the point being made about the constant intimidation of women because of their sex

Funny how women are easy enough to identify when it's time for us to be threatened, stalked, and harassed

@CosmosLily

WorriedMums and DrSbaito - I've just said that I'm not comparing the two. A poster said "I wonder if he has" and I responded "I'm sure he has".

WorriedMums, I'm really not sure why your responses towards me are so aggravated? I have not for one second disregarded what JKR has been through, I have not personally insulted her/criticised her in the slightest.

And on it goes...

Think of it like this. You have a work colleague. You don't like her very much, you find her a bit patronising but you can't really say why. Anyway. One day, you see her getting the absolute shit kicked out of her for things nobody has ever actually managed to quote her as saying, indeed she's on record saying the exact opposite. Nonetheless, they're kicking the shit out of her for it.

Do you go for help and try to get this stopped and discuss with people how it happened and could have been prevented?

Or, when everyone in the office is talking about it, do you use it as a reason to talk about how she wasn't really your type of person and it's so unfair because when you say this about Barney in accounts, who has never been attacked, people don't say "where are your priorities?"? Are you concerned mostly with expressing your subjective and unexplained dislike for her?

Samphire I've actually been on MN for quite a while, but don't post very often at all. I know the topic is very "brusque", but as this thread was (and remains, wow!) in AIBU, I happened to see it more easily than if it had been in FWR and assumed that the conversation would be different and not such a "debate" as it usually is in the naughty corner, as I'm not a very good debater, haha! Regardless, it's been interesting talking to you

Worried Please do read back on my posts, I haven't personally bashed her at all. I was simply speaking about something I've seen time and time again online and wanted to hear others opinions on it/have a conversation, which I now have done. I'm fully aware of the abuse JKR has received and am not here to disregard that or excuse it in any way, none of my posts were about that.

DrSbait - here is a quote from my own post less than an hour ago. I fully get your point, please read my response that I've already made to another poster: I was speaking in more general terms on the online world in general. All sparked by seeing a poster say something along the lines of "jealous much?" to a poster who said they didn't like her. I've since been told that poster has a history of posting certain things, hence the responses from other posters that gave them short shrift - I didn't know any of that and simply thought it was another example of someone saying "I don't like her" and then getting piled on by loads of other posters who hold JKR as a hero. I also have acknowledged that whilst my point remains valid in my own head, that this probably wasn't the place to post it, the above reasons are why I did, and turns out was wrong about it as I don't know the history of some posters here.

Dutch - I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree here. Someone said "I wonder if he gets rape threats" and I responded "I'm sure he has". This isn't FWR where I expect my every sentence to be analysed and asked for proof and evidence for my every post, this is AIBU and my opinion is that yes, I'm sure a bunch of celebs and high profile people get rape threats amongst many other awful threats. Plenty of them speak out about it. Am I 100% sure and have seen these myself as Mr Cruise sent them all to me in an email? No, I haven't. "I'm sure he has" isn't the same as "I'm 100% certain I have all of the proof", it's just a sentence that we all use.

I'm aware of what your posts say.
What I'm unaware of is why you think it's appropriate to defend 'kick her while she's down people'.
You seem to think that posting on social media about disliking someone is mean spirited. Yet you are defending those who are not only doing that, but are doing it in tandem with others giving out false allegations, death and rape threats.

It's an odd position to take unless you have an axe to grind.

I'm not defending "kick her while she's down" people. It is mean spirited, I'm sure absolutely no one would like to read it and in an ideal world, no one would do it. But there is a world of difference between calling JKR transphobic, and saying you just don't like her. I just don't get why both of these situations are met with the same level and content of response, certainly when it's not the case for plenty of other celebrities.

JKR is awesome.

The hullabaloo that went off regarding her remarks is what made me aware of the sinister nature of TRA activism and active in supporting those who stand against TRA abuse. Her courage and integrity in the face of fire is admirable.

@Rheia1983

JKR is awesome.

The hullabaloo that went off regarding her remarks is what made me aware of the sinister nature of TRA activism and active in supporting those who stand against TRA abuse. Her courage and integrity in the face of fire is admirable.

Yes she's always been very dignified and measured in her responses even as they ramped up the abuse.

It does seem to be the women most concerned with safeguarding are they first ones that people try and silence with threats of violence in this (no) debate. Wonder why that is?

@CosmosLily - but you haven't explained why you don't like her.

Nor have most of the others who say that

That's why I accuse people of misogyny or whatever - they just dislike someone (whom they've never spoken to, met in real life, actually know). WHY WHY. I think the problem is people dont' know themselves so can't recognise when their comments are from jealousy or anger. They are convinced they are a 'nice' person and admitting envy would blot that image and make them uncomfortable.

Personally I have no time with any unjustified, unexplained criticisms of people but can recognise that when I think I hate or dislike someone that I don't actually know, then there is something else going on in me.

@Spookytooth Have I said once on this thread that I don't like her?

when it's not the case for plenty of other celebrities.

Again, I would be surprised if people are expressing dislike for other adults based on very little.

Imo, it's fine to not like someone's work. Or their values. Or their actions. However it takes very few words to specify why. Anyone who cares enough to write down their thoughts on the internet, especially if they are interrupting an actual discussion point, rather than a banal vacuous comment of subjective dislike, should care enough to add a few words on the matter. If you join a pile on with something like that why would anyone think otherwise.
It's not 1999. Words are not expensive and so few words are needed to clarify.

For example:
I do not like JK Rowling because I think her work is boring.

Do you really think people are so thick they can't use a handful of words to make their position clear.

Yanbu. I feel vvv hurt that the harry potter stars have stabbed her in the back. She deserves better than how the media is treating her

WorriedMums - It happens constantly on all forms of social media. A Facebook article about Holly Willoughby, a Twitter post about Claudia Winkleman, a Reddit thread about David Beckham, a TikTok video about Jennifer Lopez. It's social media, people share their one-sentence opinions on whether or not they like another person constantly. I'm not saying it's right, but it happens every single day, there have even been entire threads dedicated to it on MN.

Should they weigh in on a discussion talking about the cinematography on Tom Cruise's latest movie? Probably not. But plenty of people pipe up with "can't stand her/him" on all forms of social media and my point was simply that when it's JKR, the accusations of being anti-feminist begin, the links to her essay, the analysing of everything begins when that wasn't the context, whereas when it's James Corden/Britney Spears etc, people skirt on by.

However, as I've said a few times now, this conversation is in the wrong place and that's my fault, so for that I do apologise.

Don't apologise @CosmosLily. This is AIBU (for the moment). Go against the apparent grain as much as you like!

I think you'd find the same people defending JK Rowling would likely be calling out people doing the same for Britney, seeing as much of the Britney hatred is misogyny.

James Corden has mostly alienated his fans because he went to the USA. I don't know but I believe that will be most of the negative feedback he gets. Or people saying he's not funny. As a comedian, that's a fair point. I don't see people randomly staffing that they dislike him for a feeling on the internet, and I would assume that the Corden fans would, quite rightly, call them out on it.

If you genuinely, genuinely think a woman who survived domestic abuse, is a self made millionaire, a feminist, inspires most of the subjective hatred of her based on, what, the fact that she sports a layered cut? Has a grating voice? Then I can't help you because to me it's blindingly obvious.

It's certainly not comparable to hating a man like Tom Cruise, whom there have been numerous documentaries on his borderline abusive/cult led values.

Thing is you're expecting jk Rowling fans to be held to a higher moral code than everyone else. If Beliebers are ok to argue that you can't dislike his music unless you've listened to his albums, then why can't feminists ask what baseless dislike is coming from and pre emptying it by directing them to her essay.

And besides, I doubt anyone saying that they dislike Rowling on a baseless feeling are given anywhere near the level of abuse or death threats she receives. So sorry, my sympathies are limited.

[quote CosmosLily]@Spookytooth Have I said once on this thread that I don't like her?[/quote]
By this point, I'm taking every irrelevant post about why it's so important for people to be able to say they dislike her, in the face of a storm of people expressing, in violent misogynistic terms, their dislike of her, as its own statement.

@Janesmom

I don’t understand which women and children she’s meant to be standing up for. Please stop pretending all women hold these views.

Not in my name.

Which views are you going referring to?

@Viviennemary

Exactly. I don't like her. Never have. Long before this Trans issue reared its head.

Unless you know her personally and maybe know she has a favourite hobby of kicking kittens, I can't get my head around what's not to dislike about her especially considering all the highlights DrS gave earlier.

What there is to dislike. Obviously

WorriedMums, you're debating with me as if this is the FWR board. This is AIBU and I gave my opinion/shared a thought I had, you don't have to agree by any means whatsoever, but please do stop putting words in my mouth and making assumptions. Had this thread have been created in FWR then I wouldn't have posted at all, but as it stands, it's in AIBU and I was expecting conversation to come from it, not an analysis on everything I'm saying and how that links to this this and this and therefore I must feel this and have this as an opinion.