Article in The Atlantic about JKR

[OstrichRunning]

Long time lurker in this topic here.

Sorry if someone has already posted about this article before.

www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/07/why-millennial-harry-potter-fans-reject-jk-rowling/613870/

Thoughtful article. Refreshing!

I thought this was a great article from Helen Lewis. Particularly interesting about the lengthened 'childhood' of many young adults in society today.

[quote OstrichRunning]Long time lurker in this topic here.

Sorry if someone has already posted about this article before.

www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/07/why-millennial-harry-potter-fans-reject-jk-rowling/613870/[/quote]
Just read it! It was one of the few that didn't draw a line in the sand. She will probably still get called a TERF, but happy the Atlantic published it.

The Atlantic is the only hope left in US media I swear

This was a great article. I posted it on another thread too (not as an OP, as a comment). I’m sure TRAs will hate it because she dares to call out theIr obsession with doctrinal purity but she is very fair, I think. There are nuances in every moral issue. For example, I support pro-choice policies but I can see how some would disagree and be pro-life. Their different point of view affects my human rights as a woman but I don’t try to shut down pro-life people at every turn and name-call, harass and stalk them into silence.

TRAs claim they do this to gender critical women because our views ‘threaten their existence’ and are ‘literal violence’ but they fail to see that sex-based oppression is real and concerns about protecting single sex spaces are valid. There is nuance in every thorny issue in society. That’s why these issues create so much debate. Shutting debate down and canceling people is a dead-end. I’m glad Helen Lewis spoke up and could write about this issue with nuance and perspective.

She will probably still get called a TERF, but happy the Atlantic published it.

They already think she's a TERF from other wrongthink episodes.

I love Helen Lewis. She's so articulate

Enjoyed this, thanks.

I think maybe it's not generational per se.

Maybe HP is one of the last cultural touchstones that everyone was in on before the fragmentation of social media.

Look at the changes between the late 90's and late 00's.

Brilliant.

Maybe HP is one of the last cultural touchstones that everyone was in on before the fragmentation of social media.

That's a very thought-provoking point.

Probably true. But makes me so sad to think about.

This was very interesting, on generational change as much as the JKR controvery. This bit caught my eye:

On The Leaky Cauldron, one commenter argued against presenting “sanitized news coverage in the way the ministry and news media do in light of Voldemort’s return.” Another replied that Voldemort demonized mudbloods and muggles for not inheriting wizarding ability: “Guess who else is demonising people for not having the correct blood to be who they say they are?” Rowling gave these fans the tools they use to think about the world. Now they are having to unstitch themselves from her universe, and discover where Harry Potter ends and they begin. It’s a wrench at least as big as leaving home.

The HP books are nice little stories, but they are kid's books and not the most profound kinds of kid's books. I'm not sure they can really carry the weight these people are trying to put on them. They need to read some adult fiction, which is often more complex and goes deeper, and addresses real adult problems.

I love reading good kidlit, but it's become increasingly the case that young people don't really move beyond it.

@FWRLurker

The Atlantic is the only hope left in US media I swear

Was it The Atlantic who published Jesse Singal's piece?

This was a great article. I posted it on another thread too (not as an OP, as a comment).
Me too -- on the she who will not be cancelled thread.
It's a great article.

I'm happy to say that both my kids and my SIL are vigourously GC. My daughter was actually born in 1990, and went to a very woke UK uni. She was always critical of group-think at uni, however.

She later attended a German uni and said the culture was a totally different one. The German students were far more focused on learning and less into partying, very reality oriented. Although she did have a German flatmate who "identified as non-binary". But it never became a religion and they stayed friends even after uni.

It strikes such a reasonable and considered tone. Like that letter in Harper's.