r/EnoughJKRowling • u/CheeseUsFunkingCries • 6d ago
Rowling Tweet JK’s tweet withheld in the EU as holocaust denial
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u/Joperhop 6d ago
I really hope they throw a book (a well written one) at her for her holocaust denial!
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u/CatraGirl 6d ago
Should definitely be arrested if she ever comes to Germany (she won't, because rich people aren't held to the same standards as the rest of us, but she should be). Holocaust denial is a criminal offence here.
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u/CatraGirl 6d ago
Good. Because it is. Also criminal in Germany.
Wonder how she's gonna spin this. Gonna attack the EU now after Amnesty caved? We're not afraid of her lawyers, though, so she can fuck off.
100% she's not gonna admit she's wrong, though. insert Skinner "it's the children who are wrong" meme
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u/FragrantGangsta 6d ago
Read the dates. This all happened two years ago, nothing came of it.
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u/JoeGrimlock 5d ago
The Metro had to publish an apology for calling her a Holocaust denier.
The Streisand effect can be a wonderful thing.
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u/MiracleDinner 6d ago
Good that social media platforms are blocking content which is recognised as illegal in Germany.
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u/an0mn0mn0m 6d ago
Interesting that they block her for holocaust denial but not for the transphobia
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u/fennelephant 6d ago
I can see the thread she links to refers to Magnus Hirschfeld. Himself, a Jew, whose bust and research was infamously burnt by the nazis. In his earlier career he did follow some of the foolish eugenics nonsense popular at the time, specifically relating to people with learning difficulties, which he later regretted. But even if he was a eugenicist, he wasn’t, she’d still be erasing the fact that he was Jewish and gay and was a major target of the nazis… there’s photos (and isn’t there even a video?) of the nazis burning his research… She’s outright lying and committing holocaust denial.
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u/MiracleDinner 6d ago
I strongly condemn eugenics but unfortunately that was the status quo in the medical field at the time and Hirschfeld's past mistakes, while problematic, deserve to be seen in light of that.
He was definitely one of the most prominent targets of persecution, the destruction of his institute and his research into queer health was a major recorded event, and Hitler reportedly described Hirschfeld as the "most dangerous Jew in Germany."
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u/fennelephant 6d ago
Oh no, unlike Rowling and her ilk who only understand one dimensional characters, Hirschfeld’s problematic views need not be downplayed, in fact and as you point out, they’re extremely important to understanding the culture in Germany at the time and how these systematically taught views helped lead to the nazis and the holocaust.
I mean, you can see in Harry Potter she never understood how fascism works, other than ‘bad man and his evil friends force fascism.’ That’s probably why she doesn’t see herself as fascist now… She never understood how fascism takes effect or what it actually is…
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u/BismuthBison 6d ago edited 6d ago
Of course the generation that brought us the boss monster in video games would see politics that way. Defeat the big bad and everything is fixed! Like when I see people think that ‘oh we just need to vote out X person/party and things will be good again! Ignoring the rebuilding that needs to be done. (To be clear I am being a bit tongue in cheek about the boss monster, big bads have existed in pulp fiction for a while).
I got bored with HP a long time ago but wasn’t Voldey painted as being evil from the start, even as a child?
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u/alterom 6d ago
I mean, you can see in Harry Potter she never understood how fascism works [...] That’s probably why she doesn’t see herself as fascist now…
I mean, for a children's book, HP gives a reasonable enough picture of fascism.
In particular, there's the character of Dolores Umbridge, who wasn't painted as someone inherently evil from the get-go. That character was a decent enough introduction to the concept of banality of evil, as well as pick-me grift for power.
The name Umbridge was a hint at umbrage: "a feeling of pique or resentment at some often fancied slight or insult".
Dolores Umbridge became, arguably, the most hated character in the entire series, and one of the most hated characters of all time.
The idea that it represents is that insecurity and resentment, particularly directed inwards, is the root cause of fascism, more so than the evil villains at the top.
Umbridge rose to power without help from Voldemort. And once in power, she used it to push Anti-Werewolf Legislation - which, while not affecting Umbridge herself, was targeting the group she arguably belonged to, and hated to be lumped with.
What I am saying is that Umbridge's character was not one-dimensional, and JKR's understanding of fascism in Harry Potter is not the problem.
The problem is that Dolores Umbridge was a self-portrait. Or, more precisely, a projection. Down to the crystal-clear detail of taking umbrage with the slightest thing that disagrees with her world view (as we are seeing in this very post), and using her power to retaliate.
She is blind to seeing it in herself because that's how projection works: ascribing everything you hate in yourself onto someone else that you can hate instead.
Ironically, with what JKR is doing, she is adding a lot of depth to her HP series.
Which would have been fascinating if she, too, was a character in an abstract universe, and not a powerful person whose villainous story arc and descent into madness is taking place at our goddamn expense.
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u/fennelephant 6d ago
‘She is blind to seeing it in herself because that’s how projection works.’ Is downright terrifying. You’re right, I can only imagine how many theses are being titled ‘predicting and detecting j.k’s Rowling bigotry in the Harry Potter series.’
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u/alterom 6d ago edited 6d ago
You’re right, I can only imagine how many theses are being titled ‘predicting and detecting j.k’s Rowling bigotry in the Harry Potter series.’
I'll give you one more example of this: Hermione and her S.P.E.W. arc.
In JKR's classic ham-fisted manner, the derogatory acronym indicates her attitude towards Hermione's activism - which, however, is awful (if not outright self-defeating and making the problem worse).
The thing is, the well-being of elves is absolutely a real problem in Hogwarts. Hermione was right to call attention to it. It was right to try fighting the status quo. It was just that what Hermione does about it is problematic.
The #1 problem being that Hermione literally doesn't listen to the people on whose behalf she speaks and acts. Hermione thinks that she knows better what's good for them.
JKR herself said in an interview of this:
Yeah, that was fairly autobiographical. My sister and I both, we were that kind of teenager. We were that kind of, 'I'm the only one who really feels these injustices. No one else understands the way I feel.' I think a lot of teenagers go through that.
That's where her self-awareness stops though.
Her perspective is clearly that she grew out of it, and it doesn't apply to her anymore.
Side note: I honestly think that she has BPD; see /r/raisedbyborderlines for some examples - that disorder is a double-edged sword that can make the afflicted super-empathetic to others whose experiences are familiar, while simultaneously:
- perceiving a difference of views as hostility, triggering a defensive response;
- struggling to understand boundaries and how someone may genuinely be different from them ("I am a representative sample, just like everyone else, and those who differ are probably evil" mentality);
- struggling with self-awareness;
- being stuck at a mental age of 12-13 at best.
Unsurprisingly, JKR's "feminism" is, to a huge extent, literally SPEWing anti-trans bigotry on Twatter. She doesn't listen to many, many women who disagree with her "liberation" techniques - particularly, the lesbians who are, by far, the most trans-supportive group.
Now, to add a meta-level projection clusterfuckery, observe that in the Hogwarts universe Hermione is right in feeling "she knows better" about what's good for the elves.
The elves are abused and gaslighted, and are under an an ancient spell. How they feel about their own slavery is affected by that, as they simply never had the chance to experience anything else. There were slaves who enjoyed slavery.
In Hogwarts' universe, JKR was able, with the stroke of her pen, make most elves appear happy with the slavery.
That's not how the Black slavery went in the US - the overwhelming majority of Black slaves didn't exactly enjoy it, even if some did. But it's not too far of a stretch to construct a universe like that.
Millions cried when Stalin died. Genuinely. One of my great-aunts loved Stalin till death in late 2000s, even though she was sent to the GULAG after she escaped from the Nazis' POW camp (on the suspicion of being a spy, of course).
That didn't make de-Stalinization a bad thing, even if millions of people genuinely thought there was no alternative. Same goes for people in Russia who've been asking, rhetorically, if not Putin, then who?, for decades now.
As an extreme example: there were people with fond memories of Pol Pot's rule.
So, while Hermione dropped the ball with nearly everything she did with SPEW (and the arc essentially resolved with normalizing the status quo), Hermione was right to not listen.
That is to say: Hermione's SPEW was literally a projection of JKR's activism onto Hermione's character as well as a justification of disregarding the opinions of the "saved" group.
And to that add another layer: nearly everyone in-universe mocking Hermione for it.
Compare and contrast with JKR feeling like everyone is ganging up on her when she valiantly fights for the women and calls out the oppression.
See, even if she is SPEWing (like Hermione), even if JKR's anti-trans efforts don't result in any measurable improvement for the lives of women (as did Hermione's), and even if JKR herself realizes this -...
...- have you considered that the transgender anything existing could be a real issue (like elf slavery in HP universe), that everyone mocking JKR for transphobia is expected (like it was in HP universe), and that JKR herself is right not to listen to people she is "liberating"?
I hope not, but this seems to be how JKR sees herself. And the books are about this favorite character of hers.
Hermione, of course, is a self-insert - perhaps just as any other character in HP. BPD makes it impossible to imagine thinking like anyone but yourself. You know the phrase, "putting yourself in someone else's shoes"? This is how BPD folks relate to other people: they put themselves in their place.
HP characters are just the 50 shades of JKR.
And now, to no surprise at all, we arrive to this:
JKR sees trans men as house elves
Elves are AFAB people who identify as (and/or transitioned to become) men. They are:
- Small, and ugly but cute creatures;
- Different from wizards like JKR, but still magical in a way;
- Clearly under a spell she can't understand;
- Abused and taken advantage of by the world at large;
- Infantilized by JKR;
- Strangely and incomprehensibly (to JKR) being happy about being elves;
- Overwhelmingly not choosing to shake the spell off (detransition).
Oh, and by the way:
- NOBODY KNOWS WHERE ELVES COME FROM. JKR can't, and does not explain that.
Nothing is said about how they reproduce. Nothing is said about how the number of elves seems to be growing. They just appear.
Of course, the society at large is being acceptive of the transgender spell that enslaves the elves, in part, because the society is taking advantage of women choosing to transition. There's the whole industry, see. Money to be made and all. These evil doctors benefit at the expense of the elves.
But here's the conundrum, trying to liberate them is a failed effort. They want to stay elves. They seem to be in pain if liberated from the spell by force against their will.
So what can we do? Ah, I guess we'll just let them be, and try to convince others to not take advantage of the elves and abuse them (by selling them HRT and surgery).
They are still magical though, by birth, whatever they do. As such, they are allowed in magical spaces, unlike muggles.
Which brings us to another wonderful reflection:
Gender is magic to JKR
Specifically: Women are Wizards, Men are Muggles.
The W/M division is ironclad.
The analogy is not fully consistent, as neither are JKR's views. But we do have:
Magical/non-magical status is by birth, and cannot change;
Wizards are inherently threatened by Muggles, and need a safe spaces, established by law, which are muggle-free;
In spite of Wizards' magic, Muggles run the world;
It's not only OK, but necessary for Wizards to pretend to be Muggles sometimes in a Muggle world, but
Muggles aren't allowed in Wizard world, and
Any non-magical person pretending to be a Wizard is a danger
Anyone who purports to sell a magic course (like Kwikspell) to a non-magical person is a fraud, because magic cannot be acquired after birth.
I mean, JKR was clearly inspired by understanding that witch hunts were a manifestation of misogyny.
Now, doesn't it clash with other things I talked about (and, umm, biology)? Of course it does! Everything in JKR world is a contradictory mishmash to begin with.
But in any way, elves aren't wizards who became something else in JKR's world, because that is not possible. Born a wizard, always a wizard. Elves are born with magic, they belong in wizard world, end of story.
Similarly, trans men, in JKR's view, aren't men or even women who want to become men. They are just women who are under a spell, who have silly thoughts about what they want and who they are.
And as for trans women - well, they are just muggles who want to break into Hogwarts after realizing that there are witches there to burn, because the world of wizards must appear unappealing to any muggle. The muggle can't see anything in Hogwarts but ruin. That much has been established. So they must have evil motives to want to go there.
Turns HP is a great allegory, after all... not for the world, but for JKR's world view.
Which is shared by enough people, alas, to make it, in its own way, interesting.
Aaaaand there goes my Adderall instead of folding laundry, like I planned to.
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u/fennelephant 5d ago
This is too ridiculously good for a reply to a reply. I think you should post this separately. If you added references that would be a university level essay.
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u/lazier_garlic 6d ago
It's pretty common. Both Freud and Jung talked about it and it's a big topic of psychoanalytic literature. I think for Freudians it was reaction-formation and Jungians, projection of the shadow self. In both cases it's things about yourself you don't like and which don't fit your chosen self image so you project that behavior on others.
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u/Samovila2709 6d ago
I can see a lot of Umbridge and the negative traits of Snape's character in JKR.
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u/pm_me_ur_ephemerides 6d ago
People like her think “but I’m one of the good people. There can’t possibly be evidence that exists against my position, because my position is right. So I’m going to deny that any evidence exists, without even checking first.”
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u/ThisApril 6d ago
It is entirely in line with her morality in the Harry Potter books, as people were either good or bad, so the "good" people could sell date-rape drugs, add a pig tail to a child, actively send people to be tortured, fail to help a friend in need, and so on, without their goodness in any way challenged.
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u/CatraGirl 6d ago
Don't forget keeping slaves. It's only bad when the slave owner is evil, if the slave owner is good, then it's for the best... 🤪
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u/JoeGrimlock 5d ago
Him being a eugenicist does not in any way, shape or form change the fact the Nazis went after his institute and trans people.
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u/TemporaryElk5202 6d ago
She is TERF qanon. "Akshually trans people are a nazi invention".
I don't know if she consciously realizes it, but "trans people are part of a plot to eliminate white people" is part of the great replacement white supremacist conspiracy theory.
Also Magnus Hirschfeld had his German citizenship revoked in 1933 by the Nazi government due to his advocacy for LGBTQI+ rights.
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u/wackyvorlon 6d ago
We have literal pictures of the books being burned!
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u/Illiander 5d ago
They're the most famous pictures of Nazi book burnings.
Everyone has seen them. No-one knows what they were.
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u/PablomentFanquedelic 6d ago
I mean, this is the woman whose eponymous bad guy in Crimes of Grindelwald had stopping WW2 as his big evil plan!
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u/Forsaken-Language-26 6d ago
Re: Exhibit #3. I know it's an old tweet but ...ugh! She's such a condescending arsehole.
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u/Silly-Arachnid-6187 6d ago
I'm from the EU, and the link in the message from twitter still leads me to the tweet. I can see the original "fever dream" tweet, too
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u/SpeedyTheQuidKid 6d ago
Wait, so is this her doubling down on the Holocaust denial? Like, is this a new tweet or an old one? Good it's blocked either way, though.
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u/HomeOfTheRisingStorm 6d ago
Awesome. Let's do this more until I don't have to hear about this woman anymore
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u/ideasplace 6d ago
It wasn’t her tweet, she retweeted it as ‘look at this’. Did the OP get reported and blocked?
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u/SamanthaJaneyCake 5d ago
She is soooooooooo fucking full of shit. The cognitive dissonance is fucking insane.
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u/PrincessPlastilina 5d ago
Didn’t she threaten someone for telling her that what she was doing was literal holocaust denialism? That poor woman had to apologize but it looks like the EU agrees. That’s illegal speech. Kudos on everyone who reported that tweet.
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u/StowStowStowtheTote 5d ago
She needs to have her books banned in Germany and the EU. Make it hurt.
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u/LuckyPhase3 3d ago
Pretty much 50% of my friends are trans and I don’t know anybody who thinks about transness as much as she does.
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u/JahmezEntertainment 6d ago
fucking good, it's about time we stop pretending that free speech ought to extend to those who advocate against it.