Why I think J.K. Rowling got a raw deal from the younger crowd

I was reading a thread on a book forum last week, and someone brought up how they refuse to buy anything Harry Potter related because of Rowling's comments. Look, I'm not saying I agree with everything she says, but canceling a woman who built a whole generation's childhood over opinions on gender seems extreme to me. My niece is 16 and she told me flat out she won't watch the movies anymore, and I just don't get how one person's views erase all the good those stories did. Has anyone else here felt caught in the middle of this debate, like you can still enjoy the work without signing onto every personal belief?

4 comments

4 Comments

murray.jana7h ago

Read an article saying kids just see it as a moral line they don't want to cross.

diana6176h ago

Yeah right, like kids are lining up to be moral philosophers.

dakotab931h ago

Honestly, "moral line they don't want to cross" is pretty spot on based on what my buddy's kid said. He told me his 7-year-old straight up refused to cheat on a spelling test because it'd be "breaking a rule in my head." Kids are weirdly principled about the dumbest stuff sometimes.

max_torres441h agoMost Upvoted

dakotab93's buddy's kid is basically describing what I've seen with my own nephew, who's eight. He once refused to look at the kid next to him's paper during a math quiz because he said it would make him "feel yucky inside." @murray.jana is right, kids do have this weird internal moral code about stuff that adults don't even think twice about. My nephew will lie about eating a cookie but draw a hard line at cheating on a test. It's like their brains just decide some rules are unbreakable, even if they make no logical sense. The inconsistency is what gets me, but I respect the principle, I guess.