Sunday, February 26, 2023

Links - 26th February 2023 (2 - Trans Mania: JK Rowling/Hogwarts Legacy)


emo tomboy trans gf: 🧐 this is the hardest spot the difference
"Corporate needs you to find the differences between this picture and this picture. *Mein Kampf* *Hogwarts Legacy*"
"They're the same picture"
TRAs are really this deluded (this was blocked by ifunny)

Meme - "The staircase to the Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory was accessible from the Gryffindor Common Room. It was enchanted by Godric Gryffindor to turn into a slide should any boy attempt to enter it."
Staircase: "You will never be a woman"

Meme - Ducksfortea @ducksfortea: "Ten years ago, Harry Potter fans had a lightning bolt tattoo. These days they have two."

Meme - Jesse Singal @jessesingal: "A good sign you're on the correct side of an online argument is when you need to ban anyone who disagrees with you"
"J.K. Rowling Isn't Concerned About Anti-Trans Backlash Tarnishing Her Legacy: 'I'll Be Dead'"
"r/entertainment. For news and discussion of the entertainment industry."
entertainment-ModTeam: "Rowling is a vicious transphobe.  This is not up for debate.  Her hatespeech is well-documented.  Transphobes will be banned and that includes people who pretend Rowling did nothing wrong."
Huxley was spot on on crusades and mistreating others

'Harry Potter's' Evanna Lynch Says JK Rowling Helped Her Get Through an Eating Disorder at Age 11 - "The 27-year-old said that when she was 11 or 12 years old, she was battling an eating disorder.  "Anyone who's had an eating disorder knows it completely takes over your life," Lynch said. The actress added: "The only thing that could actually take my attention apart from that was the 'Harry Potter' series."  In addition to being "the biggest fan" of the franchise and the quirky character Luna, Lynch said that she eventually started exchanging letters with Rowling.  "I started writing to JK Rowling and she wrote back and we became pen friends after that," Lynch said. "I was in and out of hospital and I would be getting these letters."  The actress went on to say that "her books and her kindness really made me want to live again." In January 2006, Lynch discovered the open casting call for Luna Lovegood and landed the part."
Rowling is a literal Nazi

Meme - allsortsoffuckedup: "Can't stop thinking about the TikTok I saw (I can't find it again) where the person says that the wizard game has caused us to witness the moment that most of the millennial generation migrate into the boomer mindset of "my nostalgia is more important than your rights""

Meme - DondeEsta LaCarne  "My favorite thing is "allies" complaining about and regretting their Harry Potter lifestyles, intense fandom and tattoos. Almost like youthful choices aren't always for the best in the long term"
JC Calloway: "I love it that you dopes helped sell her game with your cringey boycott"
Oliver Klotzoff: "What angry mob? People that want to sit and play a video game are now an angry mob?"
Michael Morales: "no, the angry mob she made was a bunch of trains pissed that they're not accepted by an author of a popular book series"

Meme - "I dont know any trans in real life i can play video games guilt free"
Cody Brindle: "Incorrect
Mod"

Meme - This post is so relatable I'm going to show it to my therapist: Andrea Marie - "Admin Announcement: We are not allowing any posts or discourse supporting JK Rowling (JKR), Harry Potter, spin offs, any subsequent series, or Hogwarts Legacy. Failure to abide by this request will result in a ban."
Liberals are obsessed with therapy, so

Meme - "Videogame company: *Releases some goofy wizard game*
The alphabet-activists: TO WAR!!!"

Annie Dro on Twitter - "Not sure if people realize this, but the majority of hate and doxxing that streamers are receiving from the wizard game is manufactured by right wingers to damage the reputation of trans people, and its working flawlessly. Psyops are at an all time high rn."
Amazing cope. TRAs are so dishonest
"gaslight, strawman, ad homenim....if it doesn't contain at least one then it isn't a leftist argument."
"Koataku and IGN are right wing? Lay off the Jenkem."

Meme - "Definitely not a mental illness
Callum @AkkadSecretary: The clearly sane people are modding in propaganda flags to Hogwarts Legacy to cover up paints bec they can't live 5 minutes without being validated."

Meme - "The troons are trying to out schizo us fellas.
TRANS PEOPLE NEED TO CHILL! HOGWARTS LEGACY IS JUST A GAME. NO ONE IS OUT TO GET YOU. JK ROWLING ISN'T EVEN REALLY A TRANS-PHOBE, SHE HAS SIMPLY BEEN MISUNDERSTOOD. SHE CARES ABOUT WOMEN'S WELLBEING. THAT'S WHY BIOLOGICAL MALES SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED IN FEMALE SPACES. IT'S A MATTER OF SAFETY!"
"Brianna Ghey 2007-2023"
TRAs stretching fantastically as usual. If anything bad happens to any trans person, everyone who has said anything that goes against the trans agenda is personally responsible

Meme - "This is a shofar. A traditional Jewish horn. The year 1612 was the start of the anti-Jewish "Fettmilch Rebellion" in Germany. This game is TRYING to be anti Semitic
GOBLIN ARTEFACT: Horns like this were used by goblins during the 1612 Goblin Rebellion to rally troops and generally annoy witches and wizards. This horn was discovered in the aftermath of the rebellion behind the Hog's Head Inn, with a wedge of gorgonzola stuffed inside - presumably to mute it."
I hear if you reverse the source code of the game, it says "commit trans genocide" too

JK Rowling critic forced to publicly apologize for calling her a Nazi after lawsuit threat - ""Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling appears to have successfully used the legal baton to force a critic who called her a "Nazi" to apologize... One Twitter user named JJ Welles posted a now-deleted tweet that said Rowling was "a nazi or at least has views that align with them."  Rowling responded with a threat of legal action in December, "Okey dokey, JJ, we’ll play it your way. Give my regards to your solicitor!"  On Monday, two months after the Nazi accusation, Welles issued a retraction... Rowling is set to release a podcast series titled "The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling," which is scheduled to premiere Feb. 21. In the podcast, Rowling talks "about the controversies surrounding her – from book bans to debates on gender and sex.""

Meme - "I'm not gonna play the game because you bully people!! *JK Rowling*
*Stop Hate* Instead I'm gonna bully people for playing the game."

Meme - "When your mom asks you what you did all day after being in your room spoiling Hogwarts Legacy
I fought the Nazis. *soldier boy*"

Meme - "Hogwarts Legacy Popular user-defined tags for this product
Villain Protagonist, Capitalism, Genocide Simulator"
The media hate "review bombing", unless it's by their side

KEEM 🍿 on Twitter - "Trans activist created a website to detect if streamers have played Hogwarts Legacy so they know who to cancel. #DramaAlert"

The 'Hogwarts Legacy' Boycott Failed - "Hogwarts Legacy is already proving to be a hit, becoming the top-earning game on Steam, the best-selling game on the Epic Store, and the deluxe and regular editions holding the top two spots on Amazon's best-selling games for the PS5. Amazon is also reporting robust business on Xbox Series X, with the game's two deluxe editions and the regular editions holding the top three best-selling games spots. The news will surely come as a major disappointment to Rowling's army of detractors, who had launched a campaign to see the highly anticipated game relegated to clearance bins after failing to sell.  And it's not for lack of effort. Twitch streamer Will Overgard, also known as Viking Blonde, last month shared a viral video on social media in which he urged his followers not to purchase the game. "Please do not support the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game," he said in a TikTok video, which he also posted on Twitter. "Friends, colleagues, cohorts, the whole lot of you. I'm asking you very sincerely, please do not stream it, don't make YouTube videos about it, don't buy it, and don't bloody pre-order it.  "The reason being is that you may not be aware that by supporting this title, you are essentially aligning yourself with some really heinous transphobic values. J.K. Rowling, aka Joanne, has made it extremely clear that they see the success of this title as being vindication of their transphobic views, that by this title doing well that means that they were correct.  "And honestly, you just have to look on the Steam forums to see the kind of people that are cheering for this game. Please don't be among them." While the post was met with some support on Twitter, a number of people commented under the video that they intended to purchase the game simply to spite the people campaigning for its failure."

Meme - Kukuruyo: "Gamergate being right yet again"
massage gun kelly @treswritesstuff: "video games aren't really my lane but when I was reviewing comics for IGN about ten years ago we were in fact not really allowed to give bad reviews"
moby dickgirl: "IGN's review of Hogwarts Legacy is very weird because it reads like they wanted to give it a bad review but weren't allowed to"

Mark Hamill does unthinkable and likes a JK Rowling tweet - "In Hamil's defense, it was a funny tweet. A trans activist said that they are more of a woman than JK Rowling will ever be. Rowling, who has fifty-seven years of experience being a woman, took a break from counting money to offer a snarky, two-word response. Hamill liked the tweet for reasons known only to the actor. Unbeknownst to the former Jedi, it set off a tremor in the Force. Not the good Force. The Dark Side of the Force. Slacktivists! The ones who troll Twitter policing who likes what tweet, to make sure no one they are a fan of ever likes the "wrong" tweet. If you are saying, "wow Brodigan, these losers have NO lives whatsoever," you'd be right! As said, they are slacktivists... What I think happened is that Mark Hamill believed he was liking a feminist YASSSSS SLAY KWEEEEEEEN tweet and was expressing his approval of Rowling owning a sexist hater. What he did not realize is that because India is trans and trans outranks women on the left's pound-for-pound most marginalized rankings, what the actor approved of was a transphobic tweet. He now needs to be burned at the stake unless he begs for forgiveness from the anonymous nobodies chirping at him."

Do people around you notice the JK Rowling memory holing? : KotakuInAction - "Like, I've never been into Harry Potter I'm no fanboy, but it still bugs me.  I'm not the only one who notices right? This woman and Harry Potter were like cultural darlings of the left for so long. There was even an article in the Mary Sue, I think, about how Harry Potter fans tended to be anti-Trump, there were scholar analysis of this series.  But now suddenly it's a mediocre to shitty book series and it's literally Mein Kampf. It was never good, it was always istaphobic. The woke and the neolibs are passing the buck at each other to who loved her most.  There's gotta be other people who notice this, right? Has anyone outside the internet brought it up? I'm not going insane?"

Bookbinder, 23, removes JK Rowling's name from Harry Potter novels amid furore over 'transphobia' - "A bookbinder has removed JK Rowling's name from Harry Potter novels amid the furore over the author's alleged 'transphobia' - and replaced them with new covers, which are sold for £140 each.  Artist Laur Flom embarked on the project to create a 'safe space' for fans who struggle to align themselves with the writer's views... an LGBTQ activist commended Rowling for her 'bravery' and told her followers that people are 'burning the wrong witch' after she was unable to find any evidence that the Harry Potter author is transphobic.  EJ Rosetta, a writer and columnist for HuffPost, who has been vocal herself over trans issues, said in a series of Tweets that JK Rowling 'is not an 'intolerable transphobe'', but stood up for women's rights when she could have sat back."
These are the people who go on about "white fragility". Not to mention this is illegal

Meme - "Wizard game look good tho" Charlie Davis: "it's actually a bit disturbing that you'd say this, the HP universe outside of being transphobic is also antisemitic and racist. It's almost like the graphic design matters more than marginalized peoples lives. Wouldn't expect anything else from a cishet *white* man tho."
Cody Robertson: "oh I'm not allowed to like this game? My bad"
Andrew Swaney: "Do you care more about trans lives or an 80$ game?"

Some guy hits on a lady in an elevator in 2011, and now buying a Harry Potter game is a political statement. such a shit timeline : KotakuInAction - "I find it funny how we've come full circle and Harry Potter is evil again. It's just that now it's the other end of the cultural zeitgeist condemning it."
"the entertainment industry back then never bended itself backwards to please those Karens the way they are doing it to please these idiots."
"It's not just "the same personality types". They use literally the same arguments, word for word. The only difference is that they've swapped out far-right-coded boogiemen and slurs for far-left-coded boogiemen and slurs; so instead of complaining based on zero evidence that this Evil Witch is using real Satanism to seduce children into summoning real demons and thus anyone who DOESN'T join in their hate is a demon-worshipper, they complain that this evil [Redacted] is using real [Redacted] to seduce children into [redacted] real [redacted], and thus anyone who doesn't join in their hate is a [redacted]."
"At least religion offers salvation."
"Yes. The far left's "original sin" is being straight, white, male, or any combination of the three.  But you're always a sinner (-ist or -phobic) and there's no repenting. There's no Jesus-like figure to pat you on the back and tell you it'll be ok. There's no heaven, Nirvana, paradise, or anything like that to look forward to.  Just hell, hell, and more hell. If you're lucky maybe you'll just end up sweating your balls off instead of getting tossed into a fire pit."
"Atheism+ was the larval form of the woke cult."
"The schism basically marked the end of online atheism as any kind of legitimate force."
"Just because they call their God "diversity" and their dogma "acceptance", doesn't make them not just another religion trying to tell me how to live my life."

Meme - "When you see someone call people "problematic" for buying the new Harry Potter game but they're eating m&m's, wearing Nikes, and using an iPhone."

Meme - Fritz Imperial @Fritz_Impe...: "Left wing literature, 2013 *Harry Potter*
Right wing literature, 2023 *Harry Potter*"

JK Rowling transphobic? How I went from spreading this false narrative to seeing right through it – EJ Rosetta - "I can’t remember the first time I saw the “JK is transphobic!” narrative but in PR there is ‘the Rule of Seven’ which says that once you have seen a brand name, TV show or whatever seven times you remember it. This is how the Rowling myth was implanted into my head. Largely, LGBTQ media have determined this false narrative to be a ‘top seller’ and have long stopped caring if it is true. I am ashamed to say that I denounced Rowling and even said I would burn my childhood copy of Harry Potter, so wrongfully banished to the cupboard under my stairs. In 2020, after I saw yet another “JK’s at it again!” article, Rowling had been cemented in my mind as a hateful, transphobic bigot. Then someone came along and changed that. Rowling herself.  She didn’t knock on my door or bump into me on the street, it was her words that changed me for the better. To begin with, though, I wasn’t reading them of my own accord.  I had been tasked with writing a clickbait article entitled “20 transphobic JK Rowling quotes we’re done with”, which I had enthusiastically accepted. However, while collecting my list of quotes, it felt like they must be wearing an invisibility cloak. I couldn’t find a single one! For example, in July, Rowling tweeted a thread detailing her concerns about the medicalisation of trans children. It was branded “transphobic” because it asked the-question-that-must-not-be-asked about the reality of medical care, still in its infancy, being applied to children. On second look, I saw that Rowling simply concurs with professionals that lifelong medicalisation and loss of fertility is not in the best interests of children. That is actually care for trans people, not condemnation of them.  She was saying “there are downsides that I feel should be discussed” not “I hate trans people”. She had taken the time to research the matter, understood what could be holding back progression for trans healthcare and raised awareness for its betterment. That, I would say, is pro-trans, not anti-trans.  It dawned on me: JK wasn’t transphobic, she was standing up for women’s rights in a real and meaningful way. I was surprised anew as I found that, when I approached her words in an unbiased way, I agreed with every point she made. But hang on, wasn’t this woman a raging bigot? I checked my social media and yes, there I was band-wagoning about book-burning and burying her reputation. I wanted to support the trans community, having been a proud ally and advocate for years (even considering coming out as non-binary), and it’s the number-one rule of ally-ship that if a trans person says so, it is so. My head started to hurt as two completely opposing truths collided. What in the faulty bludger was I to do next?! With no sorting hat handy to tell me where I belonged, I started with my friends, mainly LGBTQ people with emphasis on T, who all made the same claim: Rowling is transphobic. I asked for proof. The excuses I was given in lieu of actual evidence were ridiculous and hilarious in equal measure... She is being judged by the book-cover someone else has put on her, and that sin has been committed largely by LGBTQ media, of which I am part... There it was, niggling at me: my conscience. I realised how wrong this all was! This whole “Rowling is transphobic” narrative has been a hack job of monumental proportions and we in the LGBTQ community are the fools who missed out most. We cursed one of our biggest allies, denounced and defamed her... Safe to say, I am very, very fired. Having refused to write the article, I lost my job. What I do have back, though, are the books I loved as a child, torn and worn from years of being read and reread, replaced to pride of place on my shelves again, a reminder of what journalistic integrity means. As for JK’s response, she retweeted my words and thanked me. It struck me how incredibly gracious she was, after what me and my kind have done to her. A class act as always.  It is important to admit when you were wrong. Hard and humiliating? That too. Saving the best Potter line for last, I’ll end with this: journalists and content creators have been told we will be guaranteed a byline if we can come up with a good ‘JK Rowling is anti-trans!” article, but we would do well to remember: We Must Not Tell Lies."

JK Rowling attacked again on BBC as broadcaster forced to make new apology to author - "The BBC has been forced into a grovelling apology after allowing a claim suggesting JK Rowling is transphobic to go unchallenged on air...   The corporation admitted the segment in question had not met their editorial standards...   It is not the first time the BBC have been forced to apologise over comments surrounding JK Rowling, after a pundit on Evan Davis’ Radio 4 show accused Rowling of “having a platform that she uses to push transphobia.”"

Hogwarts Legacy has cracked Steam's top 10 all-time player records, passing Apex Legends and Warzone 2 - "Hogwarts Legacy is now the ninth-biggest Steam game of all time based on concurrent player count, surpassing the records of even juggernauts like Apex Legends, Warzone 2, and Valheim."

The world's biggest charity speedrunning event just banned Hogwarts Legacy | PC Gamer - "The world's biggest charity speedrunning event, Games Done Quick (opens in new tab) (GDQ), has banned speedruns of Hogwarts Legacy and other Harry Potter games in the most recent iteration of its speedrun submission guide (opens in new tab)... GDQ doesn't explain why, exactly, Hogwarts Legacy and other Harry Potter games have been banned from future GDQ events, but it's difficult to see it as anything other than a response to the association with Harry Potter author JK Rowling (opens in new tab), whose transphobic comments have come to eclipse pretty much every creative work associated with her in the last few years. It's likely that GDQ, which has featured several trans streamers and recently cancelled an event in Florida in part due to that state's anti-LGBT+ legislation (opens in new tab), simply has no desire to associate itself with the author."
I saw someone claim that no one is upset over Hogwarts Legacy and it's just right wing echo chambers pretending that people are

J.K. Rowling’s insufferably woke foes try to cancel Harry Potter game - "Is it any wonder society has become so tribal and antagonistic when we are constantly told that seemingly every choice we make — from the movies we watch, to what chicken sandwiches we eat, to the books we read — has political implications; when even the most mundane conversations over what sports teams we like or what music we listen to has the potential to cause significant rifts among our peers?... Not only have there been calls to boycott the game, which Rowling reportedly played no part in developing, some have even begun boycotting Twitch, a site that allows people to watch others play video games, because it displays “Hogwarts Legacy” ads. Sites that review games and cover the industry have clearly been grappling with how to write about “Hogwarts Legacy” without provoking the ire of trans activists and woke ideologues.  Over at Engadget, senior editor Jessica Conditt felt the need to publish a 1,000-word piece explaining why she plans to write a review, in which she labels Rowling as “transphobic” and touts her own experience as a “bisexual woman” who found solace in queer Harry Potter fan fiction around the turn of the century.  Even so, Conditt admits that writing two sentences about “Hogwarts Legacy” was “slightly frightening … knowing the condemnation I could receive,” as some have taken it upon themselves to “admonish anyone who chooses to play or stream it.” Others have not been so brave and instead chose to write essays about why they absolutely refuse to review the game.  Stacey Henley, editor of TheGamer, wrote a long-winded piece patting herself on the back for “not covering Hogwarts Legacy with a review”...   Writing for GamesHub, Percy Ranson starts out saying that, “If something is good, we should be able to enjoy and endorse it, even if we acknowledge the faults of its progenitor,” but, publicly grappling with cognitive dissonance, goes on to make clear that, “I have no interest in that kind of ‘fairness’ or objectivity” in this case. “Hogwarts Legacy cannot and should not be judged solely on its own merits,” writes Ranson. “If you purchase this game … you are making a choice that will harm the transgender community.” Really? Pray tell.  Ranson admits that this “statement might seem like quite a stretch,” but argues that buying the game will provide financial support to Rowling and “inevitably leads to more people being exposed to Rowling’s hateful beliefs, and potentially adopting it themselves.”  On the contrary, a good case can be made that writing articles like Ranson’s does more to expose people to Rowling’s views than simply introducing readers to a game that is in no way anti-trans (the developers went out of their way to ensure players could create transgender characters). But this is more about writers virtue signalling to their audiences than contributing to a nuanced debate on the issues. Judging from these articles, you would think that Rowling is the second coming of Hitler. But “Harry Potter” is not “Mein Kampf,” and Rowling has not advocated for anyone to be harmed. What she has done is posted a series of humorous tweets pointing some of the absurdities that come out the mouths of radical gender theorists and the harms caused when their views are applied to public policy. It all started, according to Rowling’s account, when she accidentally hit the “Like” button on a tweet while doing research for one of her characters, which was “deemed evidence of wrongthink.”...   These sentiments — live your life how you please but don’t impede the free speech rights of others — would have been uncontroversial among liberals in the past, but have become completely unacceptable to those who adhere to the rigid ideology of woke progressivism.   At other times, Rowling has called out the ridiculousness of suggesting that the “Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman,” and using the term “people who menstruate” instead of “women.” These statements were misrepresented in a GamesHub article as “questioning the definition of women” and “referring to transgender people as ‘penised individuals’ liable to initiate rape.” Rowling has also been accused in numerous commentaries of self-identifying as a “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” In actuality, she has criticized trans activists for using the derogatory term to harass those they disagree with and shut down debate. It’s little wonder so many people think Rowling’s a monster when so much of the media insists on mischaracterizing her statements...   Unfortunately, despite the torrent of articles on Rowling’s views published surrounding the release of “Hogwarts Legacy,” it would appear as though the only person willing to have a reasoned debate about these issues is Rowling herself. Even more unfortunate is that people can no longer sit down at the end of the day and play an innocuous game without worrying that they might be branded a transphobe or a bigot."

Opinion | In Defense of J.K. Rowling - The New York Times - "“Trans people need and deserve protection.”... These statements were written by J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” series, a human-rights activist and — according to a noisy fringe of the internet and a number of powerful transgender rights activists and L.G.B.T.Q. lobbying groups — a transphobe.  Even many of Rowling’s devoted fans have made this accusation. In 2020, The Leaky Cauldron, one of the biggest “Harry Potter” fan sites, claimed that Rowling had endorsed “harmful and disproven beliefs about what it means to be a transgender person,” letting members know it would avoid featuring quotes from and photos of the author. Other critics have advocated that bookstores pull her books from the shelves, and some bookstores have done so. She has also been subjected to verbal abuse, doxxing and threats of sexual and other physical violence, including death threats. Now,  in rare and wide-ranging interviews for the podcast series “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling,” which begins next week, Rowling is sharing her experiences. “I have had direct threats of violence, and I have had people coming to my house where my kids live, and I’ve had my address posted online,” she says in one of the interviews. “I’ve had what the police, anyway, would regard as credible threats.”  This campaign against Rowling is as dangerous as it is absurd. The brutal stabbing of Salman Rushdie last summer is a forceful reminder of what can happen when writers are demonized. And in Rowling’s case, the characterization of her as a transphobe doesn’t square with her actual views... I, too, read all of Rowling’s books, including the crime novels written under the pen name Robert Galbraith, and came up empty-handed. Those who have parsed her work for transgressions have objected to the fact that in one of her Galbraith novels, she included a transgender character and that in another of these novels, a killer occasionally disguises himself by dressing as a woman. Needless to say, it takes a certain kind of person to see this as evidence of bigotry... “The pushback is often, ‘You are wealthy. You can afford security. You haven’t been silenced.’ All true. But I think that misses the point. The attempt to intimidate and silence me is meant to serve as a warning to other women” with similar views who may also wish to speak out, Rowling says... “And I say that because I have seen it used that way,” Rowling continues. She says other women have told her they’ve been warned: “Look at what happened to J.K. Rowling. Watch yourself.”  Recently, for example, Joanna Cherry, a Scottish National Party lawmaker who is a lesbian and a feminist, publicly questioned Scotland’s passage of a “self-ID” law that would allow people to legally establish by mere declaration that they are women after living for only three months as a transgender woman — and without any need for a gender dysphoria diagnosis. She reported that she faced workplace bullying and death threats; she was also removed from her frontbench position in Parliament as spokeswoman for justice and home affairs. “I think some people are scared to speak out in this debate because when you do speak out, you’re often wrongly branded as a transphobe or a bigot”... Phelps-Roper told me that Rowling’s outspokenness is precisely in the service of this kind of cause. “A lot of people think that Rowling is using her privilege to attack a vulnerable group,” she said. “But she sees herself as standing up for the rights of a vulnerable group.”  Rowling, Phelps-Roper added, views speaking out as a responsibility and an obligation: “She’s looking around and realizing that other people are self-censoring because they cannot afford to speak up. But she felt she had to be honest and stand up against a movement that she saw as using authoritarian tactics.” As Rowling herself notes on the podcast, she’s written books where “from the very first page, bullying and authoritarian behavior is held to be one of the worst of human ills.” Those who accuse Rowling of punching down against her critics ignore the fact that she is sticking up for those who have silenced themselves to avoid the job loss, public vilification and threats to physical safety that other critics of recent gender orthodoxies have suffered.  Social media is then leveraged to amplify those attacks. It’s a strategy Phelps-Roper recognizes from her days at Westboro. “We leaned into whatever would get us the most attention, and that was often the most outrageous and aggressive versions of what we believed”... It may be a sign of the tide turning that along with Phelps-Roper, several like-minded creative people — though generally those with the protection of wealth or strong backing from their employers — are finally braving the heat. In recent months and after silence or worse from some of the young actors whose careers Rowling’s work helped advance, several actors from the “Harry Potter” films, such as Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes, have publicly defended the author... Despite media coverage that can be embarrassingly credulous when it comes to the charges against Rowling, a small number of influential journalists have also begun speaking out in her defense... Rowling could have just stayed in bed. She could have taken refuge in her wealth and fandom. In her “Harry Potter” universe, heroes are marked by courage and compassion. Her best characters learn to stand up to bullies and expose false accusations. And that even when it seems the world is set against you, you have to stand firm in your core beliefs in what’s right.  Defending those who have been scorned isn’t easy, especially for young people. It’s scary to stand up to bullies, as any “Harry Potter” reader knows. Let the grown-ups in the room lead the way. If more people stood up for J.K. Rowling, they would not only be doing right by her; they’d also be standing up for human rights, specifically women’s rights, gay rights and, yes, transgender rights. They’d also be standing up for the truth."
Liberals love to obsess about dog whistles because they need to make up evidence that others are "bigoted"

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