I’m sympathetic to the tragedy of tainted nostalgia. I had a similar experience with the author of Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card. It was distressing discovering that some of the literature that raised me and became in many ways my story – not only had a corrupted source, but contained questionable themes that originated from that corruption and were always present in the work. I wouldn’t describe exposure to news about the homophobic war monger as traumatic, but I do understand the grief that comes with having to re-examine and re-contextualize childhood beliefs and memories.

At the turn of the century, it was ambiguous whether the religious right would continue to wield political power. Harry Potter’s unflappable rise in spite of theocratic pearl-clutching about witchcraft in literature gave hope that a less religiously dogmatic future was possible. In a time when scholastic book sales were flagging, JK Rowling helped millions of children to learn to love reading. You’re not only losing the good feelings associated with childhood nostalgia, but also a shibboleth to a community of agnostic people who love reading for readings’ sake. You’re not wrong to want to preserve some part of that. It’s not wrong to grieve for the parts that can’t be saved.

You’re also not a bad person for loving the literature. Fantasy is the power to imagine different lives in different worlds, a prerequisite for changing our own. I find it difficult to think of a work that does not have some suspect themes, and all authors are flawed so some degree. In a world where unparalleled success in fantasy writing didn’t give someone policy power to harm of millions of people, a conversation about Rowling’s fringe ideas about gender identity would have a very different tone. While not unique to the Wizarding World, one of the redeemable themes of that work is that individual people, each doing their own small part, can defeat an evil that is much greater than any one of them. Your small part may be to come to terms with the need to walk away.

On the other hand, your childhood experience gives you a rare power - you’re on much better footing to empathize and soften the blow to others who are at a different stage of grief with the same struggle. You’re in a much better position to weather the abuse you will receive if you stay, because you understand the place of hurt that it comes from. Harry Potter is about unexpected people rising to a challenge, and by joining the fight against JK Rowling, you are honoring the best parts of what you discovered through her literature.

I feel slightly alarmed that I need to explain this to you.

JK Rowling is traumatizing to trans people because she wants them not to exist. There’s very little trans people can do to take away JK Rowling’s power to harm them. Note that Rule 3 of [email protected] is “Don’t post negative, depressing news articles about trans issues unless there is a call to action or a way to help.” !jkrowling will be a !trans rule 3 violation community.

I imagine JK Rowling is traumatizing to you because she wants trans people to stop existing, is using your participation in her fantasy world to fuel her crusade, and the cognitive dissonance between that knowledge and the belief that you aren’t an oppressor of trans people is uncomfortable. Maybe you are comfortable with Rowling’s goal to erase transgender identities. It could be that are concerned with the growing social consensus that Harry Potter is fueling transphobic policies and propaganda, and people are catching on to your bigotry more easily because of your enthusiastic participation in the fandom. I honestly don’t know why you consider your exposure to news about JK Rowling’s politics in a HP community comparable to feelings of anger, anxiety, and depression exposure to JK Rowling news is likely to cause in a trans community.

There’s a fundamental difference between the trauma you are concerned about and the trauma I am concerned about. With the knowledge of what JK Rowling is doing, you can choose to pirate the content and encourage your friends not to give JK Rowling any more money. You can make trans-inclusive fan art of HP characters. You can choose to listen to the many trans people who have asked you to stop engaging with the franchise entirely. You can stop building your identity around her specific fantasy world. You have so much agency to deal with the trauma of knowledge. Trans people cannot stop being trans.

In your internal chat, have you come to a consensus that JK Rowling is or isn’t transphobic? What is .zip’s position on her statements?

That document is extremely vague and boilerplate for the task that you’re taking on, don’t you think?

I’m relieved Stephen Fry has seen the light.

What are your qualifications for “properly moderated” ?

Do the admins of Lemmy.zip know that you’re planning to host a community on their instance where people who are critical of JK Rowling will be censored? @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

I don’t see how creating a community on that basis and then naming it !harrypotter will not produce a safe space for transphobes. I’ve suggested a compromise in naming a Harry Potter focused community !jkisabigot, where harry potter memes and non-JK content can be redirected from !harrypotter. There are several examples of communities on Reddit like Trees, MarijuanaEnthusiasts, and Anime_titties becoming successful not just despite their name, but partially because the story their name tells.

News and criticism about JK Rowling is part of the HP fan discourse. I’ve been told to “fuck off” like I’m an outsider, like I don’t belong in the fandom because I think discussion of JK Rowling’s bigotry is more important than her stories. Places where you can enjoy HP content while avoiding Rowling criticism exist on Reddit. They don’t belong on the Fediverse.

And a !jkrowling community on lemmy.blahaj.zone is a terrible idea. Who is going to moderate it, you? Why do you think you’re qualified?

A majority trans instance doesn’t need reminders that JK Rowling exists in their local feed. If people there wanted it, they would have created the community already. I’m sure @[email protected] has good intentions, but the existence of that community will only be used as an excuse to push Rowling criticism away from where it needs to be seen; by people actively consuming HP content.

Fucking DOGE.

Think off-brand Michael Meyers mask.

I’m on board with this kind of content.

No worries. Why did you think this was spam?

I do have moderator experience and I am interested with working with you to make communities that aren’t safe spaces for bigots. I can help you mod [email protected] and [email protected] - but I don’t support creating a separate community to direct discussion of JK Rowling away from the Harry Potter community. That places news about HP’s toxic social side effects where it is easily ignored, and makes !hp a safe space for bigots.

I think directing JK Rowling discussion from !jkisabigot to !harrypotter and HP memes from !hp to !jkisabigot is hilarious. People who join the Fediverse and look for a Harry Potter community will probably come to !harrypotter first and experience a sorting hat of sorts. If they’re not a bigot, and they learn that actual Harry Potter literature discussion happens in !jkisabigot, and !harrypotter is for the latest news on JK Rowling’s hate campaigns, they’ll get the joke. If they endorse JK Rowling’s ideology, it will send the not so subtle message that maybe the Fediverse isn’t for them.

All of Lemmy doesn’t need to constantly hear about JK Rowling and her evil. People who are supporting her directly need to know.

It sounds like you feel you’re the victim because you’re concerned you won’t be able to enjoy Harry Potter on Lemmy without being reminded that your enjoyment is ruining the lives of others. Would you say that’s accurate?

it derails the actual focus of the community.

What is the actual focus of the community? I’ve already suggested creating another community that explicitly acknowledges how bad JK Rowling is, and posting memes there. So it sounds like you’re saying the actual focus of the community is enjoying Harry Potter along with people who explicitly support JK Rowling’s ongoing campaign to harm trans people, while censoring people who support human rights. Why can’t you enjoy Harry Potter memes in an alternate community called !jkisabigot or something similar?

Happy Pride!

Cast all the good roles for transgender actors and actresses exclusively. Cast a JK lookalike as Dolores Umbridge.

In another thread, they’re discussing suppressing posts like this in the future.

It is the most active, has the most active subscribers, has an active mod. It’s also the only one considering suppressing news about how increasing the cultural value of Harry Potter is funding hate.

On Reddit, the Joe Rogan subreddit organically developed into a forum for trashing Joe Rogan. I think it’s embarrassing that the most popular JK Rowling community on the Fediverse isn’t dedicated to exclusively reporting on her quest to dehumanize and erase trans people.

There are plenty of places where discussion of her abhorrent views are either suppressed, or allowed to exist alongside fun memes about the work that funds her vendetta against women. If there is any uplifting moral message contained in those books, then the primary community for Harry Potter on the Fediverse should exist to lead a revolt against the author.

June is Pride month, and Rowling has announced her intention to use her fortune to escalate attacks on trans people. I’m surprised there are people who think we should be discussing anything else here but that. I know people love sharing uplifting HP memes, maybe a separate community can be created for that purpose. We could call it !slytherinmemes or !umbridgesoffice to highlight how evil it is to continue to fund her work, or !jkrownlingisatransphobe or !jkrowlingisabigot to play on the ironic meme common in community namespaces like /r/marijuanaenthusiasts being about arboriculture while /r/trees is about marijuana.

I love the meme is based on the tarot art of 7 of swords carrying swords and the 9 of swords mounted on the wall, and is consistent with the number of items collected increasing from left to right :)