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I mean it's like I said. She doesn't hate the way you or I would hate. When most people hate someone or something, there is some sort of external stimulus that causes the hatred as a response. It may or may not be rational or justified, and the person in question may or may not be conscious of it, but generally speaking the animus is literally reactionary. I hate fascists because of the things they say and do, for example. For Rowling and the rare few hatemongers of her ilk, the hate precedes the stimuli. It's hatred in search of an outlet. The hate was always there. She did not encounter a transperson or learn about them, feel a bit of confusion and revulsion, and then recontextualize those feelings as hate. She hated and then found an outlet that permitted her to express that hate without (all of) society viewing her as a deranged psychopath. Like, again, I guarantee you if she was born a generation earlier she'd have been on about overly butch lesbians or homosexuals in general, and if she was born a bit earlier than that, it would be black people. She's just not a complete moron so she knows how to frame her hatred as 'just asking questions' and concern for others. But notice as time has gone on she's increasingly dropped both pretenses, because they were never real to begin with. Her hate, again, is not an irrational and immoral response to anything in either reality or even fantasy. It was something long festering inside of her - whether that's due to some innate personality defect/mental illness, or life turning her into a bitter monster I neither know nor particularly care - that slowly but surely seeped its way out as her wealth and power freed her more and more from the shackles of social behavior.
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Oct 2, 2025 16:03
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You think that that is also why she keeps trying to pull the ladder up behind her and try to deny poor people the same privilege she had access to?
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Oct 2, 2025 16:07
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Yes. Like I think she's up there with Trump in some ways, as I said, in that I think you have a unique miasma of personality defects/mental illness/whatever and external societal diseases melding and fusing together to create something that otherwise not merely would not exist, but could not. Like under normal circumstances a person with Trump's unique collection of mental illnesses and personality defects would be dead, imprisoned, or forced to adopt the semblance of humanity well before reaching middle age. And they certainly would never receive a hit of narcissistic supply as high as becoming the most powerful human being on the planet. Twice. Kind of the same to an extent with Rowling. I don't think her issues are quite as debilitating as Trump's would normally be - he is a sociopath who was raised to be a psychopath, among other things - but under any normal circumstances she'd just be most likely a bitter and angry recluse people avoid and hate dealing with. Objectivism is sociopathy masquerading as philosophy. Fascism is psychopathy masquerading as politics. And we've normalized and mainstreamed both of those things. Basically we straight up live in a literally insane time where severe antisocial personalities are considered not aberrations to be segregated or cured, but rather aspirational. EDIT: And just to clarify, obviously in every society at every point in human history, wealth and power were shields from societal consequence. To an extent. You have always, more or less, had men who thought and to an extent behaved as Elon Musk and especially Rowling. The issue is they would usually hide it behind some veneer of respectability and/or they would be the black sheep shames of their families. Openly acting like the current crop of elitist ghouls was emphatically never really normal or normalized. You are, obviously, always going to have assholes, bigots, and other antisocial jackasses. Society can minimize their numbers, but it can never eliminate them entirely; some people are just dicks. But, again, what's different is that society no longer considers them aberrant and so they no longer feel the need to pretend to be anything other than what they are. Rowling's journey over the last 20 years has been one of revelation, not of transformation or radicalization. RoboChrist 9000 fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Oct 2, 2025 |
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Oct 2, 2025 16:12
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From the beginning of her work she had that sort of small-mindedness where her idea of a respectable person is very narrow, and a mean streak where she would ridiculize characters who failed to meet that norm, but at the time people rationalized it as a Dahl-esque quirk of her writing where of course this is a fairy tale where the bad guys are either ugly or handsome in the wrong way, etc. She also very quickly built her personal mythos as this rags-to-riches, common sense Blairite mentor for her fans. So obviously anyone who had it harder, or is further left (remember "Corbyn is not Dumbledore"?), or is a weirdo in way she doesn't like is a potential threat to her self-image. Add to that the usual brainworms you get from becoming a beloved rich celebrity, plus the general transphobia of her milieu (which is the main factor here - she's not unique), plus whatever genuine personal trauma she has, plus social media polarization, and you get an explosive cocktail.
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Oct 2, 2025 16:54
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She seems just incredibly petty, like when she sued a personal assistant who used their expense account for personal stuff when it was a drop in the bucket money wise for her. Sure fire them but she personally wouldn't ever notice missing the money.
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Oct 2, 2025 19:18
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YaketySass posted:(remember "Corbyn is not Dumbledore"?) I don't remember this, but I do remember her comparing trump to voldemort
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Oct 2, 2025 20:10
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Should I send this thread to the halloween forum for the halloween period?
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Oct 2, 2025 20:22
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josh04 posted:Should I send this thread to the halloween forum for the halloween period? It's not really a spooky series and the thread is mostly just talking about how JK Rowling is a hateful bitch, so I think it would bring down the vibes of that forum.
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Oct 2, 2025 20:37
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An insane mind posted:Huh. How? Genuinely. Like I'm an otherwise cis dude that just...really doesn't want anything to do with sex. But it's like, as long as people don't ask me about my preference, it's not something I talk about. The amount of weird looks I get from other dudes is enough hassle. I'm not looking to bother women about it... Her lovely tweet about asexuals was in response to Asexual Awareness Day and she got mad that such a thing exists because she doesn’t think they are oppressed enough to deserve one and that they are taking attention away from the actual oppressed group, rich white cishet women. I’m not sure if she thinks asexuality is simply made up or if she groups them in with the mental illness crowd. But it’s definitely a way to undermine queer people in general and she’s going after the easy targets. She’s also started to make disparaging remarks against cis women and girls who are a bit gender nonconforming. I absolutely expect her to start raging against cis queer people, especially women, in a few years time.
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Oct 2, 2025 20:48
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Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she bite down hard on that Algerian boxer that got an Olympic medal and a bunch of people accused of being trans, because, you know, hard core Islamic governments are super into trans rights.
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Oct 2, 2025 21:25
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Air Skwirl posted:Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she bite down hard on that Algerian boxer that got an Olympic medal and a bunch of people accused of being trans, because, you know, hard core Islamic governments are super into trans rights. Yeah she absolutely did. Khelif was misgendered based literally solely on internet transvestigation bullshit and a highly suspect and curiously timed disqualification from a Russian boxing tournament after that tournament had already tested and okayed her, but later changed their mind once she beat a Russian boxer lol. Then she doubled down after Khelif filed her lawsuit with some insanely weak “oh she’s just wearing makeup and fooled the stupid Olympics committee who refuse to DNA test people” again based on literally not a shred of good evidence other than “to my white old lady eyes she doesn’t look like a woman” (gee I loving wonder if non-white women have been facing that particular bit of well documented insult for literal centuries because “femininity” equals “looking as much like a dainty white woman as possible”)
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Oct 2, 2025 22:48
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I don't know where Terry Pratchett was sitting financially at the time of his death - Rowling knocked him off the number one spot as bestselling living UK author a few years before - but he's at least proof it's possible to become rich writing, without being an enormous rear end in a top hat to everyone
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Oct 2, 2025 22:56
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josh04 posted:Should I send this thread to the halloween forum for the halloween period? I don't think it would be appropriate.
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Oct 3, 2025 03:08
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People having a good time celebrating spooky season don't need to have their party ruined by JKR.
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Oct 3, 2025 04:50
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Air Skwirl posted:It's not really a spooky series and the thread is mostly just talking about how JK Rowling is a hateful bitch, so I think it would bring down the vibes of that forum. Zesty posted:I don't think it would be appropriate. Roger roger.
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Oct 3, 2025 06:09
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An insane mind posted:Huh. How? Genuinely. Like I'm an otherwise cis dude that just...really doesn't want anything to do with sex. But it's like, as long as people don't ask me about my preference, it's not something I talk about. The amount of weird looks I get from other dudes is enough hassle. I'm not looking to bother women about it... 'NOT WANTING TO HAVE SEX ISN'T AN IDENTITY, WHY ARE YOU MAKING NOISE ABOUT BEING OPPRESSED AND DROWNING OUT WOMEN'S PROBLEMS' That's it. That's her objection. All her bullshit is rooted in her hatred mixing with 2nd Wave radfem thought that only classifies cis women as a group as being able to be oppressed.
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Oct 3, 2025 14:14
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I think the Shrieking Shack people found a super old interview when the books were still being written where she was asked about being a fantasy author and what fantasy authors/books she liked, only for her to talk about how she thinks most authors suck and the genre isn’t good because of that, and it felt like a really early warning sign.
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Oct 3, 2025 14:36
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Makes sense given she tried to hard shift out of the genre for the last couple books and made them into an interminable slog.
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Oct 3, 2025 14:52
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bobjr posted:I think the Shrieking Shack people found a super old interview when the books were still being written where she was asked about being a fantasy author and what fantasy authors/books she liked, only for her to talk about how she thinks most authors suck and the genre isn’t good because of that, and it felt like a really early warning sign. What's going on with them anyway? Last I heard they were doing another Potter related deep dive series after Hunger Games but that was early this year and I'm not on their Patreon.
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Oct 3, 2025 15:30
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Does Rowling still even write beyond Twitter screeds? I think I stopped the Harry Potter series at book 5 because I both aged out and got a lot more into Discworld so was too busy devouring anything sir Pratchett wrote to really pay attention to her stuff. The writing in the Potter books became a bit boring and nonsensical to me. Especially when suddenly things had to get dark and dreary (tm) which made the world she wrote feel slapdash. Why did sweet sir Terry have to exit so early ;-;
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Oct 3, 2025 15:38
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^ she writes books full of fictional twitter screeds. stev posted:What's going on with them anyway? Last I heard they were doing another Potter related deep dive series after Hunger Games but that was early this year and I'm not on their Patreon. I think they basically got bored of doing other YA series and last thing they said was they'd be coming back to cover the Potter TV series. It's a shame because I was genuinely enjoying just hearing them chat about absolute nonsense and I don't really care about the TV show but if they're too busy/disinterested then fair enough.
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Oct 3, 2025 15:41
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An insane mind posted:Does Rowling still even write beyond Twitter screeds?
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Oct 3, 2025 15:53
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Yeah she releases one of Cormorant Strike crime novels every year or two. Huh. Any reason it's under a penname?
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Oct 3, 2025 15:55
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An insane mind posted:Huh. Any reason it's under a penname? Internalised misogyny, same reason she wrote HP as JK
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Oct 3, 2025 16:06
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Are the books any good, I know my opinion of her writing might not come of terribly charitably but 20 million copies isn't bad and the series seems to have had good reviews? I'm just wondering if she managed to write this without inserting her personality.
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Oct 3, 2025 16:08
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They're loving dreadful and the longer the series goes on the more obvious it is she's using them to platform her hate
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Oct 3, 2025 16:11
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An insane mind posted:Huh. Any reason it's under a penname? So she can pretend to be a special forces military veteran, and also pay homage to her favorite anti-gay conversion therapist.
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Oct 3, 2025 16:15
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An insane mind posted:Are the books any good, I know my opinion of her writing might not come of terribly charitably but 20 million copies isn't bad and the series seems to have had good reviews? I'm just wondering if she managed to write this without inserting her personality. Before she (mostly) quit YouTube Lindsay Ellis did a video talking about one of them and went into detail about how hateful Rowling's writing was. Like there was an overweight character in the book and Rowling kept adding in the character was eating sweets every time they spoke. As for the Shriekcast it really felt like their interest fell off and they couldn't find a book that they were really interested in. Like their Twilight/Midnight Sun run through was very fun but everything after felt like they were barely trying. Especially as their releases became increasingly sporadic. Like their last four episodes were March of this year, November, November, July.
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Oct 3, 2025 16:32
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One of the Strike books is apparently over 1,000 pages long; I didn’t know that was even possible for a crime novel
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Oct 3, 2025 16:52
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The books were bad enough that she had to reveal she was the writer to get anyone to buy them.
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Oct 3, 2025 17:03
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muscles like this! posted:As for the Shriekcast it really felt like their interest fell off and they couldn't find a book that they were really interested in. Like their Twilight/Midnight Sun run through was very fun but everything after felt like they were barely trying. Especially as their releases became increasingly sporadic. Like their last four episodes were March of this year, November, November, July. They should just do the Strike novels. I'd like someone to tear them to shreds.
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Oct 3, 2025 17:05
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Cormorant Strike makes me think of the 30 Rock joke about a bill oreilly book series I suppose our situation is most reminiscent of "The Commodore's Lust" from the "Patriot's After Dark" series.
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Oct 3, 2025 17:14
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Liquid Communism posted:Makes sense given she tried to hard shift out of the genre for the last couple books and made them into an interminable slog. It was so weird and sudden that I think it was more just her losing interest and/or hyperfixating on new interests. Because it reminds me of some poo poo you see in amateur stuff - like Dominic Deegan and Mookie's hyperfixations determining where and how a plot goes as whim takes him - come to mind. Like as the Shriekcast pointed out, the stories went from the logical progression of Dahl-esque whimsy to something slightly more mature but still clearly the same basic 'thing' as you get to Prisoner of Azkaban, but then she just loses interest and it becomes a political thriller because that's where her interest shifted to. But then she even loses interest in that, and that's why you get the sudden hard shift in the last two books or so of Voldemort going from being NotHitler to being NotCharlesManson. Evidently the interest in crime schlock was stronger than her interest in (writing badly about) politics because obviously that's what she does nowadays. Or did? I forget when the last book of hers was.
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Oct 3, 2025 18:33
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An insane mind posted:Are the books any good, I know my opinion of her writing might not come of terribly charitably but 20 million copies isn't bad and the series seems to have had good reviews? I'm just wondering if she managed to write this without inserting her personality. No, they're lovely rip-offs of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series. Which weren't genre defining when they came out originally, just very well done examples of it. there are so many books that do what she tries to do in her Stryke series so much better. I am a huge fan of that genre and she's not good at it.
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Oct 3, 2025 18:48
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An insane mind posted:Are the books any good, I know my opinion of her writing might not come of terribly charitably but 20 million copies isn't bad and the series seems to have had good reviews? I'm just wondering if she managed to write this without inserting her personality. She can't write Harry Potter without inserting her personality. The bigotry is all over that series.
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Oct 3, 2025 19:19
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Air Skwirl posted:No, they're lovely rip-offs of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series. Which weren't genre defining when they came out originally, just very well done examples of it. there are so many books that do what she tries to do in her Stryke series so much better. I am a huge fan of that genre and she's not good at it. I might have to read Matthew Scudder cause I love me a good crime novel. Zesty posted:She can't write Harry Potter without inserting her personality. The bigotry is all over that series. I always found the whole, the Dursleys are fat and ugly because they're mean and evil and not just them but their whole family! So tiresome. And when Hermione became cute when her hair was no longer frizzy and also she fixed her teeth. Like...what the hell. Hermione was awesome because she hated slavery and was loving smart and had to save dunce and duncer every time. But also actually the house elves need to be slaves. It's better for them. Wtf.
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Oct 3, 2025 19:39
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An insane mind posted:Are the books any good, The first one was a cute, whimsical fantasy story. The graph of the quality of the subsequent ones is a ski slope to hell.
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Oct 3, 2025 21:22
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Presto posted:The first one was a cute, whimsical fantasy story. The graph of the quality of the subsequent ones is a ski slope to hell. I'll still defend Prisoner of Azkaban as best of the bunch. After that one was when she apparently transcended editors and the books went to poo poo.
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Oct 3, 2025 21:37
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If you read her fast enough it isn't too apparent how bad at composition she is, but audiobooks really draw attention to it. Cliche complaint, but for one, she uses way too many adverbs. For another, she's repetitive as hell. Not redundant, just doesn't bother to be creative. The words "beaming" and "indignant" are probably the most common, so common in fact I dl'd all the pdfs just to see how often she used them. That's OotP alone, and "beam" never referring to light, just people looking at other people. These are really old, I can't remember how many times she used the word indignant
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Oct 3, 2025 22:21
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An insane mind posted:I might have to read Matthew Scudder cause I love me a good crime novel. They're loving great books. He's an alcoholic ex cop that uses his connections in the NYPD to solve crimes they've overlooked. He also quits drinking fairly early in the series if the drinking is an issue, he goes to AA meetings a lot.
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Oct 3, 2025 22:34
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