by laika. » Sun Feb 12, 2023 1:07 pm
Removing old post
Nope, cannot support here.
I am a nonbinary/trans-masc person, who grew up with Harry Potter as my childhood. I have all the first print edition books, and very very fond memories of the series as a whole, as well as a large hyper fixation on Harry Potter in general due to my autism. Now I'm not some chronically online dude, nor do I live under a rock. It took until Hogwarts Legacy was released for me to find out about Rowling's views, ones I clearly don't support or agree with. Yes, I try to not support her in any way I can. However, I will actively choose to support small businesses that have Harry Potter themed merchandise by purchasing the merchandise.
I see no issue in remebering something fondly as a child. I read warrior cats, I don't regret reading warrior cats. I didn't know anything about social media when I was that age, nor did I know much else other than 'cool, a cat adventure book with four clans like Harry Potter!'. I also partook in purchasing Minecraft when Notch still owned it. All I thought was 'ooh block game, I like' so there's not really much to say about supporting/not supporting nostalgic memories. While I may or may not purchase Hogwarts Legacy, I will still play on the amazingly created Hogwarts Story Maps on minecraft. There's just so many ways to like a single topic, without giving money to the original creator. And even if I do decide to purchase the game, it's not because I support her views in any way.
Besides, censoring someone/something due to the actions of a singular person/something sounds a lot like what Rowling is trying to do, does it not? That's not bringing into the ethicality and morality of the conversation, especially when it revolves around civil rights. The policy of blocking a well-loved children's subject on a children's website due to ideas and terminology that a children may or may not know or understand is completely against my standards as a person. To my knowledge, a big part of the Harry Potter community (I'm mostly speaking on fanfiction websites, I don't own an active tumblr so I cannot comment on that side of things) have the exact opposite views of Rowling, including having a massive following for two different gay pairings over all the cishet pairings in the book series.
I don't feel like I'm a valid person to come to for both the religious and racial side of the books, as I am nonreligious nor a person of color. It wouldn't be my place to say anything other than how wrong and disgusting it is for her to bring in antisemitic views to a children's book series, and how she really could have been better at naming characters. Also Kingsley Shacklebolt does also become the Minister of Magic, in The Dealthly Hallows series. I can absolutely agree that she could have given the characters better names.
Last edited by
laika. on Wed Apr 24, 2024 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.