The Witch Trials of JK Rowling

[CrossPurposes]

An in-depth intervietw with JK Rowling by Megan Phelps-Roper coming next week: twitter.com/meganphelps/status/1625465141046247425?s=20

Somebody did a thread rounding up some of the appalling abuse the rev has been getting just for admitting listening to this. Even knowing what Twitter is like, it was still horrifying. Just for listening to an investigative podcast with an open mind. I hope a) he was to some extent steeled for it and b) doesn't resort to a swift delete and recant. These bullies have to be stood up to now.

I also hope he stands firm against the bullies.

He can’t be so naive as to think he can post something positive about the Witch Trials podcast without being cancelled! Surely he’ll have given it some careful thought, knowing that anything less than outright condemnation of JKR would attract a stinging rebuke from TQ+ activists.

I'm so glad Richard Coles has dipped a toe in the water of the debate. I've always liked him. Now he no longer works for the BBC I guess he can say what he wants. Whether he is willing to do more than dip a toe is something we'll have to wait and see but this is a hopeful start.

Richard coles HAS dipped a toe in before. The tweet hastag was something like,, ruin a film in o e line. Rev coles tweeted 'my name is bond, James bond and my pronouns are he/ him'

Hilaire!! And relatively harmless. But he did get a huge backlash and I think apologised, I remember tweeting about it myself.

Such a gentle, kind, empathetic funny man, deeply involved in gay culture, very clever. I hope he has understood the assignment......

I remember that now! Very funny, but in a characteristically gentle way.

Shame the humourless gender borgs got at him. You'd think even they could have seen that it wasn't a joke about transgenderism but about the clash between the very macho, sexist persona of James Bond and the modern convention of giving one's pronouns. But then these people are very stupid.

He's thanked the Tweeter who put up the thread highlighting the abuse he has been getting so I think he is fully aware of the "consequences" and, hopefully, won't back down.

He inspired me to listen to Episodes 6 and 7, having only listened to E5 before, it’s so good, so thoughtful. Now I must listen to Episodes 1-4!

Let’s hope the Rev. Coles is one of those gay men who sees the inherent homophobia in transing children, who are more likely to be gender stereotype non-conforming lesbian or gay children.

When Richard Coles was interviewed on BBC Hard Talk he came across as very clever, wise, thoughtful and has clearly done a lot of thinking about gayness and gay rights. As you'd expect really, in his shoes. He's also as a man of the church very familiar with dogma. I would be surprised if he's naive about this.

Surely, there’s got to be a more intellectually coherent contrasting opinion to Witch Trials than one of Contrapoints dressing-up box videos

Don't think so!

👍😁

There was retweet of Reverend Coles with the line no T vicar? Which really tickled me!

I have now binged the podcast. It articulated a lot for me - like the authoritarianism, what would it take to change you mind? And I've finally learned what straw man means. And hasn't megan got a wonderful radio voice?

Can't remember if I've already said this but Megan Phelps-Roper's autobiography with family / church history "Unfollow" is well worth reading. It stands with Edmund Gosse's "Father and Son" as an account of growing up in a narrow extreme religious ideology convinced of its own rightness. Her ethical approach and her own open mindedness are inspiring.

And her inside story of the Westboro Baptist Church, the role of women and the power struggle in the church makes for fascinating feminist reading.

There is an epilogue for this podcast due very soon. I'm looking forward to it very much! I thought it was an excellent series.

Megan Phelps-Roper talks about the whole series here with Chris Williamson, including the epilogue.

Thanks for the link, very interesting!

I listened to a few episodes of The Witch Trials of JKR, all out of order, starting with “The Tweet” episode… but can’t remember which ones I haven’t yet heard!

Now I also want to watch the Contrapoints video - tried at the time but thought they droned on incredibly annoyingly, and I couldn’t take 2 hours of it.

I wouldn't bother with Contrapoints - their take says nothing new and even at faster playing speed it is a waste of too much time.

OK! Thanks.

Reviving this thread to flag up a new two-parter that reflects on this series and what has happened since.

Contributions from Helen Lewis, trans teen Noah who featured in some episodes, and Contrapoints (that could be interesting given the stink CP kicked up in the aftermath last time). Haven't listened yet but link yo first ep here:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/reflector/id1743666262?i=1000660897417

Hmm, sounds like it could be a stitch up job.

“Two of listeners’ favorite guests from the original series: Natalie and Noah” - that level of kiss-assery is quite telling. Favourite guests? Natalie’s breathy fake laydee voice made me angry, and Noah made me sad.

I guess I’ll reserve ultimate judgement until I listen but the blurb - and they fact they decided to revisit in the first place - looks like they want to appease.

HL is a snake too 😅

Whatever happened to the epilogue?

This isn’t new, it came out in Feb 2023, i loved it.

@Bunty2727 it's an update I think

Yes it is an update.

Part 1 is much as expected.
Part II is just out and covers the views of trans activists as time has gone on, incl a take down of Megan by Contrapoints (who refused to be on). There is a lot of mention of bigots and bigotry 😬 which renders the words meaningless.

@Jellycats4life why is Helen Lewis a snake exactly?