Tag: JK Rowling

You Have To Give JK Rowling Credit For Sticking To Her Guns

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If ever there was an instance of someone who will not, can not take a hint, it’s JK Rowling. Sometimes saying nothing is far better than saying anything and Rowling continues to muck about in the very, very touchy subject of trans-rights as is shown below with this statement.

I’m impressed that despite the total freak out by the vast majority of people who read her books, she continues to stick to her guns on this subject. I, myself, struggle with trans rights because it’s so an effective wedge issue for fucking MAGA Nazis to use.

We must protect Ethel Cain at all costs.

Just within my own family, sometimes all my far more conservative relatives — whom I love dearly — want to talk about is some of the more exotic scenarios involving trans people. It definitely seems to me that too often the “woke cancel culture mob” is so blinded by their desire to make trans people some sort of “protected class” that they miss the bigger problem — MAGA Nazis use trans rights as a way to push people who should know better into the arms of tyranny.

I’m all for trans rights because I know that they are the political canary in the coalmine — if they end up in some Trump branded concentration camp, I will be right there with them because I’m a loud mouth crank who won’t shut up about what a fucking piece of shit Trump is.

I still believe that most of the controversy about trans people comes more from the Right trolling the Left because of how touchy the subject is to them than any real anger on the average American.

Why The ‘Canceling’ of ‘TERF’ JK Rowling Makes Me Nervous

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I’m aware that JK Rowling has gone out of her way to aggravate things with her fans over her strident anti-trans views, I still find myself becoming a little nervous over the whole situation.

LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 13: J.K Rowling attends the UK Premiere of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald” at Cineworld Leicester Square on November 13, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)

What’s happened with her and Dave Chappelle is an example of an orthodoxy that has developed on the Left that is going to do democracy no favors as we careening towards a dark future in late 2024, early 2025.

I just want to tell an interesting story to millions of people, but I also know that I’m something of a drunk kook who doesn’t always follow the media narrative on issues of the day. As such, I mull over all the things I done with my life — especially in South Korea — and I wince. It’s way too easy to think of various ways someone might be aghast at this or that thing I did then or, hell, now and feel an urge to “cancel” me.

I’m just not perfect. I’m made a lot mistakes in my life — usually with alcohol involved — and now I find myself full of angst about how I’m going to explain all that if I ever “make it big.” (Not that there is any reason, at the moment, to think that is going to happen.)

I know I’m overthinking things a great deal. And, yet, I like to make my abstract fears concrete and worrying about being “canceled” when no one really cares about me at all right now is part of that.

I really struggle with the JK Rowling thing because she’s an example of someone being “canceled” that my Traditionalist relatives can point to when they essentially decide they want to vote for autocratic fascism on Election Day 2024. It doesn’t matter the extenuating circumstances, they just think “famous author life ruined because of the radical gay agenda of the woke cancel culture mob and it could happen to ME.”

That’s literally what they will think when they vote away America’s democratic birthright. Literally. How do you fix that issue?

What To Make Of JK Rowling

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.

Of JK Rowling & ‘Cancelation’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I’m aware that there is more to what makes JK Rowling “problematic” than just her status as a TERF, that specific issue is what I want to talk about. I want to address it because the debate over TERFs can grow so heated that it’s difficult to talk about it at all.

This is the definition of a TERF that I found.

a feminist who excludes the rights of transgender women from their advocacy of women’s rights. “they accused the protester of being a TERF and transphobic”

What is confounding about the issue of a TERF is you find a situation where conservatives side with TERFs — feminists — against people who are trans right advocates. This is a very sensitive, touchy situation for a number of reasons — especially when children are involved and that, of course, makes it red meat for MAGA Republicans who want to wallow in it as a wedge issue that will drive people into the arms of fascism.

The point is — a Leftist can be so aggressive in their hatred of TERFs and anyone who doesn’t agree with their general media narrative about trans gender rights that the thing we all need at the moment — for our politics to function so we can sort this situation out that way rather than through fascism — gets short circuited.

If we’re going to have a functioning democracy we have to be willing to have the marketplace of ideas where people who disagree are able to hash things out so some sense of the collective understanding of things can be determined. When you’re so beholden to a Leftist orthodoxy that you attack even people on your own side, you got a problem.

All of this plays into the MAGA Republican fascist agenda. It’s why the United States is going through an unpreceded “gay scare” long after we all thought some basic gay rights were established. A lot of Traditionalists honestly believe that the “woke cancel culture mob” is trying to “turn everyone gay.” They really honestly believe that.

I personally am indifferent to this particular battle. It’s difficult for me to come up with any opinion one way or another because would prefer this be settled through traditional democratic politics, rather than political violence of any sort.

I suppose the issue for me about Rowling is it’s too easy for Traditionalist to point to her as an example of someone being “canceled,” and, as such, that feeds into their overall believe that the woke cancel culture mob is going to come after THEM for not following the “woke agenda.”

I just wish there was some way to tell everyone to cool it so we can figure out what’s best for the country. But, alas, I fear this is yet another example of how we’re pass the event horizon for autocracy, civil war or a military junta at some point around 2025.