Discussion on JK Rowling's Controversial Views

So these guys wanna talk about JK Rowling?

Is that s- so what's going on with that? What do you wanna know?

Uh, she's, she's had a pretty controversial past.

I just wanna know, like, what are your thoughts on it, and, like,

do you still like

her work despite her, uh, bigoted opinions?

So let's get specific though.

Let's define bigoted opinions. What opinions are bigoted?

We're gonna treat this as a thought experiment.

I'm not gonna say-

Yeah

... what's right or wrong, or which way to think.

The whole point is to learn how to think, not what to think.

Yeah, yeah.

So when you say bigo- you, you're s- you're starting with the conclusion

that given

her bigoted opinions-

Yeah. Her, uh-

So first let's start with, does she have bigoted opinions?

So when you, when you say bigoted opinions-

She has had a history of being extremely transphobic, I've heard.

And you've heard. So what-- Can you give me an example?

Uh, if you look at her Twitter-

Um

... I think you could see a few things.

Um, if you want, I could try and find something.

Yeah. See if you can find, see if you can find one.

So

one of these tweets that she came out with in twenty nineteen,

and she said, "Dress however you please.

Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult

who will have you.

Um, live your best life in peace and security, but

force women out of their jobs for starting that

s-- for stating that sex is real."

So you find that bigoted? What do you find about-

It was-

...

bigoted in there?

It was deemed transphobic. Uh, like, I, myself-

Do you find that transphobic yourself?

Uh,

I don't really have an opinion on it, but I'm just going with what a lot of

other people have said. A lot of-

So let's pause there. Let's not go with what other people

are saying.

Let's try and learn how to critically think.

So let's analyze the tweet ourselves.

So that statement, do you see anything problematic

disregarding other people's opinions?

Um,

she did try and pin

some

things on a spec- a specific group of per-- of people, I

think.

Where does she, where does she do that, do that? Can you read that?

"But force women out of their jobs for

stating that sex is real."

So when I hear that, I'm interpreting that as meaning

if a woman says that, you know, saying that there's a difference between

male and

female, and then being attacked as transphobic,

I think that's what

she's saying by attacking someone for stating that sex is real.

That is exactly what she's saying.

I-

Is that transphobic to you?

So

to me,

no. Stating that sex is real is not transphobic.

It's just a fact of life. It exists.

So is there anything you disagree with in that tweet?

Uh,

in that tweet, I can't really see anything that I

myself disagree with, but

I can see why some people would think, "Oh, this is

offensive. We can't have that here," or something, 'cause-

Sure

... uh, there's an apology tweet. Um-

What does she-- Let's read that. What does she say there?

I haven't read that.

"I respect every trans person's right to

live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them.

I'd march with you if you were discriminated against on the

basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by

being female. I do not believe it is hateful to say so."

Um-

Do you see anything problematic there?

She's apologizing, so

no, not really. Um, if I, if I could read it again-

It sounds like a, the same, a very similar statement as what she

was just saying.

She's basically saying, like, "I have nothing..." To me, this

is what I interpret

it as, "I have nothing against someone being

trans."

Exactly.

"It's your life,

but you just don't get to impose on my...

You can live how you want. I can live how I want."

Yeah.

And let's all, you know.

Exactly.

So I guess now, so now that we're looking at it like, oh,

there's not much

difference between me or her, do you-- How, why do you--

Do you think it's fair that

there's a, that she's being attacked by a large group

of people, and people are

calling her-- Like you said at the beginning of this

conversation, you said, "Given

the fact that JK Rowling is transphobic, how do you feel about Harry

Potter?"

Yeah.

Now, retroactively looking at that statement, do you think that that

was the best

way to phrase?

No. I feel like an idiot now.

That's okay, though, but this is why we do this, to learn-

Yeah

... to learn how to think. Yeah.

There's been, like, a-- So in my class specifically at, like,

in our

class, um,

there's been quite a few people in there who have been saying like, "Oh, she's

transphobic. She's transphobic." I've ne- Like, until today,

I haven't really thought about it because I just believe, like, oh, they, like,

there's five people saying it. I- it must be correct.

Must be true.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's interesting. That was great.

It-