7/20/20 - On Jo
On its face, this is not my fight.
To those of us who have made the mistake of staying tuned into Twitter, J.K. Rowling’s recent implosion into a transphobic dumpster fire is not surprising. We have had overtures and shots across the bow indicative of Jo’s misinformed and dangerous worldview for months if not years now, and for a long time, I was content to write these off as the shitty takes of an out of touch multimillionaire. I didn’t need to publicly comment.
But, unfortunately, much like her books, J.K. Rowling is unique.
Print media is in rapid decline, and I’d be shocked if I ever see in my lifetime another books series that comes close to being as impactful as Harry Potter. It is only upon reexamination as an adult that I can recognize precisely what a big deal Potter was for me and my generation; it is an integral part of early 2000s pop culture and a formative touchstone for millions upon millions of people around the world.
And to that end, as the creator who brought this world to life, Jo Rowling still wields massive influence both as a personal figure, and as a component of international filmmaking and artistic machinery. At time of writing there are still three more Fantastic Beasts movies in the works and if and when Broadway reopens, Cursed Child will resume production in New York.
As such, her bad opinions are not just bad takes - they are to some (to millions) the words of a role model speaking truth to the power of the fictional leftist bulwark trying to suppress free speech.
Conservative and alt-right circles (all the more overlapping circles in recent years) love to champion the idea that whenever a wealthy, straight, white person holds a politically incorrect opinion and receives backlash for it, it is the machinations of some authoritarian design to suppress free thought and exploration and expression of ideas.
When in truth, we (the left) are calling you out for being a shitty person.
If you claim to be “pro-life” when it comes to abortion rights and then turn around and are willing to unnecessarily sacrifice the lives of thousands of working class people to get the economy going again, you’re being two-faced. If you claim that “all lives matter” and then work to restrict the rights of marginalized groups, you’re a bigot. If you cannot recognize the centuries of racist violence that constitutes the history of (at bare minimum) American policing, you’re being willfully ignorant.
And, if you’re an objectively rich, middle-aged straight white woman with - again - millions of Twitter followers; and you think small-fry activists on the internet coming after you for espousing language that hurts a minority is “an attack on free speech,”
You’re not just being shitty, you are actively proving your ignorance.
Yet, as I said above, this would seem not to be my fight; as a cisgendered man I personally face no direct repercussions if Rowling’s language brings bigotry and violence to bear against trans people.
Furthermore, trans people don’t need another privileged white guy claiming their struggle as theirs. That is not what I’m doing here.
This blog, and my extended online presence are still in their infancy. As we as a global community grow more and more connected, it is inevitable that I will generate more and more of a digital footprint.
As such, I would like to take the opportunity to explicitly record a few of my beliefs that I stand by, and that, moving forward, will likely be shadowed in my writing.
I am a champion of human empathy. While I have been disillusioned with a lot - a lot - of the doctrine of the Christian Church, I do still subscribe to the synthesis of the teachings of Christ: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”;
Or, put in a more modern vernacular: “Don’t be a dick.”
I go to bat for the underprivileged and marginalized; the “dark web intellectuals” and stooges of Fox News love to try and claim victimhood to make oppression seem like a balancing act, but I am here to take a stand and support racial and cultural minorities, as well as the LGBTQIA+ community. To that end I have an ironclad intolerance for white-supremacy and other discrinmation of its kind.
I believe firmly in a Brotherhood of Humanity. We share one Pale Blue Dot and we need to start acting like it. The forces of greed and hatred conspire to divide and pit the underclasses against each other while the 1% continue to try and steal what little wealth the middle and lower classes are able to accrue. I share a vision of a future where the playing field is more equal, and the machinery of our politics is not corrupted by this greed and bigotry.
I have taken a number of weeks off from writing to collect my thoughts about Rowling. I will not pretend that my heart isn’t hurt by this turn from a woman I once held in such regard.
In light of the shift in Harry Potter’s place in the culture, I have decided to bring an early end to “Potter Revisited.” In a somber way, I count myself lucky that I finished re-engaging with the main series before Rowling showed her true colors.
And yet, we move forward.
I am excited to announce my next project for this blog: a series re-examining Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s animated masterpiece Avatar: The Last Airbender.
(The pettant in me feels obliged to mention I had been planning ATLA as my second review subject long before its well-deserved resurgence in popularity from being released on Netflix).
I plan to do breakdowns of four episodes per post, posting every two weeks. I plan to cover the entirety of the original show plus the continuation comics following Team Avatar in the aftermath of the Hundred Year War. I truly couldn’t be more excited to begin this new project.
In closing… I am extremely disappointed in Jo Rowling. Do I think she is the most evil person alive? No - but I think she is repeatedly underscoring her shortcomings and doubling down on toxic and harmful talking points, and so if she ever does try to right her ship, it’ll take more than a few Twitter apologies to undo the damage she has already done.
I suppose I’m lucky I was already an adult by the time one of my (now former) idols crashed and burned like this.
Thankfully, Jo wasn’t my be-all end-all for artistic expression, and I think a diverse, rich story like ATLA will be just the shot in the arm I need to make it through this next leg of quarantine.
And I hope you join me on that journey.
“When the Fire Nation Attacked” starts August 3rd.
Till then, be well, be safe, and stay healthy,
JMC