• lobut@lemmy.caEnglish
    22·
    15 hours ago

    I listened to the Lolita podcast and it’s a great one hosted by someone who was a fan of the work and it made an impact on her.

    It seems so many interpret the story of Lolita to be a tragic love story like Kubrick and it seems Rowling. It seems as though the more sensible interpretation would be a story about abuse and power where you’re made to empathize with the unreliable narrator, Humbert. I always get an ick when I hear people say it’s a love story.

    • Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      9·
      9 hours ago

      where you’re made to empathize with the unreliable narrator, Humbert.

      And in the afterword Nabokov basically says that if you actually empathize with Humbert you’re an idiot 😆

  • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
    901·
    20 hours ago

    Crucially, the invitation to JKR’s play came in 2018, when Epstein was already in jail. You have to be a special kind of dumb to still invite him to a public event at that point. Compared to that, Bill Clinton’s contacts in 2002-2003 have pretty decent plausible deniability - it’s at least possible that he didn’t know that Epstein was a pedo rapist + pedo pimp, since that was before any accusations against him became public.

    • hector@lemmy.todayEnglish
      10·
      16 hours ago

      Clinton knew. He had briefs from US intelligence, even after out of office, a practice the current president stopped as I understand, The best news service in the world.

      • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
        5·
        11 hours ago

        Would they have reported on alleged rapes, would they even have been informed of Epstein’s human trafficking activities in 2002? Maybe’s that’s why he allegedly broke off contact in 2003. Don’t know either way, but there’s definitely more "maybe"s here than for inviting him in 2018.

  • standarduser@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    332·
    18 hours ago

    I hate to be that person, is there a source for each bit of info? This is def something I’d like to come back to in future references.

    • kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      281·
      16 hours ago

      Yeah I hate Rowlings antics as much as the next lemming, but I’ll never understand why posts like these have no references. I don’t even take them seriously, the burden of proof is on the poster, not the reader.

      Every claim should come with a direct link or reference.

    • Vile_port_aloo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      211·
      18 hours ago

      Thanks for saying that! Was reading it and obviously not a fan of either named people, IMHO public death penalty should be brought back for preventing the course of justice! But wild accusations and click bait.

  • GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.worldEnglish
    393·
    19 hours ago

    I was too young and innocent to understand the evils of this world when I fell in love with the books. They were my escape in otherwise a shit childhood. I hate the author, but I cannot hate the stories that made my childhood better.

    • Mac@mander.xyzEnglish
      261·
      18 hours ago

      You’re allowed to look back fondly while being aware of the problems. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Life is full of nuance.

        • Mac@mander.xyzEnglish
          5·
          9 hours ago

          That’s not what I would call it. I think people say that to justify continuing to consume the art, which thereby supports the artist. I think support and consumption should be stopped entirely.

          I know many don’t agree but i even think we shouldn’t pirate the art. Consuming it perpetuates relevancy, even if not giving support financially.

    • otacon239@lemmy.worldEnglish
      142·
      19 hours ago

      Similarly, I enjoyed the movies even though the books weren’t my personal style. A whole lot of people were a part of that who don’t share any of her views or knew the type of person she was at the time.

    • lobut@lemmy.caEnglish
      51·
      15 hours ago

      I mean I loved Orson Scott Card’s book Ender’s Game and the get turned out to be a right-wing loon. It doesn’t change how I feel about the book.

    • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
      6·
      15 hours ago

      so. epstein’s cover story as a finacier was that if you wanted to get a thing funded or to get a project in front of someone who could greenlight it, you could go to him and he could introduce you. he was referred to as a matchmaker for money. the reality of course it turned out is that he was who oligarchs went to when they wanted to fuck a vulnerable child from the global south. so when people went to him to introduce them to someone else, how he knew whoever it was was from his experience as a professional sex pest.

      • gmtom@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        7 hours ago

        I mean it’s true he was a rapist and human trafficker, but he did also do a lot of other things for his clients too.

  • maria [she/her]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    823·
    20 hours ago

    …,… theres no reason to beat peeps over the head with it.,… I don’t like this whole told u so thing peeps like to do…,…

    imean- yea, preddi awful—obviously—

    the potterheads sounds more like an insult in this context,.,…

    • TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      324·
      20 hours ago

      Yeah I thought JK Rowling being a bigoted sac of shit was fairly well known so I just assume anyone who’s a fan of her works just doesn’t mind her bigotry and therefore aren’t really worth interacting with. But I suppose there’s people who learn new things every day.

      Also, Potterheads is the self applied name for the fans.

      • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zoneMEnglish
        9·
        17 hours ago

        This is why the post focuses on her connections to Epstein and white supremacists. They might not care about transphobia, but being an ally of Epstein is broadly seen as bad unless you’re a cultist or a pedophile.

      • accideath@feddit.orgEnglish
        131·
        20 hours ago

        I like her work. It’s a pretty large part of my childhood. I very much oppose her views though and I will not pay for anything that benefits her financially.

        • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          91·
          15 hours ago

          I loved Harry Potter. My whole family did. We had arguments over who got to read the new book first when it arrived. We were all deeply, deeply invested in the lore and the stories and the characters. We watched all the movies together. It was one of the few things that the whole family enjoyed. Something we could all share in together.

          But no one loved it as much as my Gran. She was the biggest potterhead you have ever met. I have a photo of her dressed up in her Gryffindor colours at Potterworld, grinning like a lunatic with excitement. She bought every version of every book, every paperback, every hard cover, every audiobook. She was crazy about it.

          So after the stroke, when she was lying in hospital dying, when she couldn’t speak, could barely move, we went to the hospital every day, and I read Harry Potter to her. And I’d feel her give my hand the faintest squeeze, and see the tiniest twitch of a smile when I got to the best parts.

          I cannot describe how precious those memories are to me. They were the last moments I got to share with an absolutely incredible person, and those books were a lifeline in that bleak moment. A source of joy and comfort when we all needed it most. A brief shining light in her last days. So however important those books are to you, believe me, I get it.

          And I still walked away from everything to do with that world and those stories, and never looked back, because no matter how much they mean to me, they don’t mean as much as the trans people in my life do.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.worldEnglish
        91·
        19 hours ago

        The books and films meant a lot to a lot of people, and I can’t blame people for loving the world she created for them.

        I don’t regret having read the books and seen the films. But I’m also done with her and will never give her money again.

        • hector@lemmy.todayEnglish
          51·
          16 hours ago

          The books message seems at odds with what she is now. I think her position on trans rights was challenged, and she dug in, and was attacked harder, and she joined those that supported her, and was thrown into extremism. That said it seem she was epstein friendly before all of this, so, wtf.

          • Grail@multiverse.soulism.netEnglish
            6·
            12 hours ago

            Voldemort got the giants on his side by promising them equal rights. The end of the book says “and all was well” because Voldemort was defeated, but what about the giants? Why didn’t anyone help the giants?

            • hector@lemmy.todayEnglish
              4·
              11 hours ago

              The giants were genocided by the good guys that first forced them into ghettos and starved them, bombed them regularly, then came in with overwhelming force and killed their civilians, none of that wokery to get in the way like in real world situations where the libs are all like you can’t wipe millions of people off the the face of the earth. /s

              I say because she’s apparently buddy buddy with Israel intelligence agent extrodinaire, the great honeypot.

              • Grail@multiverse.soulism.netEnglish
                5·
                11 hours ago

                During the American civil war, slavers said if slaves were freed, they’d sit around all day getting drunk instead of working. When Rowling wrote the house elf Winky, Winky was freed and then sat around all day getting drunk on butterbeer. Why did Rowling put pro-slavery propaganda in a children’s book?

      • maria [she/her]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        414·
        16 hours ago

        ohgosh thus is another one if those… topics where ur not allowed to be a centrist, hm? >v<

        i feel its reasonably easy to not know about it…,… maybe that’s just me tho—

        EDIT: okay fair… that was being too general, I honestly don’t even read the whole post image and just the header and went like sigh-here we go again… which still very much paints me in a bad light, but oh well im not gonna remove the comment so peeps can see how evil and nefarious I am

          • maria [she/her]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            41·
            16 hours ago

            iguess what I mean is this:

            • on the one hand - damn - transphobia bad obviously, also supporting evil-doers is bad obviously too
            • but also woa do we really have to pull these topics into media consumption too?.. havent we already declared that theres no moral consumption under capitalism or whatever?..

            so like -… gosh, this exact thing happens to me a lot… where both sides make total sense to me, even if I am on “one side”… but acknowledging the “oponents” points is already a bad thing,…

            i remember peeps bein really angry about that one potter game— and like… yeah. sure. makes sense to not play it. but like… ubisoft is well known for having common sexual abuse and stuff in their offices, but most peeps still play that companies games…,…,

            i didnt play it.,… but I found the whole discussion weirdly inflated… but like, in this case, with Epstine… well thats obviously going way beyond a simple onion 🧅 and… obviously shouldnt be supported and stuff----

            wow thats a long comment

            • Grail@multiverse.soulism.netEnglish
              3·
              10 hours ago

              Well I think we should be shaming people this much for playing Ubisoft games. And since Hog Leg is the game that caused the stir, that’s the game I’m going to put My time into caring about.

              havent we already declared that theres no moral consumption under capitalism or whatever?..

              Sure, but there’s degrees of evil. Learning how to paint from Bob Ross on youtube is only a tiny little bit evil. Going on Lemmy to defend Harry Potter is a much bigger evil. I’m talking about shades of grey here. Everything being bad still allows for some things to be worse.

              • maria [she/her]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                1·
                2 hours ago

                hm yea oki Ur right, that makes sense >v<

                i was under the assumption that this post was - saying even more bad things about a person we already know is bad just for the sake of it, or maybe to fuel more hatred or something… which - it only does the first thing of.,.,.

                EDIT: updated pronouns

            • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              8·
              15 hours ago

              If you’re tired of hearing about how awful Rowling is, believe me, we’re even more tired of having to talk about it.

              But despite everything, she continues to be an incredibly influential voice, especially in British politics, and she also continues to be staggeringly wealthy thanks to the money she makes from the ongoing exploitation of the Harry Potter brand. And she uses that money to directly fund attacks on trans rights. She’s successfully swayed major British supreme court decisions that have had a devastating impact on trans people in the UK, and her influence has been a not insignificant factor in the current British government’s absolutely feckless response to these tragedies.

              My neice had to leave the UK just to get healthcare, and now refuses to return because she’s so scared of what that country has become. And she’s one of the lucky ones because her family had the resources to get her out. There are many, many far less privileged people in the UK literally dying from lack of care. And Rowling is doing everything in her power to make it worse.

              Yes, I get that we often have to accept that we will consume and enjoy media by people we don’t like. I’m not going to yell at someone for still loving Sandman despite the heinous shit that Gaiman did. But there’s a difference here. Gaiman isn’t leading an army of rabid followers trying to legalize his right to rape people, and throwing millions of dollars at supporting that cause. He’s an awful person and I hope he disappears forever, but the harm is done. The story is out there. Anyone who does even the briefest Google search on the guy is going to know to stay the fuck away.

              But with Rowling, even talking about her media without spending a penny on it is still actively supporting the popularity and wealth of a person who is using both to inflict mass carnage on trans people. She is literally costing lives every single day that she continues to be a wealthy and influential figure.