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#mr beast critical
hannaxjo · 7 months
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media presenting a dystopian version of our society, that isn't as far from us as we wished, heavily criticises capitalism, inequality, and the state of world where money defines people's worth, the existence on the 1% being way richer and using people who are desperate for a chance to have a better life for entertainment, through competitions etc.
mr beast: heyyyy I got a great video idea
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simplepotatofarmer · 1 year
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Hi. Sorry. Anon is deranged.
Beast is not "a kind man" his "philanthropy" is ENTIRELY for content and can frequently cause more problems for the people he "helps" than not. Moreover literally all his content in this and most other senses, many of his collabs, etc are things wherein he is getting other people to do the work for him
MULTIPLE creators have had bad experiences with him in terms of his completely disrespecting them and disregarding their safety, comfort, and wishes, most infamous being the way he set up the duel to happen (Techno having much more at stake, not really wanting to do it but being put in a situation where he couldn't really turn it down, trying to hype Dream and Techno against each other) and more recently (actually a few months ago but still) stuff like creators getting suddenly called to participate in shoots Tomorrow and poorly arranging transportation etc. This is not surprising because Mr Beast is a *boss*
He has defended the use of racial and transphobic slurs, he has donated to an antiautistic eugenics agency, and the obnoxiousness and insensitivity of his content aside it's possibly harmful to the people he's fucking using in it it is exploitation – exploitation of the poor his "charity" provides with extravagance they can't pay tax returns on, exploitation of the creators he has repeatedly been shown and alleged to strongarm into his videos and mistreat and disrespect the time of and use his social currency to make it harder to refuse ir criticize him, and yeah, plain and simple capitalist exploitation of his production teams. To boot, his content is founded on the principle of just plain how much money he has rather than anything else. He is a bigot and a businessman whose only claim to fame is really just Being Fucking Rich and I do not know why he is just treated as okay to fucking have around. Well I do it's because of aforesaid social currency. But
Like you cannot fucking fall for his publicity stunts anon I'm sorry. This is COMMON tons of the rich and powerful donate to charity specifically to create these kinds of attitudes that you're holding now. Throwing money at a charity is a good act, yes, but a good act does not a good person make, and with his repeated flirting with (to put it lightly) bigotry and the way people who work with him repeatedly talk about how he uses ppl the way he does . While I am not privy to the calculus going on in ccs' brains ofc and I cannot tell them what decisions to make or why I can, in fact, fucking hate Mr Beast for an extremely deserved rap sheet
YEAH.
see, this is what i was trying to say but i was honestly being too nice about it because i can see why people fall for it, society drills it into our heads that charity is the end all mark of a Good Person and mr. beast's content is especially like.... i don't know. pinely's video explains it pretty well.
but everything surrounding him makes me unhappy and i don't really fault the other cc's because it feels like there's a ton of pressure there and jimmy mr beast has a weird entitlement to people, like. telling people they should move, even as a joke, just rubs me the wrong way.
anyway, thank you for voicing my thoughts without the 'try not to make people upset and be nice' filter.
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anxiousdelinquent · 2 months
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Think I finally figured out why Mr Beasts content makes me viscerally uncomfortable. It feels like gambling. Everyone watches, subscribes, interacts, buys his things in a desperate hope he'll throw some life changing money their way, but truly it's like buying a fucking lottery number. Millions on millions of people are all doing the same thing. The statistics are entirely stacked against everyone, but the hope and the thought that maybe, just maybe, you'll be lucky keeps viewers watching and coming back and interacting. Thats what it looks like from the outside anyway. Just some big lottery game, of chance and luck and disappointment. But the like 0.1 percent chance that you could win big makes people keep coming back. Maybe it's just me but 🤷‍♀️
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the contrast of how happy dream was during the stream train and how miserable he looked in the mr beast video is wild
obviously weve gotten them out of order and im so happy dream is feeling better but also WHY did they make the dteam attend the stupid antarctica thing while dream was literally sick in three different ways at once >:/
(in actuality it was more likely that dream was like “no dont worry i can still attend!” because hes a dogboy and wants to make people happy but he *really* shouldve stayed home)
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anywayilikebeees · 2 years
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tw weight loss mentionned
Look I dont care much about Mr Beast usual content is or the hate he gets but his latest video is just stupid of him.
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This is a decent justification and explains why he wanted to do this challenge. Maybe I was a little harsh but I cant help to think the impact his video will be on his young audience.
In the 14 days shown he lost a significance amount of weight making his challenge enticing to any youth struggling with their body images. For those who think "oh well kids don't have body issues that's just when they get older" kids as young as 3 have body image issues.
That's my ony bone to pick with him, I'd rather he had done the challenge and just never mentioned his weight. Adding and reapeatly showing a weight counter transformed his video into a "how to: quick weight loss" video.
He wanted to do this because of Crohn's disease? Great, keep your updates based around if/how it helped.
Of course content should be consumed critically and any logical person would see why his video is a bad idea to try out - but kids are not the most logical humans and will only focus on the end goal. Which is the fact he lost almost 20 pounds in 14 days. Not the fact he was closely followed by a medical team or the fact that it's insanly unhealthy to lose that much in a month.
No all they will focuse on is the fact that they can potentially transform into their perfect body with this challenge.
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onehelluvatime · 6 months
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Mammon redesign guys
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lakemichigans · 1 year
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if i saw 50 people beating mr beast in the street i would make it 51
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dteamain · 1 year
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mr beast goes through the same arc again and again and people keep falling for it 😭
no he is not an evil person, yes he deserves to be critiqued. the fact that he made an entire video that highlights the insane flaws of the american health system and then does nothing in that video to advocate or point out solutions but instead it's just 'look i did good with my money' we CANNOT rely on individual wealth to fund public health we NEED to create a SYSTEM in which people do not need to be picked by a rich person and exploited or turned into a spectacle to receive basic healthcare
also the fact that mr beast then tries to tweet afterwards how we should provide basic health care because of the 'return on investment' that these people returning back to work could supply implies that he only thinks people have value and are worth basic health care if you can make money off them afterwards which is an insanely fucked up way to view society.
not to mention his weird 'i should be president bc i help people with my money' bullshit which i won't get to deep into but even the fact that he is not yet old enough to run for president and this act could get people to throw away votes on him on the next ballet is extremely dangerous
he also has a debatable relationship with elon musk and it's funny that he is trying to claim he is such a good guy and does so much good work but actively invests in people and/or companies that stand directly against the views he claims to have.
anyway he gets to tweet out 'how can i be bad when i did a good thing' and everyone gets to forget about it i guess
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altair214 · 1 year
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I, like many people, have many criticisms with Mr Beast. But I have to say, as a trans person, the whole thing with Chris coming out and Mr Beast defending them publicly makes me so incredibly hopeful. 
Mr Beast has over 100 million subscribers, many of which are children, many of which probably have never seen a trans person simply because their parents believe that transness is something inappropriate for children to be around. Especially with a lot of the recent anti-trans legislation in America that are trying to force transness to be seen as something “indecent.” The fact that a trans person is out and supported on one of the biggest youtube channels in the world is so incredibly important. 
The amount of children who might of otherwise have considered transness something “weird” or “wrong” will see one of their favorite youtubers supporting his friend, will see someone they look up to being completely accepting of a trans identity and be inspired to do the same. They will be a lot less likely to be transphobic because they see someone they look up to actively fighting transphobia on behalf of a friend and all other trans people. Many children who might have otherwise been transphobic will be more likely to be confused by the idea of transphobia. Trans people are just people. 
On a personal note, I have several siblings that watch Mr Beast, and due to our transphobic parents, probably don’t know what being trans actually means. But I can’t say anything pro-trans for my own safety, so I just have to hope that they will reject our parents’ transphobic ideas. But they do watch Mr Beast, and so them regularly seeing a trans person, existing, just as a person, makes me more hopeful that they won’t grow up to be transphobic. I’m sure there are countless others in similar situations. But it’s things like this that makes people like Chris and Mr Beast incredibly important. 
Besides that, it’s a lot easier to care about issues when you know someone personally affected by things. Like before Chris came out, Mr Beast was pro-trans, but now he actually understands, as much as a cis-person can, what trans people are dealing with regularly. Which means he’s more likely to be more outspoken than he was about trans issues. And that means a lot. 
It makes me incredibly hopeful that maybe soon, maybe not right now, but sometime in the near future, existence will become a little bit easier for trans people. I am so thankful to Chris for being brave enough to come out in the public eye like they have. It’s people like them that make progress towards normalizing trans acceptance in the general public. It’s not an easy thing to do, to come out as trans in such a public manner, but someone has to do it for progress to be made towards trans accpetance. So I am incredibly thankful for Chris. Seeing trans people existing in public and doing their best to fight transphobia and recieving all the support in the world from their friends, is a bright hopeful spot in the midst of all the anti-trans legislation that’s been and is still being past, and for that, I am so thankful.
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hannahhook7744 · 2 years
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How would you write your version of Descendants?
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So glad you asked! I've been sitting on this one for awhile.
The first thing I would do if I was given the chance to rewrite descendants would be to out a little less focus on Mal.
Don't get me wrong. I don't hate her. I just think that the writers made a mistake focusing most of the media on her instead of trying to give everyone equal or close to equal screen time and you know why I think that?
Well, think about it. We know about alot of horrible things she did. Before and after leaving the isle. And because they didn't take more time to show her as your average teen with hobbies and friends that she cares about in the later movies, it makes it very easy to dislike her.
Which is hardly fair when you think of it because I'm sure the other vks did alot of bad things too. But do we see Mal's friends doing bad things the level Mal did? No? And why's that? Because they focused too much on Mal and we only really got to see the others doing normal kid stuff, saving the world, or doing the same stuff as Mal.
Which makes her friends look like saints while making her look like an irredeemable person instead of a kid making dumb mistakes because she crew up in a toxic environment.
So, of I had the chance to rewrite it, I would make sure to show more of Mal being a kid. More of her nice side. Have her apologize even if it's not verbal while also showing some shady stuff the other vks (as well as the aks) did in their past so they'd be on more even ground.
I'd also do my best to avoid fricking ADDING SIBLINGS OUT OF FRICKING NOWHERE AFTER THE MOVIES ENDED JUST FOR A SPIN OFF-- LOOKING AT YOU POCKET WATCH, I'M STILL PISSED OFF ABOUT CHLOE FUCKING CHARMING!
If I HAD to add siblings, I'd have a good reason for why they weren't mentioned before. I.e. them being much younger or having a bad relationship with whoever they're related to.
Then I'd try to not delete characters because just because you don't use them often doesn't mean they stop existing. In my opinion, more side characters/one off character just fleshed out the world more and makes it seem more realistic.
Which is why I don't get too annoyed with descendants/Melissa de la Cruz for making characters up (The former royal adviser of Agrabah, whoever the fuck Ariana Rose is the kid of, etc.) because it just adds to the world and makes it seem more realistic. Because, assuming that a good 20 years takes place between descendants and the other disney flims, it makes sense. Because alot can happen in 20 years.
But moving on from that. I'd also do my best to make the time line clear and give the kids consequences. But not full on banishment or getting sent back to the isle consequence unless it's absolutely necessary.
I'd have little moments fleshing friendships between the main characters and their friends' partners because hey, if they're gonna be with that person you might as well get to know them.
Oh and I'd not just completely forget pets prior to Dude existed and have an explanation for what happened to them/where they were even if it was just a simple throwaway line about old age or Cruella or 'with cousin'.
The sequels would count as canon because fuck that stupid rule. Carlos is gonna have family other than just fucking Cruella.
I'd also have the kids' development be more realistic. Show more hints of resentment and distrust towards the adults. Not have them just be fine with being Beast and Belle who they are barely ever around without those 2 and fairy godmother having to work for it.
I'd also have the kids rightfully in therapy/have them not forget that their parents were abusive/terrible because what the fuck descendants. I'm sorry but as a kid who was emotionally abused, that shit does not sit right with me and I would not teach kids that they have to forgive their abusers.
And to be perfectly honest, I'd probably have done it as a live action series or multi series. Like yeah, there would be song numbers sprinkled in but not too many in one episode , you know. Or I'd find a way to incorporate the music without it seeming to werid.
And it would be disney still but a bit more.. mature... because I'm gonna be honest, the series probably would have done a bit better if they took a boy meets world approach. Like you know how they talked about adult things sometimes-- I.e drugs, abuse, etc. It would have been more interesting and realistic.
And I'd also try to make the characters' make more sense. Like when Doug acts like a complete dick in d2 by assuming Evie is cheating on him and not seeming concerned about Ben? I'd have at least one or two small scenes of set up. Like a nasty note in his locker or a joke in bad taste that makes him question himself. And I'd have him at least question if Ben was okay.
I'd just do alot of things slightly differently while keeping them mostly the same.
I like the contrast between the isle and Auardon. I like the outfits most of the time (Lonnie's would definitely be fixed. Except for like 2 of her dresses-- the one she wore at both big parties in d1 and d2 -- and her pjs because those were cute. But the others would be more culturally appropriate or.. you know.. more modern because what the hell Chad is wearing normal clothes as is Doug. Let Lonnie wear some cute modern clothes that are popular in China. Ones that fit her personality. Ones that match her dad and mom's colors other than just PINK. Audrey's mainly pink. DO SOMETHING THAT MAKES HER BLEND IN YET STAND OUT AT THE SAME TIME.
I would leave the chocolate chip scene in because, hey, maybe Mulan learned how to make them from one of her friends and decided to see if her kids liked them?
I'd just in general try to make things make more sense and have the characters actually be more than one dimensional like some of the descendants characters can be. Ya know?
Oh and Mr Deley would have definitely gotten an earful from FG or coach Jenkins or Snow fricking White if I wrote it.
I'm sorry but threatening to expell a kid with a troubled home life for a first offense is fricking discrimination and he would either shape up or get the fuck out.
Coach Jenkins would also become more a permanent figure because it annoys the hell out of me that we just got to see controlling adults for the most part instead of supportive/understanding ones! Like, dude, come on!
I am a woman of principle and I stand by my opinion that Belle, Beast, and Fg need to chill the fuck out and stop gulit tripping, manipulating, and treating these young adults like small children who can't think for themselves. I also stand by my opinion that Mr Deley is horribly biased and needs some sense smacked into him.
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nonameweebu · 9 months
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New video on Mr.Beast explained with Situationism and a Fisherian perspective! Hope you enjoy!
youtube
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hannaxjo · 1 year
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i think that MrBeast proves that you can buy yourself out of criticism
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gnfountains · 1 year
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I also think that ‘unsettling’ is a bit micro aggressive - but I also understand if people hate voice changers and avoid him because of that. But yeah what the other anon says is true if someone jumps to defend their fav because they have autism/adhd but then proceed to get mad at Karl for expressing the same behaviors and actions, that is not helpful nor is is fair and they’re just being a jerk.
The thing with him replying was completely understandable and might have even been an idea from MrBeast - as much as we like Karl he still is an industry plant and he has the reputation of the brand to hold up. Eventually I think that got lifted - especially after the Antarctica trip.
also the dream team did hardly ANY content after October - a couple streams and a few videos but other then that not much.
also it’s weird to hold Karl to a different standard for not replying when people from Munchy were doing the same thing.
yeah I think a lot of people need to reexamine why they find certain creators mannerisms "creepy" or "unsettling" so much implicit bias exists in those nonsensical, intuition based feelings. if they can't be justified with logic then they can very easily be influenced by ableism or white supremacy or any kind of social bias you may have been raised with.
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awesomengers · 5 hours
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First Principles Thinking: The Key to Creative Problem-Solving
Have you ever wondered how some people seem to see the world differently? They don’t just accept things as they are; they question, they explore, and they innovate. One powerful tool that fuels this ability is called “first principles thinking.” But what exactly is it, and how can you use it to unlock your creativity and solve problems? Let’s dive in and find out. What is First Principles…
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all im gonna say about the video critique that george did is that all i want is for him to not start leaning towards mr beast style content
i cannot *stand* that editing style, its the reason i cant watch any of karls mc videos :(
obviously people can edit their videos however they want and i dont actually think george is gonna start doing that but it just worries me
i miss the “minecraft but my friend is X” videos, the simpler style is refreshing after all these other youtubers making 20-cut-per-second, yelling every other sentence, and doing dumb challenges that they try too hard to make seem exciting
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redgoldsparks · 5 months
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I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.
instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble
Full transcript below the cut.
PAGE 1
Part one: Ruddy Owls!
I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.
Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”
Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.
Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”
PAGE 2
Part Two: Hats
I dedicated myself to being a fan.
Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.
Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.
Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz
Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”
Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).
Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.
PAGE 3
Part Three: Double Trouble
Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 
Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 
Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 
Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 
Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 
Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 
PAGE 4
Part Four: Sweets
In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.
PAGE 5
Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.
For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.
PAGE 6
Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)
Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.
from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1
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Part 5: Music
Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.
Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”
Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.
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These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.
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Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.
Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.
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What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?
Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.
Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.
Experiencing it in community.
“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan
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Part 6: Tooth and Claw
In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.
Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”
Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com
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Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns
Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)
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Part 7: Home
At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.
Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”
Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.
Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”
Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”
Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.
PAGE 14
But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.
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Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older
We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 
PAGE 16
Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 
*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 
*The government cannot be trusted 
*Read and think critically
*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 
*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad
*Organize for resistance
*Educate and share resources with peers
*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional
* We are only as strong as we are united
*The weapon we have is love 
MK 2019
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PART 8: EPILOGUE
In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]
Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”
Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.
PAGE 18
I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.
A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)
June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear
August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her
December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views
December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities
March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation
December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl
December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors
January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes
March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.
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What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?
Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.
Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”
Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”
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HOWEVER.
It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.
Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.
Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023
Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.
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Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)
JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”
So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.
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Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.
What about transmen and nonbinary folks?
Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.
I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay
I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.
-Witch Trials episode 4
I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7
*No sources cited
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It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:
“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021
And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”
I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022
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Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).
Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.
*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide
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As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.
Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”
Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”
Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”
Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”
Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”
Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.
Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”
Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”
Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”
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And as for JKR herself?
As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.
Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.
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In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.
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Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.
Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.
Maia Kobabe, 2023
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