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

Here's a remarkable review of the podcast from The Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-witch-trials-of-jk-rowling-review-a-fascinating-interview-buried-in-digression-jrk9rjnx9

(You can find it as an archived version, for example at archive dot fo.)

The author, James Marriott who often in his writings for The Times comes across as a bit of a weasel, goes out of his way to miss the point of the series, in order that he can deliver a bit of a snidey kicking. The clue is in the title of the podcast: The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, ie it's about the contexts within which at one point JKR was being attacked by the evangelical Right, and now some years down the line she's getting attacked by the identity-driven progressive Left. When the evangelical Right and the progressive Left are sworn enemies. (There's also a very interesting side show that perhaps isn't in the series: JKR might actually have more to fear in terms of her physical safety from the progressive Left.) Marriott isn't interested in the contexts and wants something that's shorter with more of it being interviews of JKR. But that is only a part of what the series is about.

Overall a petty and spiteful reivew.

Here's another JKR supporter as collateral damage:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11790813/JK-Rowling-supporter-steps-55m-company-founded-Spitfire-Audio-amid-trans-row.html

A Bafta-nominated composer who publicly supported JK Rowling's divisive views on gender has stepped down from the £55.1 million company he founded after he was hounded by LGBTQI+ activists.
...

Furious pro-trans activists slammed the comments and lashed out at Spitfire executives, sparking an apology from CEO Will Evans and an announcement that Mr Henson would be 'taking a break' from the business. Last night, Mr Henson said: 'As an original founder I am deeply saddened that Spitfire and Pianobook has become embroiled in something it has no involvement with.

Is there no legal route, for people hounded and harassed and calumniated like this? The TRA zealots are delighted with their power and couldn't give a damn that they may put dozens of people out of work. It just proves that their "most marginalised, most discriminated against" propaganda is bullshit, from top to bottom.

Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear that. I do wonder about legal options. It's disgraceful that someone can be subjected to something like that. It's nothing but bullying on a grand scale.

A bit off topic but nice to see Evanna Lynch being a bit more nuanced than previously…

“I was very naive when I was dragged into that conversation,” she says. “I didn’t even know there were two sides. I had a view of, like, good and bad. I do have compassion for both sides of the argument. I know what it was like to be a teenager who hated my body so much I wanted to crawl out of my skin, so I have great compassion for trans people and I don’t want to add to their pain.

“I understand being too triggered to be able to have a conversation. If you put me in a room with one of my doctors who treated me in the past, ooh, I’d kick off. Like, I would want to scream and yell names.

“I do also think it’s important that JK Rowling has been amplifying the voices of detransitioners. I had this impulse to go, ‘Let’s all just stop talking about it’, and I think probably I’m a bit braver now about having uncomfortable conversations.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/harry-potters-evanna-lynch-jk-rowling-has-always-advocated-vulnerable/

Another review of the podcast from the Times stable, this time from The Sunday Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-witch-trials-of-jk-rowling-the-author-hits-back-at-the-haters-kgq7x7hbx

A much more grown up review than the one I linked to above by someone (this time a woman) who listened to the podcast in terms of what it was setting out to do and the review is about how that went. Far better than reading a review where you get the sense that the author is trying to score points.

Thanks, nauticant - that's an interesting review:

Online, there seems to be a presumption that this podcast will be more sympathetic to Rowling’s perspective on gender, but Potter apostates should at least try listening without prejudice.

“We should distrust ourselves most when we are certain,” Rowling says at one point, which struck me as exactly the kind of cautionary advice her critics claim she has jettisoned. This is shaping up to be riveting.

Archived copy here: archive.ph/IVACL

I listened to the first two yesterday on a long drive - they were excellent. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

Third episode is out, just in time for my commute!

I have meetings this morning (apart from this quick MN break 😜) so will hopefully catch up on Ep3 this afternoon.

Well worth it - the growth of fandom and online communities this week.

I agree. I'd already written a summary but then got distracted:

That's the longest episode so far and has little content of JKR speaking. It's actually about how the cultures on the Internet of tribes, bullying, and cancelling came about. It feeds into the overall theme of the series: what happened to result in JKR being subject to a witchhunt from both the evangelical Right and the progressive Left. I found it really interesting but then I appreciate learning more about the bigger picture of "how did we get here?" rather than who said what and when.

It works well as a companion piece to the previous episode looking at the evangelical Right.

Thanks! Thought I'd subscribed, but didn't get a notification. Anyway, that's tonight's listening sorted.

Really enjoying this, it's so well done and I agree that all the background info is interesting.

It's funny as well that people have been saying her book The Ink Black Heart is all about her recent experiences on twitter, but from the sounds of this it's more based on some of her previous experiences online.

This is all going fantastically with the new book I'm reading at the moment, "What's Our Problem" by Tim Urban (author of the blog Wait But Why).

I got the impression reading The Ink Black Heart that JKR really knew her stuff when it came to the internet, and I mean way beyond Twitter. The stuff about “spoonie” communities was particularly accurate. Not surprised at all to hear she knew so much about Tumblr. Great episode.

Yeach, thought the way they summarised all the tumblr stuff was very useful. The idea that all this terminology/ideology was essentially the creation of a bunch of teenage girls reacting to 4chan misogynist edgelords - makes everything make more sense.

Yeach = yeah! Or yes, if we don't want to be vulgar!

Finding the social history of different internet communities absolutely fascinating. Is 4Chan the thing that then led into kiwifarms in some way?

Yes, fascinating stuff and the more I listen, the more I understand why Megan Phelps-Roper is so uniquely placed to see the big picture on this and recognise the parallels.
The recording of men screaming 'burn in hell' outside feminist meetings at the end... she must have heard that and felt such a shock of recognition. It's all very Westboro.

Fascinating the way that so much is being brought together - a really thoughtful and insightful series. Brava to Megan for such a brilliant approach to a difficult subject.

There’s one point in ep. 3 where they have a transwoman talking about tumblr, who says

“For a lot of young, queer people, engaging in this imaginative play about all the possibilities of gender was a way for them to experiment with different imaginative possibilities or what is possible with gender”

I mean… what??! What does that even mean? Isn’t that basically saying the same thing twice in one sentence without really saying anything at all? I listened to it several times and even wrote it down, and it almost sounds like the equivalent of saying “for a lot of young football fans, engaging in this imaginative play about how to play football was a way for them to imagine how to play football.”

Loving this . Thought it was interesting that The Times first gave it a lukewarm review saying it digressed ( totally missing the point as it was giving detailed context) .. it has now issued a new positive podcast review. I see the podcast is riding high in the charts, rightly so. It's great to hear from J.K. but also in more of a longer form narrative that Meghan so skilfully delivers. The usual click bait, small morsels of mainstream media replaced with a nuanced, thoughtful argument . Well done to both

Oops sorry @nauticant should have read your post first !

I was very interested in Natalie Wynne's (aka Contrapoints) comments. I can't remember the exact phrasing but it was around how people use social media to reinforce their own beliefs and ignore what the other side is saying. Something like that.
Contrapoints has been fairly highly rated in my pretty left wing circles, but this is the exact reason I have little time for them. Every video that Wynne has made about JKR/terfs/GC is an exercise in strawmen. I've never seen any of our points actually answered. It's all snarkily responding to bad faith interpretations of what we've said.
I'd be interested to see if the podcast goes into that later, but that part of it did make me roll my eyes a little.

I'm just listening now and haven't got to that bit, but have already seen Contrapoints on social media claiming they were misled into taking part/ misrepresented/ Megan's a meanie - a load of bollocks I'm sure - to try and avoid any flack and try to control the narrative (as TRAs are wont)

I have little time for Contrapoints' meretricious content. Style over substance.