This is an excellent article. It talks about the psychology of tyranny, the history of resistance and the paths we have to take to rescue each other and recover.
I am too tired to find it right now but when the scandal broke former White House intern Dmitri Krushnic wrote an op-ed for I think the Chicago Tribune, it was a major paper, in defense of Monica Lewinsky that said, essentially, “look, we all wanted to fuck Bill Clinton.” And then later Mr. Krushnic became an actor, adopted the stage name Misha Collins, and was cast in the CW’s Supernatural.
“Official media” includes books, movies, games, theme parks, licensed merchandise, etc.
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This is gonna be a “that depends” answer that I expect tumblr isn’t going to like and it’s “am I interacting with them IRL or online”
If I’m online, specifically on tumblr, discord, twitter, bluesky etc, I can be reasonably certain that they know. (Facebook not as much, but there’s a chance depending on what circles we interact with). If I can be reasonably certain they know, then how they choose to engage with the fandom based on that knowledge is how I will judge them.
But outside of online spaces?? Y'all really overestimate how well known JKRs bigotry actually is. Most people are not as wired in as you think they are, especially if they’re over 60. My middlest kid’s favorite teacher was an avid Potterhead. She had no idea. She has been using the books to engage kids with reading for years. When I gently mentioned as an aside, “yeah, we were looking forward to introducing Harry Potter to our kids, too bad she went full mask off over on twitter,” she was shocked and alarmed, then heartbroken. She dropped HP right there and that year the kids started Percy Jackson instead.
Had a Potterhead coworker not too long ago. Older, retired career military, grandma. She had Star Wars and Disney and HP stuff all over her desk, little trinkets she collected that made her happy. She also went out of her way to make me feel supported as the newbie and an out queer person, getting my pronouns correct and aggressively correcting anyone else who didn’t. Big momma bear energy, sticking up for the underdog. I didn’t say anything about HP then, because she made it abundantly clear where her real world values lay, and dumping a bucket of cold water on something she got joy from in return seemed exceptionally cruel.
A lot of the actors in the reboot that everyone is crying to cancel didn’t know. Read an interview with John Lithgow: he literally had no idea. He’s older, he knew he really only had one last go for a big project left in him, and wanted to pick a something that could be left standing as a legacy work, so he jumped for it when HP came up. Then friends of his started giving him the full cold shoulder, and he was bewildered until he was able to get back in contact with them and ask them what was going on, and that’s when they told him. Lithgow has trans friends and family members, he loves and supports the community. He didn’t know. He didn’t know until he was already committed to the project, in the middle of filming, and now what he thought was going to be his last glory is a tarnished stain on his conscience.
So. I didn’t judge unless I know for a fact they’re aware of JKR’s awfulness, and even then, I tend to give it a pass if they’re engaging in ways that don’t generate hype or profit. We all need our crutches to get through the day.
