by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The thing about JK Rowling’s extremist TERF views is on one hand you have to give her credit for being willing to suffer for her opinions on a controversial subject but on the other hand there is the issue of what she believes in the first place.
One thing that helps is I’m neither particularly invested in the trans rights issue nor am I a fan of Rowling. I honestly just don’t care one way or another one either issue. For me, the issue of Trans Rights, while admirable, is so controversial and gives fucking MAGA fascists something to bludgeon the center-Left with that it’s extremely problematic — so much so that I honestly can’t even come up with an opinion.
It’s because of trans rights — and especially the whole “protect trans children” issue that the Traditionalists in my family think that the “woke cancel culture mob” wants to “groom” children and turn everyone gay.
Now, obviously, there is a lot going on for them to think this way. From what I can tell, my Traditionalists relatives simply parrot a combination of Fox News and Right Wing podcast talking points. They don’t really care about how real these talking points are — they’re so enraged by how fast American culture is changing that they are willing to use hard power of a MAGA controlled government to crush the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob.”
I continue to struggle with the implications of this. America has a fascism problem and I honestly don’t have any answer as to how to fix it. We definitely seem to be beyond the historical Even Horizon for Something Bad happening, really, really bad.
I say this because by ANY Republican who becomes POTUS is going to be an autocrat sooner or later. To be a Republican in good standing is to be someone itching to be an autocrat. Add to this the fact that Trump has shown no indication that he’s going to retire — in fact, he seems just about to start officially running at any moment — and it seems to me that Trump, unto himself, continues to be a potential reason why we have a civil war starting at some point between late 2024 – early 2025.
Anyway, back to the point of this post — Rowling does herself no favors by being such a rhetorical pugilist with the very people who would otherwise be her biggest fans. But what’s the point of having opinions — however unpopular — if you’re not willing to suffer for them?
The usual caveats apply. It’s not like she’s a Nazi. There are a lot of good people who essentially agree with her view. And that’s what makes the whole issue so difficult to untangle in the first place.
