Ian McEwan: JK Rowling’s views are not worth death threats The Atonement author has defended fellow writer Rowling

[WandaWomblesaurus]

archive.ph/DOaFl

In the telegraph

Sorry about the shonky title text!

Hmmm.
’Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, he said: "The culture seems to have forgotten how to disagree, often threatening death against figures like JK Rowling, on issues about which they could be having discussions,
“They have got to be worked out, yes, but are hardly worth a death threat.”’

That reads to me like he still thinks she’s wrong and needs to be taken to task, just death is going a bit far.
I am not sure he has said anything very brave there unless we assume that everyone else thinks death threats are entirely appropriate.

That reads to me like he still thinks she’s wrong and needs to be taken to task

Why's that a problem? His point is that the debate has become polarised, and that a dialogue needs to happen? Aren't you just proving his point?

Patronising arsehole

He’s a nasty piece of work, his attitude towards women in some of his books is very unpleasant. He probably can see that the tide is turning, so he’s rowing back his public statements a bit.

Yes. I don't think whether or not McEwan agrees with Rowling is the point. Nor is whether nor not he's a nice guy - I have no idea. The point for me, is that he defends her right to speak.

He also stood up for Salman Rushdie as I recall, so hardly jumping on a bandwagon.

It's odd wording isn't it. But hadn't he already defended her once before or am I imagining that?
I liked Atonement.

Yes, he has
Can’t remember when or where though

Agreed. I have no idea what he's like as a person or what he's previously said on this issue, but I can't fault the views he has expressed at the Cheltenham Literature Festival as reported in this article.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8777531/JK-Rowling-receives-support-Ian-McEwan-Griff-Rhys-Jones-amid-transphobia-row.html
He signed the open letter in 2020.
I really rate his books and have no idea what these unpleasant attitudes are supposed to be.

The fact is that issuing threats is usually a cover-up for people having no argument worth advancing. We see this with Putin in Ukraine and all such dictators. We know that many of these pressure groups have no logical arguments so they issue threats

McEwan's a pusillanimous attention seeker. Mentioning JKR ensured that his appearance at Cheltenham got reported (because frankly he's well over the hill these days) but he was careful to remain neutral in order to avoid coming under attack.

Grace Lavery called for a debate and then cancelled. No TW would go on Woman's Hour to debate with any woman who held an opposing view. The BBC has consistently tried to kill off debate, as has the Guardian. There are loads of other examples I can't remember right now. It's not JKR or anyone on this side of the fence who's refusing to debate.

McEwan's comment is very much along the line of we're all as bad as each other and 'if we'd only talk to each other...' Totally disingenuous.