#Except JK Rowling we cancel

[judas-isariot]

Let me tell you a story, I do blind test event every month at the club and I put music who end up in the top 100 of the country so it ain't to obscur.

It is not uncommon people tell me "You should not play this person he/she should be cancel" and you would tell me they are right except:

I was ask way more often to cancel Britney Spear (because she shave her hair) or Doja cat (Because she is sometime mean on social media)

Then I was ask to cancel Noir désir (kill his wife and lies about it for YEARS) or Lomepal (Has rape a 14 years old).

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Here we go again. Another institution, brimming with self-righteous faux outrage, is trying to airbrush JK Rowling’s name out of history. This time it’s the turn of the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington, which has removed the world-famous author’s name from its Harry Potter exhibition. Last week, the museum announced that while it will continue to display memorabilia from the Harry Potter books and films, it wants no association with their supposedly problematic creator.

Explaining the decision in a 1,400-word blog, the museum’s exhibitions project manager, Chris Moore, brands Rowling a ‘cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity’. Moore, who identifies as trans and uses ‘he / them’ pronouns, takes exception to Rowling’s ongoing interest in preserving women’s hard-won rights over the ‘right of anyone who insists they are who they say they are’. Once again, Rowling’s reasonable and rational defence of women’s sex-based rights is being presented disingenuously as ‘hateful’ or ‘harmful’ towards transgender people, and therefore deserving of cancellation.

Moore even seems to think it would be better if Rowling had never existed. ‘We would love to go with the internet’s theory that these books were actually written without an author’, he writes, ‘but this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored’.

Strikingly, Moore goes a few steps further than most of Rowling’s critics. He doesn’t just accuse her of transphobia. He also accuses the Harry Potter books of peddling ‘racial stereotypes’, promoting ‘fat shaming’ and, perhaps most heinous of all, lacking ‘LGBTQIA+ representation’. Surely to goodness there must have been a few pansexual / nonbinary students in the imaginary, magical school of Hogwarts? Shame on JKR for not giving them a voice, eh? The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, might have been gay, but apparently that’s not enough in our world of 764 genders.

I find myself torn about this particular non-event, to be perfectly honest. On the one hand, I realise this is simply the latest in a long line of attempts to shut Rowling up. ‘I saw Goody Rowling, in the barn, consorting with the devil!’ is the tone of every such outburst. By now, these tricks have become cheap and obvious to anyone observing closely. The smears are always baseless.

On the other hand, the attempts to erase Rowling are deadly serious. Each attempted takedown inevitably leads to her receiving the vilest, cruellest abuse. Abuse which, if you’ve ever taken the time to read it, contains some of the most horrific things one human could say to or about another. Rowling is no doubt a tower of strength and resilience, having been on the receiving end of this bile for years. But it’s probably still having an effect on her, deep down.

Perhaps there is an upside to this stunt by Moore and the MoPOP, however. Removing Rowling’s name from the museum, and condemning her as ‘super hateful’, is so infantile that most right-thinking people will likely see it for the foolishness it really is. Sunlight, on occasions such as these, has a remarkable effect of highlighting the absurd and often cruel behaviour of the gender ideologues. People are getting wise to these smear tactics now that they are so regularly churned out. The problem is it is difficult to get people to speak out against them.

Sadly, most people are still too scared to speak up. This shouldn’t surprise us when the extremist factions of the trans movement use threats of rape, violence and torture to bring people into line. They doxx people’s addresses and workplaces, so the heretics can be hunted down and vilified, resulting in the loss of earnings, jobs, reputations and more. There are countless examples of this. And no doubt there will be many more to come.

Faced with this, we cannot simply stand by and shrug. We have to stand up to the smears. The truth is that Rowling has never said anything untoward about trans people. She has been critical of the behaviour of some trans fanatics. She has been vocal in her support for single-sex spaces for women and girls. And yes, she has vociferously defended herself against hourly abuse. As she damn well has a right to do. But she is not the bigot she has been made out to be.

It’s time we all speak up for what is right. It’s time to break the cycle of fear. It’s time we called out this public assault on JK Rowling – and on all the other gender-critical feminists who’ve been similarly maligned. We need to put a stop to this authoritarian movement.

----------------------------

James Dreyfus is an actor who has starred in Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Absolutely Fabulous and The Thin Blue Line.

[vyachki]

Jk rowling was not "cancelled on the spot" shes been spouting crap for years that pisses people off and naturally collected a large amount of haters. Her amateur writing and many strange plots in her books have been heavily scrutinized by critics. Extreme stereotyping, racism, homophobia, writing weird shit about children on twitter, the whole thing with the elves who loved being slaves is weird as fuck, aids metaphors etc. Everyone knows she's annoying. She's hated by transphobes ands trans people alike. Young people hate her and old people hate her. Harry potter fans hate her. Even many of the movie cast hate her. She's a bigot. She doesn't care about people like you. why are u falling over yourself to defend her honestly its so pathetic and we can see right through you. I'm sure you never really gave a crap about the books or who wrote them until you became a radical bitch. You just love her because she hates trans as much as you. That's all you have in common. Shes not a feminist, shes not fighting for anyones rights, she doesnt spread any important information or have any educated opinions. Her new books and movies suck. All she does is sit writing drivel and spreading hate which sounds a lot like you. No wonder you admire her so much. Honestly i bet if Kim Yo Jong or someone came out as a terf and a radical feminist u would all start fanning over her and convert to her ideologies bc u have no back bone or brain and the only thing u care about is worshipping ur chronically online terf cult, making up shit and hating trans people who have nothing to do with you. News flash! Your radical feminism isn't any more radical than what normal ass women have been talking about for generations. All the issues are already included in normal feminism, it's just the same except: you ignore big issues (especially those involving minorities and women of colour), act horrible and rude to everyone, isolate yourself and most of all, devote your existence to being transphobic. It's like a cry for help or something. You're ruining your life by being a bitch. and noone is going to feel sorry for you. Mental illness innit. 🤣 - Sincerely a happily married cis white woman. Get a life.

Oh my god this is so funny, did you copy and paste this from somewhere or did you really type all of this out for me?? I am blushing🤭

People will always have a lot to say about JKR and that's okay, she's a famous female author who owns a billion dollar franchise—people are going to talk shit on her name and some of it may be true, and some of it may not. With the way now that people deliberately skew what other people say (e.g. "JKR wants trans people deaaaaad!!!"), take a lot of shit you see from non-sources with a grain of a salt.

Regardless of the discourse & semantics you want to engage in, biological sex will still be real, women will still face sex-based oppression, and same-sex attracted people are still being erased in favour of "queer" activism. It is not hate to call that out. But it is very condescending to say all this to a detransitioned trans woman / homosexual man since I am still dysphoric, but I am not a victim nor will act like one because of it.

I made this blog to support detransitioners & same-sex attracted people, and to call out lies I was told by the trans cult during & after my transition. I really don't need "happily married cis white women" lecturing me about gender ideology that you never lived. Thanks though!

Sincerely, a "radical b*tch"

[mariacallous]

We live in a hyperpartisan world where nobody can agree on anything. And yet, every now and again something comes along that bridges political differences and brings people together. This latest unifier appears to be a Scooby-Doo spin-off, Velma, which is targeted at adults. Whatever their political persuasion, everyone seems to hate it. (Except, rather weirdly, the Guardian, which gave it four out of five stars.) The cartoon premiered last week to mostly abysmal reviews. Things are so dire that there are even conspiracy theories swirling that Mindy Kaling, its star and an executive producer of the show, made Velma terrible on purpose in order to make the left look bad.

Why would Kaling do something like that? I have no idea. My understanding is that she probably didn’t and that people are just getting angry online because people like getting angry online. The left appears to be angry at Kaling because she once liked a tweet by JK Rowling, which supposedly means she is an irredeemable transphobe who should be cancelled immediately. The right, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to like the fact that Velma is a lesbian in the show and Kaling is a brown woman. One rightwing comedian called it “openly racist against white people”. Other people are saying the series is “insulting to the Scooby-Doo fanbase”. The series really touches pretty much every aspect of the culture wars.

I’m afraid I can’t give you more insight on Velma than that because I haven’t actually watched the series and I never will. No offence to Scooby-Doo, but I have no desire to see an edgy adult version of it. You know what I would like, though? To get paid for turning beloved children’s cartoons into controversial adult cartoons. It’s just too easy, isn’t it? Inspector Gadget: we’re going to make him have depression and a substance abuse problem. Road Runner: we’re going to make him a demisexual racist. Popeye: we’re going to make him an incel. Get in touch, Hollywood! There are plenty more ideas where those came from.

[coochiequeens]

It would be hard to think of any public figure over the past 30 years who has comported themselves with more dignity and grace in the face of overwhelming fame and success than JK Rowling. But for the last two years, for the simple reason of speaking her mind, she has been obliged to demonstrate that same dignity and grace in the face of a tsunami of hatred and vilification.

It was in December 2019 that Maya Forstater, a researcher at an international think tank, lost an employment tribunal case, accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language on Twitter after she had posted a tweet saying “Men cannot change into women.”

The tribunal judge ruled that the belief, expressed by Forstater, that biological sex is immutable, and that it is impossible to change one’s sex, was “incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others.”

The day after the tribunal ruling, Rowling posted a tweet to her 14.6 million followers: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?”

The sluice gates opened – and it’s fair to say that since then they’ve never closed.

Last month, three trans activists posted photographs of themselves on social media staging a protest outside what could clearly be identified as Rowling’s Edinburgh home.

In a tweet responding to the posting, Rowling said: “I’ve now received so many death threats I could paper the house with them, and I haven’t stopped speaking out. Perhaps – and I’m just throwing this out there – the best way to prove your movement isn’t a threat to women, is to stop stalking, harassing and threatening us.”

Social media groups set up to target Rowling lit up with abuse: “JK Rowling is a liar”, “JK Rowling is trash”, and “jk Rowling I am about to dress like myself to K!ll you” and “Rot in Hell”.

The three activists, meanwhile, posted a message saying that while “we stand by” the photo they were removing it because of the “overwhelming amount of serious and transphobic messages” they had received.

On January 1 HBO Max will be showing a documentary, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, marking the anniversary of the first film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which includes new interviews with actors from all eight Potter films, including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, as well as the director of the original 2001 movie, Chris Columbus. According to the Warner Bros executive Tom Ascheim, it will be “a tribute to everyone whose lives were touched by this cultural phenomenon” – everyone that is except the person responsible for the cultural phenomenon. Despite tribute being paid to Rowling by some members of the cast – notably Robbie Coltrane, who plays Hagrid in the Potter films, and says “One of the many reasons I admire JK so much is that millions now read books who would never have lifted a book up in their lives, and suddenly you realise the power of writing” – JK Rowling herself will be represented only in archive interviews.

It is unclear whether Rowling was not asked to appear, or if she declined to participate. But we think we can guess. Corporations that Rowling has enriched over the years now fall over themselves to avoid being seen to be associated with her. Despite being the creator of the Fantastic Beasts franchise and the producer and co-screenwriter of the new film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Rowling was given only a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it credit on the trailer for the film, at the bottom of the video’s final title card. The most successful children’s author of the age has been cancelled.

How has it come to this?

J K Rowling: timeline of a cultural phenomenon

Rowling’s own story is as well known as any she crafted for Harry Potter. In 1995, she was a 29-year-old single mother, with a failed marriage behind her, who had been diagnosed with depression, and was living on benefits in a one-bedroom flat in Edinburgh. She had written the first Harry Potter book sitting in a succession of Edinburgh cafes, fuelled by endless cups of coffee, while her infant daughter Jessica slept in her pushchair beside her.

In search of an agent, she picked the name of Christopher Little out of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook,  because, she said, it sounded like a name from a children’s book, and sent him the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The manuscript went straight into the rejection basket because Little thought that ‘children’s books did not make money’. It was only on second reading that he realised “there was something really special there.” He wrote back to Rowling, asking to see the rest of the manuscript. “It was the best letter of my life, including love letters,” she said. “I read it eight times.”

The book was turned down by every major publisher in Britain, until finally finding a home at the independent publisher, Bloomsbury. Published in 1997, the first print run was just 1,000 copies. “Remember, Joanne,” Little had warned Rowling, “this is all very well, but it’s not going to make you a fortune.” The Harry Potter books have gone on to sell more than 500 million copies around the world in 65 languages, and Rowling’s wealth is estimated at £795 million.

“She was very nice – almost naive at that stage, and freaked out a bit by the attention,” one former Bloomsbury executive remembers. “There was a big literary dinner where she had to get up and speak in front of industry figures, journalists, celebrities, and she was really nervous. We both smoked then and we sloped off to a staircase to have a calming ciggie. Much later she made a speech at Harvard University and she was just fantastic, so different from that almost studenty type girl from the late 1990s. Having millions of pounds and that degree of success is bound to affect you, but she’s dealt with it so well.”

Rowling has never forgotten what it was like to be poor and desperate. She has supported numerous charitable and human rights causes. Her Volant Charitable Trust (Volant was her mother’s maiden name) has an annual budget of £5.1m and works to alleviate poverty and social deprivation while her non-profit organisation, Lumos works globally to end the institutionalisation of children. In 2012 Forbes magazine estimated that she had given $160 million in charitable donations.

She married for the second time in 2001 to a Scottish doctor, Neil Murray, and she has two more children with him.

How then could a woman whose contribution to the sum of human happiness, and in particular to the welfare of women and children, have found herself the victim of a virulent hate campaign?

Look no further than social media.

When Rowling first went on Twitter in 2014 she described it as “an unmixed blessing”. It was a way both to communicate with her fans, and air her opinions. She delighted in mocking Donald Trump on Twitter. A supporter of the Labour party – Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah are friends, and she once donated £1m to party funds – she was fiercely critical of Jeremy Corbyn and his equivocation over Brexit, which Rowling opposed. She also opposed Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum. Her first sally into the gender wars came in 2018, when she ‘liked’ a tweet by a female Labour party member, complaining that “Men in dresses get brocialist solidarity I never had. That’s misogyny!” Rowling’s publicist dismissed the ‘like’ as “a clumsy and middle-aged moment.”

Trans activists leapt on Rowling’s ‘like’, but the vitriol was nothing compared with the deluge that followed her tweet in support of Forstater.

Forstater, who has never met Rowling, says she was flabbergasted when the author tweeted about her case. “I’d lost the case the day before and was trying to hold body and soul together. And somebody sent me a WhatsApp message with a screenshot of her tweet. I thought they’d made it up to cheer me up.”

The tweet, she says, escalated her own case to a matter of international attention, bringing a huge social media backlash.

“There’s been this move to say that everything that JK Rowling has said on this issue is wrong and in bad faith, and part of that has been to lie and misrepresent my case,” says Forstater “In America, newspapers have said I harassed a transgender colleague. I didn’t have a transgender colleague, and I’ve never harassed anyone. They say that not because they care who I am but so they can say that JK Rowling defended this terrible person.

“The idea is you’re not supposed to talk about this, and she talked about it. If you’re a woman, particularly if you’re on the Left and you work in the voluntary sector or the public sector there are places where it’s dangerous to say anything. Someone will report them to their employer, or try to get them to shut up by making it harder for them to get work. Financially you can’t cancel JK Rowling. But they still had to come after her and make her into a witch, so that other people will be afraid to speak about this. And the fact that she kept coming back and talking about it has been incredibly inspiring and brave.”

After the Forstater row, Rowling backed away from Twitter for a few months, then in June 2020 she responded to an article on the website of Devex, which reports on sustainable development, headlined: “Creating a more equal post-Covid-19 world for people who menstruate.” Rowling tweeted: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

In America, Variety reported it as an “anti-trans tweet”. The social media sluice gates collapsed.

“If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased,” Rowling tweeted. “I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

A few days later she posted a lengthy, measured and candid essay titled ‘JK Rowling Writes About Her Reasons for Speaking Out on Sex and Gender Issues’, in which she wrote of having been ground down by “the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media... I forgot the first rule of Twitter – never, ever expect a nuanced conversation”; having spoken up “about the importance of sex” she had been “paying the price ever since.

“I was transphobic, I was a c---, a b----, a Terf, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I’d understand. But endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.”

She went on to talk about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor herself. “I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I’m now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be.

“However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made.

“I want trans women to be safe,” she wrote. “At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.”

Even those who owed Rowling the most – the young actors whose careers had been made by Harry Potter – turned on her.

Radcliffe posted a statement on the website of the Trevor Project – an American nonprofit organisation that states its mission as being to “end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning young people” – saying that while Rowling had been “unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken,” he felt compelled to speak out. “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional healthcare associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

Watson followed suit, tweeting: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Grint tweeted: “I firmly stand with the trans community. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgement.”

One of the few members of the cast to speak out in Rowling’s defence was Coltrane, saying: “I don’t think what she said was offensive really. I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended. They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on’.”

In America, institutions that had previously garlanded Rowling with awards, immediately caved. The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR) organisation, which in 2019 had awarded Rowling the Ripple of Hope Award in recognition for her “commitment to social change”, issued a statement by its president, Robert Kennedy’s daughter Kerry, describing her “dismay” over Rowling’s “deeply troubling transphobic tweets and statements”.  Rowling promptly returned the award, saying “no award or honour, no matter my admiration for the person for whom it was named, means so much to me that I would forfeit the right to follow the dictates of my own conscience.”

The writers’ campaigning group, PEN International, which in 2006 had awarded her the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service award, lionising her as a “fierce opponent of censorship” and an “advocate for women’s and girls’ rights”, issued a deeply equivocal statement saying that “any discussion of freedom of expression must also be a discussion of power” adding “we support the right to hold and express strong views, provided that such expression does not undermine the internationally recognised human rights of others, incite hatred, nor engender the threat or use of violence.”

Such has been the climate of condemnation of her views that it is not uncommon to find Rowling described even in mainstream American publications as “the transphobe JK Rowling”, accused in the hyperbolic language of the times of peddling “hatred” and “endangering” the lives of trans people.

“It’s emotional language that’s designed to elicit fear and stop people talking about the realities of the situation which are much more complicated,” says Nina Power, the philosopher and social theorist. “The trans activist movement is about a lot of people trying to deal with their own suffering and projecting it onto another group. It’s a symptom of a deeper issue of how our society seems unable to think about sexual difference in a non-hysterical way.

“And I think JK Rowling was doing all of us a favour by coming out and saying these things, which she didn’t have to do. She could have remained aloof and not said anything, but I think she felt a moral imperative to do so, because she could see other women getting a lot of flak and losing their jobs. So I think her gesture was brave.”

Rowling’s global fame alone would have been enough to make her the target of the mob, but the vitriol goes deeper than that. With Harry Potter, she created a magical world which gave solace and comfort as well as escape to readers of a certain age, particularly those asking questions about their own identity and feelings. The books created obsessive fans, and the obsessiveness of that fandom has been mirrored by the obsessive nature with which she has been attacked. The tone is not simply of anger but of betrayal. It is the children of Harry Potter turning on the mother, their rage an act of matricide.

Roger Sutton is editor-in-chief of The Horn Book, America’s leading journal on the subject of children’s fiction.

He says he is “perplexed” about the rage that Rowling’s comments have engendered, particularly among those who grew up loving her books. “I’ve read everything she’s written about gender and to me there seems to be a real mismatch between the perceived offence and the reaction. But the American writer Fran Lebowitz once quipped that people love to feel superior to their past, and I think part of the reason she’s attracting so much anger on the part of the people who are angry with her is that they are reacting to their younger selves.”

Rowling’s books have long been pored over by those in search of hidden slurs or stereotypes; this character is supposedly a metaphor for paedophiles, that one is ‘anti-Semitic’; reams have been written on how the depiction of the House Elves perpetuates the canard of ‘happy slaves’. But in the wake of the controversy over her views on gender, the revisionist interpretation of Harry Potter has gathered steam, and Rowling is found guilty of transgressing every social justice shibboleth – as one critic puts it, "[the stories’] arguable racism, queerbaiting, lack of multiculturalism, fat-shaming, and upholding of the patriarchal structures.”

Nowdays, in the increasingly censorious world of children’s and young adult fiction, such trangressions are rigorously policed by ‘sensitivity readers’ – freelance editors hired by publishers to seek out examples of cultural appropriation and infelicitous references to race, sex, gender, disability, class and ‘non-inclusive’ language.

It makes you wonder, if JK Rowling was submitting the manuscript for the Harry Potter books today, would they be published?

Sutton, who describes himself as “gayer than five Dumbledores”, laughs. “That’s a great question, but it’s impossible to know because JK Rowling completely changed the face of publishing in children’s books, for good or ill. You can’t envisage a present without her having been in the past.”

Speaking personally, Sutton is not a fan. “My problems with JK Rowling were aesthetic ones, not political ones – why use five adverbs when one would do? But she’s done wonderful things around children and books; her philanthropy has been exemplary. I think she’s a hero as a children’s writer.”

Yet, curiously, it is not easy to find people in British publishing willing to say the same. Calls aren’t returned. Emails go unanswered. People are suddenly “unavailable”. “Nobody wants to talk about this,” says one publisher. And that includes one person in particular. JK Rowling was not available for comment.

[elfdragon12]

And now for something completely different!

I was reading the recent Superman Vs Lobo miniseries and...

It's kind of embarrassing, honestly. It's childish in its approach to the topics it tries to cover, namely "cancel culture" and "there are two sides to every story".

Like, Cancel Culture is generally useless. Take a look at youtubers that get "canceled" for genuinely good reasons--like Jefferee Star using racial slurs--and, what happens? He stays quiet for a week, maybe a month if we're lucky, and we're right back where we started. His makeup is still being sold in stores. He started a pet toy line! Look at JK Rowling! Openly a TERF and has stated she believes that folks who consume her work agree with her. Before I saw trailers for the new Harry Potter game and I heard about the antisemitic themes, I thought it would be more subtext, but then I saw footage and there's a mechanic around collecting GOBLIN HEADS! And yet folks won't step away from Harry Potter because they like the world. Even though they *know* the creator believes it means they approve of her agendas.

Does a cartoonishly silly visual of Lobo putting on a bow tie, calling himself an influencer, and broadcasting a proclamation that Superman eats puppies as mindless robots repeat hashtags reflect any true understanding of the issue?

And the "two sides to every story" being "there ARE two sides--good and evil"... Geeze. Oh, if only things could so neatly be defined as "good" and "evil"... Like, PETA vs labs. Oh, labs use animals for testing and PETA wants to protect animals, so that's it, right?! Good vs evil! Except it's not. PETA has ties to terrorism, compares victims of racist violence to animals, compares women to animals and uses sexism in their marketing, uses animals for publicity, and their shelter has one of the highest kill rates in the US, if not the actual highest. While there have been labs that have abused ethics in regards to the treatment of animals in their care, there are labs that do follow ethics and, ultimately, thousands--probably millions--of human lives could not be saved without animals.

Maybe if this series was more clearly meant for children, it would be okay... But it has sex robots, "butt stuff", profanity, and Lobo's guts and violence. This is supposed to be for an older, more critically thinking audience. This is a failure.

(Also, Lobo is just poorly written throughout the whole thing.)

[elkian]

I can’t believe I’m doing theory on Harry Potter in the year of our lord 2021. What is my life.

JK Rowling is still ten layers of cancelled, just to be clear, this isn’t for her. Actually, this may very strongly be about her being a dumbass (it would not be the first time shallow worldbuilding came back to bite her).

Okay, here’s the thing: afaik from the books, etc., Voldy is always treated as a threat to Wizard Britain, specifically. Yeah, his cult of fascist assholes target and harm non-wix for sure, but that is the prime theme of his threat.

(For comparison and context, I live in Texas.)

[Image description: Two images. The first is a shot of the 50 recognized United States, with Texas highlighted in red.

The second is the Area and Dimensions of Texas in miles and in kilometers. Both images courtesy Wikipedia. End ID.]

Here’s Great Britain, by comparison:

[ID:

First, a satellite photo of Great Britain.

Second, a shot of the Area and Area Rank of Great Britain, courtesy Wikipedia again. End ID.]

Even if you want to be generous and assume the “Britain” in the books is the entire United Kingdom, that’s not much bigger.

The books rarely deviate the spotlight from Britain. There’s mentions of something happening in Wales, and the Irish Quidditch team, and McGonnagal is from Scotland (is that canon or assumed?). Aside from Britain...

We have Bulgaria and France mentioned in the tournament and... uh... Europe is sometimes implied to exist? Pretty sure there was a kinda racist magic carpet commentary in book 4 somewhere.

My point is this:

Voldemort is treated as a major threat. And to be fair, he is! He does damage, he encourages fascists and fascist ideals, eugenics, the whole shebang. He fucking sucks, and so does everyone who follows him.

However, he is only ever mentioned really in the context of Britain, and more specifically Wizard Britain with the odd Muggle casualty. Since JK never bothered to introduce any Muggles who weren’t 1) incompetent, 2) assholes, or 3) both, we have a very limited metric for what this means for the non-Wizarding world. However, there seems to be very little overlap - no one mentioning a spate of strange disappearances that cut off ten years before Harry goes to school, barely the odd mention that something weird might be reported on Muggle TV. Also whatever the fuck was going on with Godric’s Hollow, my brain was smoothing over at that point.

I was going to do some stat stuff but it veered, anyways.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the focus is on Britain. It’s not on Europe as a whole. It’s not on this hemisphere or the whole world or even northwest Europe. We don’t even know for certain it’s about the entire United Kingdom. This might be focused on a landmass less than 1/8th that of the state I live in (see, it’s relevant whoops >_>”).

Part of this may be due to the books not being expected to spread so far, but given the bungle that was the Cursed Child nonsense, I have limited Benefit of the Doubt leftover here.

Like, if Voldy had been adamant about expanding or some kind of commentary was made about how his threat would only grow if left unchecked, I’d be more convinced. But instead I’m just trying to figure out how it occurred to literally nobody except Hermione (I mean, she’s smart but still) that they could just.... leave Britain? Does nobody think about visiting France for a few years? Norway? No one said “hey Krum can I tag along back to Bulgaria since this war shit is starting up again?”? No?

Like, I don’t want to be super rude here but it kinda loses impact when you think about it. Everyone acts like Harry is the One Last Hope For The World, but... he’s a teenager, first of all, and second of all, could no one have rung up Brazil or the US or Indonesia or where-the-fuck-ever and said “hey we have a local fascist cult that might grow into a global fascist cult, can you send a prime Asskicker Squad our way?“?

Like I know there’s a whole patriotism thing (lbr nearly every problem the USA has is an imported British problem left to grow in a slightly different environment, anyways) but it really sounds like everyone except Harry and his several tiers of Competence Squad teens are the only ones getting shit done. I’m just in awe.

[bush-viper-cutie]

“Back to Normal” || YEAR 3 – Ch.18 (HP au)

                              Chapter List

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Day posted: 9/9/2020

Word count: 3, 395

Relationship: EVENTUAL severus X oc (slow burn)

Rating: E for everyone

Warnings: none

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A/N: This is my first fan fic I’m writing mainly as a way to practice. This is a retelling of the hp books with an inserted character. Although most every character will be written about, this is mostly for the pro snape fandom. Please do not fear, although this is a severus x oc story, it is an incredibly slow burn as I do not intend for them to get together at all until after the final book events. Chapters will be posted twice a week.

This derivative work follows the events of the Harry Potter books by Jk Rowling and is intended as a fun way to practice my writing. Thank you for reading :D

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Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall set Harry down on a bed and went to talk to Madam Pomphrey. He still hadn’t stirred the whole way up the lawn or at any point through the castle. Heather, Hermione, and Ron had followed close behind, holding back tears.

They took their seats next to Harry’s bed and sat there as Madam Pomphrey mumbled angrily under her breath as she looked him over.

“ – Should have canceled that match – Like I had said – but no – ” She pushed the sheets up to Harry’s shoulders. “I’ll be back with my wand. He’s fine,” she assured them.

Ron gave Heather an arm squeeze and she nodded, taking in what she said. Harry was fine. He’s been through worse… it was only a fifty-foot drop or so.

Professor McGonagall had left with Professor Dumbledore and come back with a bundle under a grey wool blanket. She gave it to Heather and sighed heavily before walking away.

Ron checked what it was and squeaked. “It was a good broom… The best.”

“They must have canceled the match after this, wouldn’t they? How many players can you have before the game has to be canceled?” Hermione looked out the window at the storm clouds nervously.

Her question wasn’t answered until twenty minutes later when the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, all muddy and sore, came rushing into the hospital wing looking for Harry. Fred and George sat on the bed on the other side of him, joined by the three chasers, Alicia, Katie, and Angelina.

“How is he?” Fred looked at Ron for answers, seeing as Hermione was still staring out the window, avoiding looking at Harry, and Heather couldn’t do anything but stare at Harry.

Ron nodded, “He’s fine. Just knocked cold. Madam Pomphrey already went over him and gave him some kind of goo,” he made a face. “Didn’t look edible.”

“He was real lucky the ground was so soft. All that mud broke his fall,” Fred nudged George.

George sighed, “Was really worried. We thought he was dead.”

“Wood even called for a reschedule – too bad we didn’t get one,” Alicia shook her head. “Poor Harry.”

Heather had been staring at Harry’s face when she saw his eyes squeeze. She stood and got on the bed next to him, “Harry?”

His eyes fluttered open. “Ow.” He rubbed his head and winced, “Everything hurts.”

“Well you did fall from the sky, Harry,” Hermione sniffled.

“How’re you feeling, Harry?” Fred asked, leaning in closer. “You gave George quite a fright.”

George hit his arm, “I wasn’t the one shaking on my broom.”

“What happened?” Harry sat up suddenly, looking at all their faces.

“You fell. From VERY high, so lay back down.” Heather pushed him back.

“We thought… We thought you’d died,” Katie was shaking under Angelina’s arm.

Hermione sniffed again.

“Yeah, I remember that. I mean the match! What happened? Did we win?” He stared at Fred and George but they looked away, rubbing their necks. “We LOST?”

“Right after you fell, Diggory got the Snitch. He hadn’t realized what was happening below and caught it while you fell – ”

“He wanted a rematch, though. Him and Wood argued with Madam Hooch the rest of the time we were out there, but according to the rules, it’s fair – ”

“Even Wood agreed in the end.”

Harry looked around. “Where is Wood?”

“Still in the showers,” Angelina said.

Fred leaned in again, “We think he’s trying to drown himself in there.”

Fred and George laughed but Harry pressed his hands to his face and shook his head. Heather looked at them and frowned.

“It’s alright, Harry!” Fred shook his shoulder.

“You’ve never missed the Snitch before,” George reminded him.

“There had to be at least one time you did.”

Heather pulled Harry’s hands away, “You can make it up against Ravenclaw. Right?”

“Yeah!” Fred shook his shoulder again. “We lost by a hundred points so Hufflepuff just needs to lose to Ravenclaw and we have to beat both Ravenclaw and Slytherin!”

“’Cept Hufflepuff never lose to Ravenclaw…”

“Well if Hufflepuff loses to Slytherin – ”

“Sure, that’ll happen for sure but Slytherin won’t be losing to Ravenclaw so our match – ”

“You could throw it for Harry, couldn’t you. Humble Malfoy a bit –”

“Ron!” Heather glared at him.

“You don’t need to throw the match,” George reassured them. “A hundred point margin could go either way, really.”

“Doesn’t really matter yet, if you think about it,” Fred agreed.

The team left and it was just Heather, Hermione, and Ron left by Harry’s side as he stared vacantly at the ceiling above.

“Did you see Dumbledore on his way out?” Hermione was asking them. “He seemed deadly angry.”

Ron nodded. “Never seen him so mad.” He looked back at Harry, “Furious the dementors had come onto the grounds.”

They all stared at Harry, who still hadn’t moved since finding out Gryffindor had lost.

He turned to them, as if realizing they were still there. He looked around. “Did… someone get my Nimbus?”

They looked at the pile of snapped wood on the far chair.

“Well…” Heather looked at Ron.

“I-it… Broke. Snapped in half, actually.”

“What?” Harry sat up again and was pushed back down by Hermione.

“When you fell the winds carried it and… dropped it off on the Whomping Willow.” Hermione kept her hand on Harry’s shoulder, preventing him from bolting up again.

“In half? How will I play!”

“Alright, visiting time’s over.”

They were glad for Madam Pomphrey’s interruption. Heather wasn’t sure how to answer his question just yet. It seemed like they had the money for another Nimbus Two-Thousand, but how they’d get to Diagon Alley in London and purchase it before his next match was the real problem, especially if they couldn’t even go to the village just below the castle gates.

They left him to rest and while Ron and Hermione went to Hogsmeade that weekend for more candy, Heather stayed by Harry’s side, studying and playing wizard chess with him. Neither of them where any good so she spent most of the time studying and Harry sleeping.

Lots of people came by on Saturday. Hagrid brought huge yellow flowers the size of Heather’s whole head, Ginny brought a get-well card she made herself – handing it over with a furious blush, and all of the team came by again with Wood.

“Don’t blame you, Harry. It was those dementors that ruined the game,” he had said. They could tell he was telling the truth, despite his sullen face and angry eyes.

On Sunday, Harry was finally feeling better enough to sit up and talk. They were on their third attempt of wizard chess when he paused and looked at her, opening his mouth to say something and then didn’t.

“What is it Harry?”

He crossed his arms and looked down at his feet under the white sheets. “I-I saw the… grim. Again. Right before I fell.”

Heather bit her lip. She really shouldn’t be encouraging this but… “I saw it too! In the sky! Right before you fell. I couldn’t believe the clouds had really formed – ”

“It wasn’t just the clouds, Heather! The grim was actually there. In the stadium, a few seats above you.”

She stared at him. “Harry… The grim is an omen, a symbol… Not an actual living thing.”

He frowned. “But the dog, just before I almost got run over by the Knight Bus! It was there again!”

“Harry. The same thing being used as an omen makes it seem like the grim is a creature. The book says the death omen shows up in many places – it never mentions any creature actually BEING the grim.”

He raised his brow, “You’ve been doing research?”

She blushed. Just because it was ridiculous to think that Professor Trelawney was right about the grim didn’t mean she shouldn’t be studying it on her own just to be sure. Especially if it had to do with Harry and the fact that every year something horrible happens.

“I’ve been reading our textbook. So what? You should try it some time.”

Monday morning felt like the world was back to normal again. Harry was back and even Draco had ditched his sling once again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for Draco doing constant imitations and impersonations of dementors and Harry when he fell off his broom. Of course, it had been raining so hard that he wouldn’t have been able to see anything but a falling red streak, but everyone around him still laughed anyways.

Every chance Draco had to show off his horrible acting skills, he took. During potions he had decided that the best use of his time after he’d turned in his potion was to close his robes up all the way with the hood up and go around their table booing like a ghost.

“Shove off,” Ron pushed Draco back.

Draco laughed and went back to his seat.

“Why isn’t he doing anything?” Hermione was glaring at Professor Snape for letting Draco run around like that. “If that were me – ”

“Gryffindors would be at negative five-hundred points,” Harry rolled his eyes. “He’s a Slytherin though, so – ”

Heather scoffed. “Excuse me. But if that were ME I’d be serving detention for life. And I’m a Slytherin.”

“Well I’M not looking at any progress here and if I were you, I’d stop this bickering and get back to work.” Professor Snape narrowed his eyes at them. He looked down at Heather’s potion and tisked, “Done, I presume?”

Heather nodded and ladled her potion into her jar. “It looks like Malfoy’s… Doesn’t it?”

Professor Snape chuckled and snatched the jar from her hand, stalking away. She sighed and took out her potions guide and textbook, wondering where she was going wrong.

“OOOO!” Draco was back with his arms outstretched at Harry, bobbing up and down under his black robes.

“We said quit it!” Ron picked up the crocodile heart he’d accidently left out of his potion and threw it at Draco.

It smacked him right in the face and he stumbled back, holding his cheek. “Ow! Weasley!” he growled.

“Enough! Draco, back to your seat. Weasley,” Professor Snape glared at him, “Fifty points from Gryffindor. There will be no throwing – any – potions ingredients in my classroom. Get a mop and wipe that blood before someone slips on it.”

Ron nodded and ran out of the room for a mop.

“Only Gryffindor gets points taken away?” Hermione hadn’t even bothered to raise her hand.

Professor Snape made a growling sort of noise and looked away, sitting back at his desk with his arms crossed.

The bells rang and they packed up, walking out of the class in a hurry and stopped at a suit of armor just before the Defense classroom. They waited, looking down the corridor at everyone who walked by or walked into the classroom.

“No sign of Snape.”

“That doesn’t mean he isn’t in there. Hermione, you check.”

Hermione walked over to the door and opened it a crack, peering inside. She gave them a thumbs up and walked in.

Professor Lupin was back behind his desk, looking more worn out than when they had first met him on the train. His clothes hung off him more loosely and he had deep grey circles under his eyes. Heather wondered how bad his cold had gotten since they talked. He hadn’t been in the hospital wing so he must have been in bed all weekend.

She opened her textbook as he asked the class how Friday’s lesson was and saw her essay on werewolves.

The class erupted and started calling out everything that had gone wrong that lesson.

“He gave us homework even though he was only filling in!”

“Two parchments? On werewolves? We don’t know anything about them!”

“ – TWO rolls – ”

Professor Lupin frowned. “Did you tell him we were on hinkypunks?”

“Yes, but he insisted!”

“ – And he said we were really behind – ”

“Well you can forget about the essays. I’ll speak to Professor Snape about all this. On to our lesson. Hinkypunks.” He pulled the cover off the tank on his desk to reveal a one-legged creature holding out what looked like a lantern.

There was smoke and mist floating all around the creature and only the lantern was crisply visible. Professor Lupin shut the windows and in the darkness they could make out the shape of it better, seeing that the hand holding the lantern had long claws and it’s pale eyes were glaring at everyone, watching them all carefully behind the glass as the yellow lantern light reflected dimly off its eyes.

“Tricky creatures, Hinkypunks,” Professor Lupin started the lecture and they began taking notes. “They lure people into bogs with the lantern. They follow the light into its den and then – ”

The Hinkypunk thumped against the glass and scratched with his caws. He tried biting his way free and ended up making a disgusting squelching noise, similar to that of a dead bloated mouse being stepped on.

The bells rang and Professor Lupin covered the Hinkypunk up again. They packed up and before Harry was out the door, Professor Lupin called him back. Heather, Hermione, and Ron left with everyone else, who seemed infinitely more happy about this lesson than the one from Friday with Professor Snape.

“Wait for me,” Ron headed to the boy’s bathrooms down a passageway.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t turn in the essay. I finished it Friday night.”

“I did too.” Heather added quickly.

“Well maybe Professor Snape will take it anyways,” Hermione turned to leave and Heather pulled her back.

“Are you mad? He’ll take more points off your house if you go talk to him now. I wouldn’t even try it after today’s lesson, and he doesn’t hate me as much as he hates you guys.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “He asked us to do this work. He HAS to give me points for it somehow.” She turned and left down the stairs.

Heather shook her head. Was Hermione hoping he’d include it in the grades for potions? She sighed and headed back to the Defense classroom, poking her head inside.

“Why were they at the match?”

Professor Lupin closed his briefcase, “They’re just hungry. And you were all a giant bowl of food for them to feast on.”

Heather let the door shut behind her. “The dementors?”

Harry nodded.

“Don’t worry, Professor Dumbledore won’t let them on the grounds again. They only came on because they’re supply of human prey has been taken away from them and with all the excitement on the Quidditch field – well – it was sort of like a feast, just waiting for them.” Professor Lupin leaned on his desk. “Professor Dumbledore wasn’t joking when he said they were dangerous.”

“How did Sirius Black escape them then?” Heather looked at Professor Lupin and noticed he seemed extra distant.

After a moment he responded. “Well, to begin with, the fortress is on a tiny island out in the middle of the ocean. But that’s not what keeps the prisoners stuck there. No. The walls and ocean isn’t even what I’d consider the prison to be. Azkaban is only the place that holds all those criminals locked inside their heads, unable to escape the misery inside their minds. Weeks, months, years… without a single happy thought… They’re all mad there. And defenseless. See, if you’re left too long at a dementor’s whim, they drain your magical powers…”

He hadn’t answered her question but the picture he had painted them in their heads was enough to stop her from asking again. It was all over wizard news about how dangerous Sirius Black is… and now she knew why. No wonder everyone at school always talked about how scary it was that he had escaped. And now he was after Harry, angry that Harry had defeated his master… She shuddered.

“But you made the dementor on the train go away… and Ron said Professor Dumbledore made them leave the field – ”

“There are defense spells to use against them… but the more there are… It was incredible hearing about how many Professor Dumbledore had been able to expel with only one use of it.” He stroked his chin, “Really wish I could have been there to see that.”

“Teach me?”

“Teach us,” Heather corrected. “Will it be part of this year’s lessons?”

“No – I’m no expert in fighting them, really. One on a train is the most – ” he looked at them and sighed. “If you really wanted to learn to fight dementors you should actually ask – ”

“I don’t need to learn to fight a whole bunch… just maybe one or two. If they show up on the quidditch field again… and come near me…”

“Who should we ask instead?” Heather was desperate to know who Professor Lupin thought was an expert in dealing with dementors.

“I don’t want anyone else to know about… what we talked about. Could you just show us? Just enough to do what you did? So that I could do that?” Harry cut Professor Lupin off before he could even speak.

Professor Lupin chuckled at the look of determination on Harry’s face. “If… you insist… I’ll help you two learn it – But these lessons will have to start next term, after the holidays. I’m hoping Professor Snape can tweak the potion just enough to have a stronger effect… so that I can recover from this illness quicker. Wizard colds can be real tricky sometimes,” he laughed.

Heather gave Harry a look and he groaned, keeping his mouth shut. “Alright then. After Christmas?”

Professor Lupin smiled, “Alright.”

They left the classroom to find Ron leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“What part of ‘Wait for me’ did no one understand? Where’s Hermione?”

Heather sighed, “Probably off getting more points removed from – ”

“I’m right here.”

They all jumped and turned behind them to see Hermione walking out of the ancient runes classrooms down the corridor.

“I just needed to ask my teacher a question.”

“Did you talk to Professor Snape?”

“Snape? We’re already down a hundred-fifty, please tell me – ”

“He took my essay and gave Gryffindor back a single point. Happy?” She crossed her arms. “ONE point? For two rolls?”

Heather couldn’t help but laugh. If Hermione got a point, then she was sure she could get Slytherin at least double. They headed down to the library to study, and after lunch she went down to Professor Snape’s office.

She knocked on the door three times and waited. The door swung open and she stepped in, her essay in hand. He was sitting at his desk grading papers when he looked up and rolled his eyes.

“Let me guess… The werewolf essay.” He stared at her as she approached and stuck out his hand for it, snatching it from her hand. He looked through it quickly and handed it back. “A point to Slytherin.”

“Just one?” She looked over her essay and frowned. “Was it worse than Hermione’s?”

“They were both awful, but at least yours was more concise. Yes. A point. What more do you want for doing your homework? Applause?”

She blushed and looked away, frowning. “Do I leave it here or…”

Professor Snape leaned back and curled a finger to his lips, tapping them as he thought. “Keep it,” he said slowly. “You never know when… it’ll come in handy.”

“But all this is in the textbook anyways.”

He rolled his eyes and leaned forward, looking annoyed. “But I doubt Professor Lupin will manage to cover that this year.”

Heather nodded and walked out of his office, closing the door behind her. “We’re not THAT behind.” If he thought he could a better Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher why wasn’t he one already. She headed back to the common room and stuffed the two rolls in her trunk.

She looked around and closed the door, making sure Pansy and her other dormmates were not in sight. She very rarely got a chance to open up the books she had taken from the library. She picked up the transfiguration one and started a new section in her art journal. “‘Chapter one: Thirty supervise-required spells’.”

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[thessalian]

Thess vs Accountability

Okay, get me the hell off Twitter.

Look, I don’t care how much you love Buffy / Firefly etc. These were fairly enjoyable shows. However, their creator did and said some horrible abusive bullshit and if people want to call him on that and make damn sure he faces consequences for it? That’s their right.

I don’t care how much you love Cara Dune. Cara Dune is a good character. However, her actress did and said some antisemitic bullshit and if people want to call her on that and make damn sure she faces consequences for it? That is also their right.

Those consequences frankly should involve a shunning in their industries. They represent their employers’ professional cultures more than most, and we’ve seen an awful lot of employees getting fired for spewing horrible shit on Facebook. All their fame and talent means is that they’re more in the public eye, and thus even more of a representation of what their employer will accept in their corporate / employee culture.

Fame and talent do not exempt Gina Careno from consequences.

Fame and talent do not exempt Joss Whedon from consequences.

Fame and talent do not exempt JK Rowling from consequences.

Fame and talent does not exempt anyone who has ever been called to account for their shitty actions and opinions from consequences.

People deciding that they’re going to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions because a corporation that prides itself on family values and good guys decided that maybe they didn’t want someone likening the consequences Republicans face for their support of someone like Trump to the fucking Holocaust representing their company in any way? Yeah, okay, I don’t think Disney as a corporate entity is going to suffer. But what’s stupid is that the people doing this are the same ones who call other people stupid for boycotting companies whose corporate culture is anathema to our own beliefs. They’re decrying ‘cancel culture’ while literally cancelling Disney from their lives because they don’t like what Disney+ did. Hello, hypocrisy and, as per my last text post, a serious lack of basic awareness.

Is it a shame that we’re going to be without Cara Dune as The Mandalorian continues? Yes. But I’m sure the writers can fill the hole just fine, there are other actresses who maybe aren’t going to be assholes (or at least won’t use the platform their fame has granted them to glorify their ass-haberdashery) who could play that role if required, and at least I don’t have to feel conflicted about it the way I do about Rosario Dawson.

I think part of my issue with the internet is the tendency towards pithy sound-byte phrases. ‘Cancel culture’ is just the latest in a fairly long line of them, more or less starting with ‘privilege’. Privilege literally means ‘private law’ and is now being used to sneer at people who just want their job to earn them enough to survive and for their tax dollars to go somewhere other than, eventually, some mogul’s pocket. Anti-fascist was turned into ‘antifa’ and weaponised by far-right shitheads from the government on down. Terms that were meant to be about accountability are being turned into slurs. I don’t know how we reclaim those terms. It’s hard enough reclaiming ‘queer’.

So, yeah, glad to see Disney becoming consequences for using the fame Disney granted someone to express shitty opinions and some ill-conceived, antisemitic, revisionist Godwin’s Law bullshit. I don’t think that a bunch of MAGA assholes cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions is going to shut down the channel, so really I don’t care. They can deprive themselves if they want to; that’s their right. It’s not their right to call Careno’s firing ‘censorship’ or even ‘cancel culture’. It’s called ‘consequences and accountability’, and at least those of us happy with this decision aren’t hurting anyone. I mean, except for the oh-so-sensitive feelings of MAGA assholes who, if I recall, told us "fuck your feelings” an awful lot between 2016 and 2020, and if they don’t care about mine...

[hiddlescakes]

A post with meat

I don’t mean beef as in this is going to be pretty wordy.

I don’t really do cancel culture. I believe in Consequence culture but I don’t cancel entertainment or products. 

Now I don’t eat at Chic Fil A because their products are greasy and nasty and I don’t shop at Hobby Lobby because I got the rewards program at Michaels.

If you buy me a Chicken sandwich from Chic Fil A and I’m hungry then I will eat it because well I’m hungry and it was free food and if I get desperate for a craft item and Michaels doesn’t have it then I will go to Hobby Lobby. Hell there are a lot of people with etsy shops who need their supplies and Michaels doesn’t have it they will grit their teeth and go to Hobby Lobby. I will not give them grief, because they got bills to pay and they need to make their items to sell.

I will not unfriend someone because of what business they patronize and even if I refuse to go to a certain business I will state my reason...and that is it, no unfriending, no blocking.

That being said I will not give up on Kitkat’s, Strawberry Kwik and I will be dead and cold in the ground before I give up on Starbucks.

I am not going to play the purity game or be more socially more moral than though. I refuse to give up stuff I enjoy and make me happy.

That said JK Rowling is a garbage person and Joss Whedon is a disgusting piece of shit, but I will still enjoy Harry Potter, Buffy/Angel/Firefly/Avengers. I already own all the books and movies of Pottersom and I recieved the DVD box sets of the Buffyverse back in 2010 and we owned Firefly and Serenity before that. Dipshit aint getting any more of my money.

I am currently rewatching Buffy,,,started watching before the news story came out. Kaitlin watches now and then ans asks questions and boy she can predict the ships before they happen. Megan is more focused on her tablet or Animal Crossing and only watches the credits for the Grrr Argh.

I am going to continue to enjoy what I enjoy and refuse to stop watching TV/Movies, stop reading, stop listening to music and I refuse to not shop anywhere except for a paint your own pottery store in Ireland.

[deadlyanddelicate]

wasn't Maggie Stiefvater's husband....a cop..... :/ according to a 2016 interview: "He was a cop for ten years, but he loves helping people and so now he has a tow truck, which is kind of the same thing as being a cop, except you don’t have to wear a vest." ma'am. pls. i understand she isn't the one to speak on this and i have long ceased to look at her for social commentary outside of the books. but i hope she meant it when she said she's learning.

i did not know about this, but yes, after a quick google search, that seems to indeed be the case. my question is -- what am i meant to say to this? her husband’s not a cop anymore so we can’t accuse him of currently being complicit or ask him to quit -- bc he already has. can she go back in time to before he quit and un-marry him on grounds of being a cop? doesn’t seem likely either. 

i think it’s a good choice not to look to a celebrity for social commentary - and please note this is not just about maggie stiefvater but about celebrities in general. it’s never wise to idolise people, especially people we objectively do not know, because we can’t vouch for their morals and they are extremely likely to disappoint.

has stiefvater been a great ally? historically, no.

is stiefvater learning? i think she is. her new work, and her recent attitude on social media, seem to me like she has been listening. there’s more inclusivity, and more explicit representation (not that the lgbt rep in trc was subtle imo, but for example, people complained about her not using sexuality labels -- so now she is using them).

has her progress been perfect? no, there’s been bumps in the road (e.g.: the confirmation of blue being biracial, even if it’s technically good, definitely came across like “pulling a dumbledore”, and thus is not good rep); and obviously she could, and should, be doing more now. but i hate to break it to you, progress is rarely quick, rarely easy, and almost never perfect. and yes, that’s frustrating, but if we cancel, out of suspicion, everyone who does not immediately unlearn all their privileges and flawed attitudes at once... not a lot of people will be left. we want more allies, not fewer. even taking baby steps (even though they are clearly not enough) is better than openly and aggressively refusing to learn (*ahem* jk rowling anyone?).

as i mentioned before, i’m not interested in scrutinising how much celebrities are doing/not doing on social media right now, because it’s ultimately unproductive and i would rather expend my energies actively helping the cause. obviously this doesn’t apply to celebrities who are actively being hateful and bigoted, again see jkr. i wholeheartedly condemn anyone spewing divisiveness and prejudice. however i’m not interested in speculating on how celebrities feel/don’t feel about a certain issue.

but more to the point: i am not affiliated with maggie stiefvater, i don’t speak for her in any way, nor am i her agent/publisher, and therefore i have absolutely no way of influencing what she posts about on social media. if you wish to address her behaviour there (or her private life, though i don’t advise it) perhaps you should consider approaching her directly. 

[inserttemptitlehere]

An unasked for “moderate” take on TERFs v Trans rights

Nobody asked, I might get cancelled for this (probably by both sides), and honestly I don’t have much belief that this will even be read by many people. But it’s frustrating seeing people being condemned for reasonable fears and requests and I just feel the need to put my opinions out into the ether just to have them out there and so I can stop dwelling on them every time I see stuff like this happen again. 

Like, I just want to slap all the TERFs that purposefully misgender people and spout transphobic rhetoric. And I want to shake everyone who labels anything that complains about misogyny specific to cis women as TERF-y. God.

It seems like many “TERFs” are not actively malicious (although many definitely are), but are merely women who’ve been sexually assaulted or just been ground down by the patriarchy and are understandably (although not necessarily justifiably) scared/upset at the thought of any person with a male body coming into their safe spaces or into their fought for institutions. Whereas most trans people just want to live their lives and be accepted as the gender they identify as without wanting to cause any harm to anyone (although again, there are some they definitely do). 

I personally found much of JK Rowling’s recent essay to be fear mongering, but given that she suffered abuse from her husband I could understand and sympathize with why she had those fears even though I disagree with her conclusions about the actions society/government should take regarding them. I honestly just feel sad for her. I feel sad that the experiences she’s been through have made her so scared. I feel sad that despite the millions of dollars she’s donated to charity and work she’s done to make the world a better place she has now hurt so many people and this action will be what she’s remembered for. I feel sad that the extremely angry responses she’s gotten will most likely only solidify her fear and perpetuate her actions that will most likely cause more hurt for more people.

I’ll also say that her original tweet that sparked it all was valid! It is dehumanizing to reduce people to their genitals (ironically something people say TERFs do) and it erases the fact that almost all of these people are targeted because they are women. And it feels somewhat sexist as I’ve never seen an article refer to a certain group as “penis havers” or “semen producers”. I can, however, still see how it would be exclusive however to only refer to “people who menstruate” as “women”. A better wording would’ve been “women and trans men”. Because then no one would be left out. And don’t @ me about that somehow leaving out ‘trans women’, because guess what, there are cis women who don’t menstruate! If we can recognize that “Not all men” is a bad take, why on earth are we accepting “Not all women” as a correct one?

Look, not all cis women menstruate. Not all cis women can or do become pregnant. But we still label these as generic ‘women’s issues’ because they affect a large portion of women. But it should go both ways! I believe that makes the gross femininity trans women need to perform to qualify for hormones a ‘women’s issue’ and the difficulty of getting insurance to cover said hormones a ‘women’s issue’. Because they’re issues that affects a large portion of women. Heck, I know most Transmen find the fact that some TERFs include them in their feminism irritating, but I’m also fine with including specific issues affecting the ones that don’t feel that way as ‘feminist issues’.

I am 100% against misgendering people, am 100% supportive of including trans women’s specific issues as part of the overall fight to help women, and I will happily state “transwomen are women”. But, I do agree that there are a handful of cis women spaces/institutions that it becomes morally grey to accept transwomen into without any sort of provisions. Especially given the fact that if there were absolutely zero strings attached to legally identifying a certain way, then there are definitely cis people who would abuse the system. Personally, I don’t think we should completely structure our society based on these fears - although I can again understand the people who have not had as privileged of a life as I have feeling differently (even if I ultimately disagree with them).

Anyway my take on said spaces/institutions:

Bathrooms: Single parents of opposite sexed kids already use the opposite gendered bathroom to teach them how to use it (and should be allowed to). If a cis man wants to rape you in a bathroom that you’re alone in, I don’t think the societal norms are really going to stop him. And since trans people just want to use the bathroom in peace, let them. Maybe it’s because I’ve never felt comfortable peeing in public and thus never felt the bathroom to be a ‘safe space’, but I’ve never understood the argument against this.

Changing rooms: Go where you identify. If you start acting like a creep, then there should be some course of action to either get you banned or limit your access to said changing room. That policy should hold for cis or trans people.

Women’s support groups: Already made my opinion on this clear I hope. Although I will say that if talk about certain genitalia/bodily functions is triggering, it’s not right to shut down all discussion regarding those things for the other people there. Instead we should have, you know, trigger warnings so that everyone can either prepare themselves accordingly or leave the room and no one is triggered or feels like they are unable to talk about their issues.

Rape shelters: It is 100% valid for a cis woman that was a victim of rape to not want to share their space with someone with a working penis. If there is absolutely nothing that can be done to make said person feel safe, then it should be the right of the shelter to refuse long term stay to the person causing that issue (through no fault of their own) - although the shelter should do everything it can to make sure the trans woman has a place to stay/go. On the other hand, if a trans woman was already there before such a victim, it would not be right to toss out the trans woman to grant access to the cis woman who has the problem with them.

Sports: I personally don’t know enough of the science behind it, but it seems to me that bare minimum they shouldn’t be allowed to compete without doing hormone therapy. And even then the skeletal differences and remaining hormonal differences may still prevent things from being reasonably fair (although I wouldn’t know). It’s definitely not fair to let a trans person pre-hormones compete on the team their gender matches with. Honestly, in an ideal world we’d somehow have an objective way to sort sports into co-ed groups based on athletic ability similar to how weight classes work for wrestling.

Prisons: Non violent crime? Go where you identify. Violent crime? Sorry, gotta go based on your sex (unless you’ve had bottom surgery). It is immoral to lock a convicted rapist with a penis in a cell with women who have no way of getting away from them. I mean, maybe we could have ‘wings’ for trans people so they could go to the prison they identify as and they’d just have separate cells. But until that becomes the norm, the few violent trans criminals should not be allowed to go where they identify.

Kids: Not an institution, but definitely a hot topic. Personally, I think only puberty blockers until they hit adulthood and extensive therapy to make sure that they are in fact trans. Admittedly JK Rowling’s essay about this bit sounded a bit like, “The spooky trans cult is coming for your neurodivergent and gay children!” But it did have small feeling of truth to it as well. As a GNC, cis, autistic woman who had dysphoria as a teen I also worry that I might have been incorrectly diagnosed as trans if I’d been born later. But I don’t think it’s something we as a society need to be extremely worried about or use as an excuse to make things harder on trans kids and adults. We just need to make sure that kids get the therapy they need to sort out whether they’re trans or just having the common dysphoria you have as a teen and chafing against gender roles. We can rubber stamp adults if they want, it’s only kids that should have to go through some minor hoops.

Finally, on being “Gender Critical”. I have to say, the idea of smashing the concept of gender and everybody just living as they are with no societal expectations for them to be one way or another based loosely on their biological sex sounds wonderful. I’m just upset that so many who support this concept are so transphobic because technically in that future there would be no ‘trans’ people (except those that suffer dysphoria) and they feel this gives them the right to act horribly towards trans people. I did recently talk to some TRAs who explained to me that, unlike ‘Gender Critical’ proponents, their ‘gender’ model is split into multiple components. That you’ve got your biological sex (your parts), your gender identity (what you feel you are), your gender presentation (how you dress and act), and gender roles (how society expects you to act based on your gender). So it seems to me, that we can still reach a version of that wonderful future that doesn’t erase people. Smashing gender roles and the idea that there is a ‘correct’ way to present as a gender would achieve ‘female liberation’ while still allowing for people who still desire to identify a certain way. We shouldn’t completely do away with gender, just the things that society expects from it. 

[clairebeauchampfan]

So, JK Rowling is being ‘cancelled’. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry

I loved her Harry Potter books. My kids devoured them (we had to buy two copies, one for each.....of the parents, silly). Fabulously rich, she is a philanthropist who did all the right things, patron of Amnesty International, supporter of the Labour Party, feminist.... Then she started getting involved in politics and righteously  pontificating, like wealthy celebs believe they are  entitled to do, on all sorts of things: the failings of the Conservative government, her support for Labour, the campaign for Scottish independence (she voted ‘No’...aaargh!). And now she’s come out as less than committed to the Trans cause. OMG! She actually had the gall to imply that women who don’t/didn’t  normally menstruate (there are medical exceptions, of course) are not women.....and that whipping off a man’s ‘wedding tackle’ and growing a pair of breasts doesn’t actually make you a woman, no matter what you say you are! She’s a TERF!  (trans exclusionary radical feminist, I think that means). How bloody dare she! Worse than bloody Germaine Greer! 

So now staff at Hachette UK - her UK publishers - working on J K Rowling's new book The Ickabog ‘have threatened to down tools over the author's recent comments affecting the transgender community’. And those former child actors whose acting careers derive entirely from their popular roles in the Harry Potter film series, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe have all stepped forward to condemn her. I wonder if that’s from conviction, or from fear of being monstered on social media and being ‘cancelled’ themselves. Might they be members of the invertebrate tendency? Presumably their next roles will be in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, playing Brutus, Cassius and Casca.

PS for what its worth, despite being a small ‘c’ conservative I’m sufficiently liberal to believe that adults can dress how they want and call themselves what they like, even reassign their gender - ouch! I draw the line though at adults, especially Doctors, encouraging adolescent children, who are confused enough already, to have permanently life changing operations, and I’m not sure it’s fair to have former men compete in women’s sport, or put women armed with a penis in women’s prisons.  And I find unisex toilets kind of icky. But hey, you do you! It’s a free country...

...unless you say the wrong thing. Just as well she hasn’t got a statue.... 

#cancel culture

[heyheyitsstillgay]

I'm literally begging you to spill the tea on b*tch h*rtman why does everyone hate him

Me?? You're leaving this responsibility to Me?? Oof.

Aight.

Season 3 bad

Butch is very much an ideas person. After Steve Marmel left the show just went downhill. There was one writer that wanted it to go the grey ghost angle and another who wanted amethyst ocean and it just didn't work and then it got cancelled so the end relationship was so rushed it was terrible.

Changed the lore of his show half way through

So this is mostly Nick's fault, they thought the show being about ghosts was too gritty and they agreed to change it from being about real dead people who were once alive to monsters from another dimension. This is the change that Steve marmel was fired over iirc. Now we have ghost tornados. You can't just change lore like that half way through. Some people think that because he was born again midway through dp that he wanted this change to the lore so the dp universe wouldn't go against the bible's teachings. We don't know that for sure though.

Like JK Rowling returning with needless headcanons except they're not even an attempt at rep it's just "Jazz replaced her life and ambitions with being a lonely woman in a chair, while Maddie becomes a ghost pimp and Jack replaced half his body with robotics."

Remember how he destroyed Vlads character in PP? He still does it. It's like he doesn't remember his own show. In a 10 years later video, Jazz is completely out of character and the family is just okay with Maddie walking around with ghost slaves on leashes. The Fentons are genius' in their own right. And he's reduced them to Danny's sidekicks.

Doesn't appreciate his employees

See these quote tweets when fop was given a reboot he toasted to himself and God while surrounded by the artists that massively helped him to make the show.

Voted trump

He apparently regrets it but still follows trumps family and a collection of far right people

Transphobic

In 107 facts about Danny Phantom fact 94 at 17:00 sticks out like a sore thumb. At the time, trans Danny theories were making the rounds on Tumblr. He'd already denied it was true. A lot of the theories draw Danny in his swimwear because his vest looks a lot like a full length binder and he's the only guy at the pool not showing his chest. The fact states he's said before that it's because of sunburns. It was in an audio interview a while ago where the interviewer suggested that that could be the reason and he decided it was canon then and there. It wasn't true while the show was being made. It's a question of if it's a coincidence that this video was released around peak trans Danny theory time.

There's also this screenshot of a deleted tweet that he never apologised for.

And the episode of fop with reversed gender roles treats men doing traditionally feminine things as a big joke.

Evoked ship wars that made fandom a space for arguements and anger

To summarise, he had a blog platform where people would post art. Most ship stuff was amethyst ocean and then p*mpus p*p existed, he scolded people not because it's an underage ship but because it made him look bad. People responded saying he was just homophobic. It split the phandom in half.

This shows recounts of the war

And this is a summary

Oaxis scam

Oaxis was a family friendly streaming service that he started a Kickstarter for. Here's a good post that went around at the time that talks about it. In the end he surpassed his goal last minute thanks to thousands of dollars donated suddenly by Christians and Churches.

People who didn't realise what they invested in were unable to get their money back and are still waiting for their promised cameos in original shows according to high tier rewards.

The 'family friendly network' (that was all the info given) was actually going to be a Christian streaming service combining Netflix and YouTube. You can upload your own content or stream original content. If the content you upload isn't Christian Approved(tm) then real people would take down the video.

Here's a video of when he went around speaking to churches and actually explaining his thoughts and goals with Oaxis. Hes also disrespectful of mental illness in this video, claiming that violent media is to blame.

Big headed

He's just so full of himself, I watched 1 of his shows, that wasn't my whole childhood. Most animators draw themselves jokingly and then he is very flattering towards himself. He changed his name from Elmer to Butch I mean what more do you need. He thinks God put him on Earth to spread the Lords message via his media following.

He made some of those racist Ugandan knuckles memes

He did edit a video of people doing a racist Ugandan impression, I can't find it I think he deleted it without an apology. I did find this though.

He steals tweets from people

A dp meme page he follows

This even has the exact same tv photo

Then this was followed by this

Refuses to take criticism

He thinks that people call him out because they're trying to take him down.

He only accepts critique from people who have similar accomplishments to himself

'Jokingly' blamed Tara Strong for her best friends suicide

Tara was friends with Mary who previously voiced Timmy Turner, here Elmer says that Mary killed herself because Tara replaced her.

Supports the idea that autism can be cured

He and his wife held a seminar with a collection of people who had mental or physical illnesses that they believed were cured by God. One of them was someone who apparently used to be autistic but is all better now thanks to the Lord. Stuff like this supports the idea that autism is awful and needs to be cured, this is harmful to autistic people.

Doesn't pay his artists and uses friendship to get cheap labour

KurotheArtist collaborated with butch for a while, animating some of his videos and providing ideas and helping with scripts for ones like the draw my life story. Butch is in breach of contract and owes Kuro $1400 for his work on the ImagiNathan project that was later cancelled. Kuro made a video about this which also mentions the whole "curing autism with prayer" as his reason for finally talking about it publicly.

Was caught tracing someone else's art for a $200 commission

His commissions are a minimum of $100. Which is a lot, most of its just for the price of his signature at the bottom tbh. It's $200 for full colour. This video came out, overlaying a picture of the character he was payed to draw over the commission image. Even using an image reference, it lines up far too well.

[geosmin-smell]

'Indian feminist Vaishnavi Sundar has had screenings of her latest film pulled.'

"I am a filmmaker, writer and a women’s rights activist. I spend my time advocating for equal opportunities, contraceptive rights, education and the empowerment of women and girls. I centre women in all my work. When I started screening my film on workplace sexual harassment across India, I was hoping to raise public consciousness. But What Was She Wearing? was India’s first feature-length documentary on the subject.

I was cancelled for my tweets on transgenderism

Over the past few years, accounts of people being ‘cancelled’ appeared on my timeline. It was a phenomenon I had no proper understanding of, and the ramifications of it seemed exaggerated. Until it happened to me.

When I was first introduced to feminism, I followed the pervasive ‘choice’ model. It did not take me very long to find it antithetical to the women’s rights the Suffragettes fought for. It made oppression itself seem lucrative and enticing. It was when I began voicing my opinion on the perils of liberal feminism that cancel culture started making sense to me. I could see that women were being banned for speaking against patriarchy.

However, I encountered strong resistanceto the film from liberal feminist gatekeepers. Women who would send me private messages asking for professional favours and contacts, and congratulate me on the film, refused to acknowledge my presence on their public timelines or retweet anything about the film. At first, I thought this was my eternal bad luck or some flaw in my personality.

Then I began getting a series of rejections from liberal and left-leaning publications which had previously accepted every piece I sent in. One editor responded by saying she couldn’t accept my pieces as the publication was short-staffed. But she published three pieces from a male writer around the same time.

Last month, I discovered the reason I had become a social outcast in liberal-feminist bastions. I was in the US for an exchange programme, and I wanted to use the opportunity to screen my film at various places while I toured the country. One screening was scheduled in New York, organised by the Polis Project. The proverbial i’s were dotted, posters designed and I was even introduced to a female Indian moderator. But a week before the screening, the organiser (also a woman of Indian origin) sent me an email. She said the event would be cancelled because of my ‘transphobic’ views.

Many moons ago I got into a Twitterspat about pre-op trans women in women’s shelters, prisons, bathrooms and women’s sports. And someone had brought the tweets in question to the organisers’ attention. As a result, the Polis Project thought it was only fair to shelve a screening of a film about a pressing topic that affects women across all social strata in society. All because the filmmaker believes biological sex is not a social construct, that women’s sex-based oppression is real, that housing people with male genitalia in spaces with victims of male sexual violence can be harrowing to women inmates, that mental illnesses like autogynephilia and other dysphorias can cause dangerous, irrevocable damage, and that gender theorists are erasing women, much like patriarchy does.

I grew up in Avadi in the south of India. I have spent most of my life working with marginalised women. But I was simply not the right flavour of woke for the postmodern, queer-theory espousing desis of Manhattan.

I have since confronted the editors of the publications that blacklisted me. It appears that Indian trans-rights activists googled my name and wrote to every outlet I had ever been published in, telling them about my ‘TERFy’ tweets.

By being outcast, I was essentially being told that the feminism I live by – the feminism of Mary Wollstonecraft, Emmeline Pankhurst and Andrea Dworkin – was exclusionary because it rejected males in female safe spaces. My intersectionality wasn’t expansive enough to accommodate men. My feminism did not embrace the ‘choice’ of carrying water for patriarchy. Advocating for women’s safety was ‘anti-trans’, the meaning of which I am still struggling to understand. I am not ‘anti’ anything except the endless derivative forms of misogyny.

Radical feminists like me have suffered a loss of livelihood, have been heckled, cancelled and de-platformed because liberal-feminist organisations would much rather derail important feminist work than put our differences aside and show solidarity on common struggles that affect all women. It is no wonder that ardent feminists like Ayaan Hirsi Ali have to go to publications like the Wall Street Journal or on conservative talk shows to have their voices heard.

How can so many liberal feminists call themselves ‘liberal’ and laud pornography, an industry in which women are brutalised (and often killed)? How can you encourage children to be ‘drag queens’ performing sexual acts for adults, in the name of gender ideology? I wish they wouldn’t call it a movement anymore. It is a cult that extols men, who are often not really ‘queer’ but who want to take advantage of ‘self-identifying’ as a woman in order to gain oppression points and external validation.

Over the course of my advocacy, I became acquainted with several trans folk who have no delusions about biological sex. Funny how even they face ostracisation within their community for calling it out. A number of young adults who have been coerced into taking puberty-blockers and undergoing irreversible bodily mutilation have come forth and created a de-transitioners community. But people are far too ready to ignore their horror stories and instead give them stick.

I agree with what JK Rowling recently said— that we should all have the freedom to be who we want and to be with anybody who is willing to love us. But to strip women of their livelihoods for stating biological facts is an affront to common sense.

Liberal feminists would do well to take their heads out of social media la-la land and come from their citadels to meet women in the real world. Let them take their cue from Labour’s recent routing in the UK elections, in which thousands of women spoke through their ballot paper, and told the pronoun-stating, virtue-signalling Labour Party that the currency of wokeism has few buyers."

[awriterscertaincosmicuniverse]

So recently we had to read this novel for french class its called le chevalier double and its honestly really cool except that the ending was really poor and kind of (?) rushed i guess. Anyway i wasnt satisfied. So now i'm overthrowing the author Theophile gautier just like the danny phandom with butch hartman and the harry potter phandom with jk rowling and since its been like 140 years since his death SO now oluf is my son because he didnt get much love from theophile so im gonna give him all the love he deserves. Also Brenda is cancelled.