I Hateee When Serious Situations Get Always Downplayed By Jokes And Then Nothings Being Done, Just So

Sirius Black is a loser.

Ohhh Harry's reflexes must be insane! And I totally agree with your arguments, although I'm not sure how cardiovascular endurance plays a part, sorry I'm a bit dumb xd and oh yes grip strength must be crazy too since he must be able to stay on the broom while it's flying super fast. That takes real physical strength in the arms and stomach muscles. His stamina is probably also high level.

Thanks for your imput ☺️

describing harry as "an insanely athletic man" while all he does is sit on a flying broom is crazy work

Operation Femme Freeze

RECLAIMING OUR WORTH. DEFINING OUR SPACES.

PURPOSE: TO AVOID MALE-CENTERED SPACES, ENHANCE WOMEN'S SAFETY, PRESERVE WEALTH, AND FOSTER GREATER ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE FOR WOMEN.

Download the PDF version & share!

Well, kind of. I mean, it suggests he probably doesn’t care much about his hygiene, which could be a result of his depression, or, when he was a kid, a result of parental neglect and poverty. Or maybe he always had naturally oily hair, which might have given the impression that he doesn’t take care of it.

Yk, people are really getting a bit carried away trying to argue that Snape’s hair isn’t greasy, just because they’re uncomfortable with his unkempt appearance. But Rowling consistently describes his hair as greasy; it’s not just Harry’s biased view, but it’s in the narration itself. Harry notices it when he first spots Snape, before any animosity has developed and before his bias kicks in. This is a deliberate part of Snape’s character, contributing to the complexity and depth of who he is. There’s a reason for it. So yes, Snape’s hair is greasy and it’s not just pure bias.

Tomary with the soriku uniform 🗣️

This post sums up all of my most recent thoughts. It feels good to see some sense amid all this chaos.

I don't understand why people say that all hp fans are responsible for Rowling’s actions. How? She did that on her own.

Because, tbh, if you're someone who isn't particularly interested in HP it's basically free morality points. It's easy to do absolute fuck all and then point at others and go "see? I'm morally superior to them because I'm not sacrificing ethics for a kids book!"

The trouble is that all of us are in some way 'sacrificing ethics' all the time in order to maintain the lifestyle we've grown accustomed to. And I'll add that in ways that are much more flagrant than simply talking about a book online. I don't see these people being nearly as gung-ho about everyone giving up amazon or twitter or else they're evil, when using those platforms has a DIRECT, completely unambiguous effect on our society. The reason they're so intense about this in particular is because not caring about HP is something they're already doing without expending any effort whatsoever, therefore it's an easy, cheap way to feel better about themselves at the expense of others.

Seeing the idea that reading/discussing a book means you agree with the author politically propagated on here so uncritically has honestly been... idk pretty surprising to me. The bottom line is I'll never agree with the belief that it's morally wrong to read or discuss any work of literature, I'll never agree with preventing anyone (children or adults) from reading any literature. Like ok conservative queens, what books should we ban next?

But apart from that, I think the fact that the conversation around the ruling has become so focused on HP/fandom in general is a problem.

Strategically, it's absolutely BONKERS, like insanely braindead and counterproductive, to try and tie the issue of trans rights to liking Harry Potter or not. Tbh this might even have the opposite effect, and drive (admittedly fairly weak-willed) people away. But weak-willed or not, how is it at all a sound strategy to alienate people from an issue of basic civil rights over their preferences in literature. If you can recognise that people are too 'selfish' (or whatever you want to call it) to give up their interest in HP for purity's sake, idk, change your tactics because this isn't helping anyone. This is what I mean about more focus on the moral purity of individuals and their thoughts rather than on material reality.

I even think some guilt-tripping in the sense of 'all HP fans should donate 10€ to trans charities before they can be absolved of sin' (obviously not phrased exactly like that lmao) would be soooo much more effective in a material sense. Like tbh I think that would be a fairly successful campaign. If you can harness the guilt many HP fans are likely feeling into something more productive and materially helpful than a twitter beef like... idk I'm all for it. But you can pretty clearly see that a lot of this is more about personal validation than anything else-- otherwise HP fans would be viewed as potential allies to recruit rather than, for some stupid reason, the enemy.

Do you think James and Sirius bullied Severus frequently? Since we only have one memory, perhaps it was especially brutal that day because of the Shack incident? Or maybe this was simply the norm for their interactions. The fact that everyone around laughed tells me this type of thing did happen at least once before. I can't imagine most people not being shocked if this were the first time Sirius and James had treated Severus so harshly.

Severus clearly had a bad reputation (although not because of anything bad he did). The fact that he immediately knew what was coming the moment he heard their voices in the memory - and was described as twitchy - suggests he had adapted a defensive stance in this environment. This implies the bullying must have been somewhat frequent. But what did it actually look like?

James and Sirius clearly felt entitled to bully him, even just to get rid of their boredom. But were these actions common, or was it particularly brutal that day due to the Shack incident and other circumstances?

Yes, James and Sirius frequently bullied Severus, and the narrative makes this quite clear through multiple hints. SWM scene in is the only one Rowling shows us directly, but it is not an isolated incident; there is enough context in the books to infer that the bullying was constant:

-When Harry sees Snape’s memory, the narration emphasizes that Severus tenses up and assumes a defensive stance the moment he hears James and Sirius’s voices, indicating that he is already used to being their target. If this kind of attack were an exception, his initial reaction would be one of surprise rather than resignation.

-The other students do not seem shocked or outraged; in fact, many laugh or just watch without intervening. This suggests that this behavior was normal and recurring. If James and Sirius had attacked someone randomly or without precedent, the reaction would likely have been different.

-Sirius mentions in PoA that "it was just something between Snape and us." Moreover, in OotP Lupin—who tends to be more impartial—acknowledges that James was "a bit of an idiot" and that his behavior towards Snape was unjustifiable. This confirms that the bullying was not a one-time thing.

-The mere fact that James called Snape "Snivellus" suggests a pattern of constant mockery. Offensive nicknames typically arise in contexts of systematic bullying, not from a single episode.

-Snape and the Marauders did not just argue in class or have an intellectual rivalry; their relationship was marked by animosity that went beyond academics. This is evident in the fact that Sirius once tried to lure Snape into the Shrieking Shack to be killed by a werewolf. Such an extreme act does not occur in the context of occasional teasing but rather in a sustained hostility dynamic.

-The fact that Sirius and James decided to attack him simply because they were bored suggests that this was a habitual occurrence. The difference may have been the brutality of the attack itself, but the underlying attitude remained the same.

Exactly. His reason was 'because Snape exists', which must mean the wealthy, popular pureblood couldn't have possibly bullied the poor, unpopular halfblood with no serious consequences because of class. I cannot see the correlation. Lily was simply too pretty to be hanging out with that greasy weirdo, so James, the noble boy that he was, just had to protect her from him! That's it!

As a descendant of sea sponges, whose ancestors were ruthlessly exploited by Roman patricians for their decadent baths, as someone whose great-great-great-sponge ancestors experienced the full weight of class oppression when rich Romans used them in their thermal baths, as someone with deep sponge trauma, I understand better than anyone the dynamics between different social classes.

And I declare — James Potter didn't “bully” Snape because he was poor

Zoro fascinates me as a character because like. He's insane. This man does things on a daily basis that scare me. And yet somehow I get the feeling he's the most stable person on the strawhat crew, at least where I'm at. Like Luffy is his own entire ball of wax I'm not even gonna touch, Sanji has every mental illness and his only recourse is to flirt, Nami copes with severe trauma by looking as cute as possible and being the ship's resident loan shark, Usopp can't deal with reality so he just makes it up, and Chopper is like eight and short circuits to screaming when shown affection. Zoro has trauma for sure, but his trauma is like...he lost someone, so he's protective and often reckless with his own life. So compared to the rest of the strawhats he's like the chillest guy ever. Man just wants to take naps and then make sure nobody else dies so he can get back to napping again. He's an alcoholic but this is never like,,, a problem. He's just there. Walking around like ok what are you nutcases up to today. I'm gonna go take my shirt off and swim in an icy river. This will have less crazy results than what everyone else decided to do today.

"Also I think there's a slightly worrying tendency on the liberal 'left' (which is typically the majority in most fandom spaces) to shut down conversation and discussion in general, particularly if those conversations are uncomfortable. You see thought-terminating clichés frequently deployed in such spaces and I think it's just not helpful. Seeing posts from supposed leftists trying to convince people that it's morally wrong to even THINK about Harry Potter is pretty wild to me, tbh. I think that for a while now there's been much more of a focus among the left on idealism over materialism, to the point where material reality is totally ignored in favour of, essentially, trying to get everyone to think the correct thoughts. To me this just isn't a productive or intellectually responsible approach."

I have seen this tendency in every leftist space: no productivity whatsoever, just shaming people and policing their thoughts, completely hindering any reach beyond the likable.

What your opinion on all this talk of leaving the hp/marauder fandom because it directly/indirectly supports JKR? Do you have any desire to leave?

Well my opinion is that I can understand it completely if people choose to do so, but personally I have no desire to leave nor intention of leaving. I understand that it might bother individual people but I'm not asking anyone to look at this blog; in fact the reason I started to use this sideblog is so I could keep everything HP-related away from people who choose not to see it. While I think HP's cultural relevance today is such that it's impossible to avoid entirely, I do empathise with people who'd rather not see it. If someone wished to block me for continuing to blog about HP, I think that might be the healthiest option for everyone involved.

Anyway, I understand why this is happening and I think it's important to discuss. But that's the point. It's important to discuss, not stick our fingers in our ears.

I think this is a great post about it! Here are my own (long-winded) thoughts:

Personally I fundamentally disagree with the idea that we should stop reading and discussing works written by bad people. I don't believe that's a constructive or healthy way to engage with literature. If nobody's left to discuss something as culturally relevant as HP (or LotR, or whatever) critically, then what is the point of literature in the first place? Is it pure entertainment and therefore easily discarded? Ftr I'm also firmly against banning (even socially 'banning') literature of ANY sort, for ANY reason. "You shouldn't read X because it's morally wrong" is to me ultimately a conservative belief.

Anyway: I find it pretty obvious that JKR said 'if you like my books you agree with me' PURPOSEFULLY to cause this kind of a reaction, because she knew it would cause her detractors to become hyperfocused on pointing fingers at each other and thought policing each other over a kids book rather than focusing on what's actually going on. I don't think we should be playing into it, and I don't think even JKR believes it herself-- I think it was deliberate. And tbh from what I can see it has had the exact effect she intended.

The other thing I'll say is that (and tbf I can't say for sure) but I suspect that the online HP fandom might be exaggerating its own importance a little bit. Tbh I think that even if the online (and more liberal) fandom disappeared overnight there would still be tens of thousands of kids (the target audience, after all) discovering and reading Harry Potter for themselves across the globe. Scores of parents and aunts and grandparents who know nothing about JKR buying those books for the kids in their family. And that's not counting the people who actually do agree with JKR. Yes fandom disappearing might have some small impact, but tbh I think it would be all but insignificant. It would be much more, like infinitely more, materially significant for people in fandom to donate time and/or money to trans organisations in their own countries. ((I also think what would be somewhat helpful is for fandom to take responsibility in encouraging people not to watch the HBO series. The success of the series is imo more contingent on online opinion than the books.))

There are also millions of people still using twitter, instagram, and amazon, despite the very real material damage caused by Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos, and that's a MUCH more direct cause-and-effect than simply talking about Harry Potter because using those platforms LITERALLY lines the pockets of those individuals. I will say that if you're on twitter telling people they should stop talking about Harry Potter I simply will not take you seriously loll 😂

I guess there is probably some amount of people who discovered HP through, idk, Marauders tiktok and decided to read the series, but how significant is this number? It's incredibly difficult to grow up in most countries around the world and not come across Harry Potter in some way. For good or ill I do think HP is en route to becoming a children's classic. If tumblr goes down and my blog and all the blogs I interact with on here disappear, I don't think this would change.

On the other hand, simply for posterity I do think there's some value in continuing to discuss it-- all of it, including the reality of who the author is, the cultural relevance of HP, the text itself and what this all means given its significance in our culture. And it's important to discuss it critically, honestly, and constructively. It's remarkably easy with HP to avoid giving money to the author, which is something I believe to be worthwhile, so tbh I can't bring myself to agree with 'it would be better if we stopped talking about it' in a general sense. Personally I don't think the only people left discussing it should be right wing maniacs lol-- again, for posterity if nothing else.

Also I think there's a slightly worrying tendency on the liberal 'left' (which is typically the majority in most fandom spaces) to shut down conversation and discussion in general, particularly if those conversations are uncomfortable. You see thought-terminating clichés frequently deployed in such spaces and I think it's just not helpful. Seeing posts from supposed leftists trying to convince people that it's morally wrong to even THINK about Harry Potter is pretty wild to me, tbh. I think that for a while now there's been much more of a focus among the left on idealism over materialism, to the point where material reality is totally ignored in favour of, essentially, trying to get everyone to think the correct thoughts. To me this just isn't a productive or intellectually responsible approach.

What is the material benefit of all of us simply shutting up about Harry Potter forever? How does this actually help anyone beyond yourself and your own conscience? To me it seems like ultimately a performative and virtue signalling action that is pretty meaningless when you're not doing anything else, and is particularly meaningless when you're not applying this to literally anything else in your life. Fandom isn't activism, but by extension NOT-fandom also isn't activism haha. Personally I dislike Marvel films and think they're barely-disguised propaganda for the American military-industrial complex, but I don't think it's evil for people to write their Bucky/Steve fanfiction or whatever lmao. And I certainly don't think it's wrong to discuss Marvel films, the opposite in fact, I think they should be critically discussed.

So, basically, I think it's perfectly understandable that people would want to leave the fandom. But ultimately I think that's an action you're taking for yourself, and I don't think there's much to be gained from refusing to discuss things deemed 'morally wrong.' I think to a certain extent it's natural and probably healthy to feel some guilt about it all, but also perhaps it's worth questioning why we feel such extreme guilt about this, which is really just people talking to each other about books, and not about the 486948736 other much more unambiguously destructive things we do with our time and money on a daily basis.

As long as we're willing to discuss this topic honestly and constructively, to be conscious and empathetic towards others, and to refrain from spending any money on HP-related products, I don't think it's wrong to remain in the fandom tbh. To deny HP's impact on today's literary landscape would be, imo, dishonest, so therefore somebody has to discuss it. And I'd much rather there be a variety of opinions within that discussion.