Students wittering on about JK Rowling today

[SocialConnection]

I'm sitting in a cafe unavoidably hearing a table of students, two girls and a boy, about 17, wittering on about how they could possibly justify going to some Harry Potter event while not benefiting JK Rowling.

Because obviously she's transphobic, but ...

What did she actually say? Well, something about ... um ...

But ya, she's transphobic ...

Clearly none of them have actually read what she has written, over several years

All of them scrabbling to Say The Right Thing, both girls agreeing with the boy that of course anyone who thinks they are a woman IS a woman, ya, obvs, absolutely

And all desperately wanting to go to the Harry Potter thing

None of them daring to use their brains or say anything that steps outside the set barriers

I find myself feeling sorry for this generation of young people being brainwashed, and that even includes the Sussex Uni mob.

Sadly my 20yo dd is just the same as is her boyfriend. Really hate JK Rowling now and obviously think I'm Terfy when I defend her. They're still off to Harry Potter studios soon though.

I think I’d have been sorely tempted to pull up JKR’s statement on my phone and offer the students £10 if they could find a single transphobic sentence in it!
But I’m just an evil terfy bigot mean old radfem..

This lot are all using the 'we can separate the artist from the art' defence as a get out clause.

They are all terrified of stepping out of line while still wanting the thing they really love (they are still really young) and desperately trying to find a way to seem acceptable too.

I've never been in a real life conversation about this, but I'm getting ready - I think

asking rather than telling may well be the best way to deal with these fixed mindsets.

'When you read her articles, over the last few years, what were her actual statements about trans people?'

'What did she actually say?'

'What do you feel about what trans women, including X and X and X, have said in her favour?'

I'm practicing NOT saying what I think, because that makes people double down on what they think or feel they have to think.

What did she actually say? Well, something about ... um ...But ya, she's transphobic .
This is so disturbing to me. They don't even know why she is considered unacceptable to support but they have to agree with the witch hunt anyway.

I was in Porto at half term and visited the book shop that inspired Hogwarts Library - after a very long wait in a very long queue full of children and young people. I did not mind waiting, the long queue to see the place that inspired their favourite author made me feel very happy.

I've come across young people like those you describe, OP. I think there's a small part of their being that knows its all bullshit. JKR has been compared to the worst dregs of humanity, a genocidal monster. Going to an event that celebrates her most famous work should be anathema to them and induce a visceral desire to stay well away. That they really, really want to go and see her brilliant work, clearly written by someone with a beautiful heart, shows you that they know what they have been told has no substance. I have wondered why JKR hasn't more vocal and legally defended herself after all the lies thrown at her and her famous essay. I think she's quietly waiting for all these lost boys and girls to finish their adventure in Batshit Neverland and finally come home.

@QueenSue

What did she actually say? Well, something about ... um ...But ya, she's transphobic . This is so disturbing to me. They don't even know why she is considered unacceptable to support but they have to agree with the witch hunt anyway.

It's certainly indoctrinated them into unquestioning thought totalism and living in a society restricted by authoritarianism.

'I think she's quietly waiting for all these lost boys and girls to finish their adventure in Batshit Neverland and finally come home.'

I think this is lovely. She's made her statement and she's now waiting it out.

She leaves a door open. In everything I've read by her, there's always a way back, and those who return are welcomed home.

wanting the thing they really love (they are still really young)

This applies more widely too. A lot of the undergraduate-age TRAs are so lacking in worldly experience. It sounds tiresomely patronising, but actually when people my age were their age we may have been idiots, but we had more “real world” experience. So much harm is being caused by the online/social media focus (obv I appreciate the irony of making this point online, but I’m allowed to be a bit hypocritical).

When these kids actually do grow up a bit — face real world discrimination; have kids of their own — they’ll change their tune.

@SocialConnection

'I think she's quietly waiting for all these lost boys and girls to finish their adventure in Batshit Neverland and finally come home.'

I think this is lovely. She's made her statement and she's now waiting it out.

JKR is the embodiment of a golden bridge for everyone who loves her and has been persuaded to think ill of her.

I admire her stoicism and dignity so much.

DD is 16 and vaguely GC, she loves Harry Potter and JK. But she is debating a specific Xmas present, if she asks for this thing (that is HP), she can't tell anyone at school what she got for Christmas, as there is a hardcore group of students that push gender identity and she will be ostracised. They are the elite Oxbridge candidates, so hold the school to ransom over this stuff. The school library no longer holds any JK Rowling themed events (they used to do a lot). It's absolutely insane.

I've found that the less you the say..the more curious they get, until they actually read what she said. Young people do have a latent respect for their elders that you need to tease out.

If I overheard anything I'd simply say "honestly, everyone over about 25 agrees with JKR. Your time will come...." making them feel a bit childish and wanting look up what she said to understand why people with more life experience agree with her..

Usually teen years were all about making terrible fashion choices. All you have to worry about is showing your kids the embarrassing pics and explaining why that silver painted Jean jumpsuit goes well with those pink Jordan’s and why you decided to contour your face to look like an alien.

These teens will have their entire tweet history and Instagram feed to explain.

And. I.Cannot.Wait.

I am definitely going to be there with my popcorn calling these little smug brats out for their nonsense..

Remember when on Nov 3, 2021 when you tweeted…. (Checks notes)…. Something extremely stupid about JKR being a trans phobe? Something about women having a penis. Something about men can have a period? Still don’t remember that? (Checks second and third page of notes)… how about on this date when you posted this video on tik tok about men being able to breastfeed and that men are able to give birth? Would you like tk see that video.. I enter into evidence … you get where I’m going.

The entire generation might die of embarrassment. I hope someone makes a Netflix series about how they humiliated themselves and speak to some of them as adults explaining how stupid and silly and misled they all had been.

I as a member of the hated millennial generation will then sit my child down to watch it as a cautionary tale. Don’t be like gen z… do you want to be embarrassed like gen z?

I am looking forward to being an old woman and being able to say one day “I told you so”.

Ah give them a break, they’re only 17 and desperate to “fit in”. 17 year olds don’t really know what they believe, they just know it’s the zeitgeist and say what they think will be favourable. I’m sure I must have said tons of wanky statements in my teen / early 20s when in reality most people don’t have a clue about anything like that until early - mid twenties, in my experience.

My flatmates are like this. I love them dearly but they might just irritate me to death at this point. One of them genuinely had no idea what she’d said, but assumed it must be terribly evil based on the response and just went along with it. When I asked him if he’d read her essay (obviously not) and told him I wholeheartedly agreed with her, he had the decency to look a bit ashamed of himself.

It’s quite nice to be thought of as a moral authority though, I think I must come across as very woke.

Marshmallow
It's like the drama student telling Prof Winston that he'd got the science wrong on Question Time. I wonder, just how embarrassed she'll be in 10 years time.

If I overheard anything I'd simply say "honestly, everyone over about 25 agrees with JKR. Your time will come...." making them feel a bit childish and wanting look up what she said to understand why people with more life experience agree with her..

The problem is this isn't true.

I'm in my mid 30s and I have many, many acquaintances my age or older who think she's an unforgivable bigot. I'm only just older than Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, and we all know what they said.

Maybe if you said 'almost everyone over 40' you might be right but then I don't think that would make them feel childish, it would make them feel young and relevant and think you were out of touch (which is undoubtedly what they already think).

I love watching people tangle themselves up in knots to justify them having anything to do with the HP franchise.

One wokebro is a dad of primary school aged kids and his words were along the lines of I know JK Rowling is a transphobe but the books have encouraged my kids to read. There have since been numerous posts with pictures of the kids at the Harry Potter shop every time they go to London to visit family.

Either stand by your convictions and don't buy HP goods or shut up.

Ah give them a break, they’re only 17 and desperate to “fit in”. 17 year olds don’t really know what they believe, they just know it’s the zeitgeist and say what they think will be favourable.

I do despite the fact that I was working full time to support my widowed mother and younger siblings when I was a teenager.

I recently had the interesting experience of talking to someone whose father was the captain of a submarine at the age of 21. My MiL's recently deceased partner was 18 when he was part of D Day.

I'm pleased that today's teenagers in the UK largely don't have to consider such matters. As above, I hugely admire JKR for not losing faith in the readership who grew up with her and from whom they learned something about standing up to bullies, having strong principles, and resisting authoritarianism. JKR is trusting them to come good and is keeping that golden bridge open for them; I'd like to think her trust is well placed.

@Gingerkittykat

I love watching people tangle themselves up in knots to justify them having anything to do with the HP franchise.

One wokebro is a dad of primary school aged kids and his words were along the lines of I know JK Rowling is a transphobe but the books have encouraged my kids to read. There have since been numerous posts with pictures of the kids at the Harry Potter shop every time they go to London to visit family.

Either stand by your convictions and don't buy HP goods or shut up.

Haha yes, agreed.

My favourites are the ones with HP tattoos.

Millennials are the victims of Group Think. It’s tedious.

Don’t they teach critical thinking at school anymore? Or philosophy?

Even when DS was little(ish) I remember him having to create a ‘for’ and ‘against’ poster for ‘should children be given the vote’ and ‘should prisoners be allowed to smoke in their cells’ and having to write a wee essay on the topics at school. He’s an argumentative little bugger though.

@NoThankYouSaurus

I was in Porto at half term and visited the book shop that inspired Hogwarts Library - after a very long wait in a very long queue full of children and young people. I did not mind waiting, the long queue to see the place that inspired their favourite author made me feel very happy.

I've come across young people like those you describe, OP. I think there's a small part of their being that knows its all bullshit. JKR has been compared to the worst dregs of humanity, a genocidal monster. Going to an event that celebrates her most famous work should be anathema to them and induce a visceral desire to stay well away. That they really, really want to go and see her brilliant work, clearly written by someone with a beautiful heart, shows you that they know what they have been told has no substance. I have wondered why JKR hasn't more vocal and legally defended herself after all the lies thrown at her and her famous essay. I think she's quietly waiting for all these lost boys and girls to finish their adventure in Batshit Neverland and finally come home.

This is gorgeous. Thank you.

@EnrouteNOTonroute

Ah give them a break, they’re only 17 and desperate to “fit in”. 17 year olds don’t really know what they believe, they just know it’s the zeitgeist and say what they think will be favourable. I’m sure I must have said tons of wanky statements in my teen / early 20s when in reality most people don’t have a clue about anything like that until early - mid twenties, in my experience.

I am sure I said a lot of wanky statements too, but I am pretty sure that none of them involved explicit outright misogyny and homophobia whilst claiming to be progressive.

I think it's going to be a lot harder to deal with down the line than just embarrassment about what they said or thought as teens or students. Many of their peer group will have had irreversible surgery, puberty blockers and hormones which they have unquestioningly cheered on. When a beloved writer gently asked them to pause and think about the other factors that might be driving teenagers and even children to want to 'identify out' of themselves, and what the lifelong results of a drastic decision taken at a very young age will be, they turned on her rabidly.