
Just read what you want to man. We all still read Dostoevsky despite the fact that he was a real piece of shit, it doesn’t make his works any less brilliant. Also avoiding literature because you disagree with the author is the pinnacle of anti-intellectualism. If you exclusively read books you know you’re going to agree with, you are admitting yourself into an echo chamber of ideas. That may apply more to classic literature and philosophy than to what you may be referencing tho.
Do your best to buy secondhand if the author is shit and actively doing shit things with their writing. It is okay to recommend their books to people. Do your best to not give monetary support to the author if you can, but that’s not feasible for everyone It’s impossible to search and see if every single author is a pos or not. But if they’re well known for it though such as jkr, try secondhand as your first choice. We do our part to try to not support bad people directly if we can
Bad people can provide high quality and entertaining art, music, movies and books. Digesting, supporting or being a fan of that content does not equate to supporting the author, their beliefs or their agenda… nor does it make you a bad person. You can totally chastise the person and their misdeeds and still enjoy their work without guilt.
And like what am I supposed to do, browse through a bunch of books, finally find one that sounds interesting and go “oh wait I have to look up if people don’t like the author?” I feel like some of them write under diff names too and if people doesn’t know who wrote it, it doesn’t bother them
There’s nothing wrong with getting a book used/pirated/library that was written by a bad person, but continuing to support that book vocally is also an issue at this point. When you’re praising and getting new readers into HP and whatnot without caveating that support for the books is support for evil causes, you are still trafficking money toward evil causes. People need to just move on and like HP, Neil Gaiman, etc quietly.
And even if people know who wrote something, can’t we just separate art from the artist? Nothing extreme like mein kampf or anything that’s not what I’m saying at all, but still. So many books from my childhood that got me into reading are now taboo, but only online too I’ve been noticing. I have a ton of coworkers and friends who love hp for example and even see random people with merch in person all the time and haven’t heard a bad thing said aloud.
I def don’t go around lauding Rowling, she’s terrible, but I have recommended the books to a younger cousin. She doesn’t know any of the controversy and is absolutely loving them just as I did when I was little. I have never seen her so excited about a book and couldn’t think to take away the option that we all had growing up. And I gave her my old set for those who are worried about that. I haven’t read them lately, but they got me into reading and they’re doing the same for her
I disagree. The actually amount of money that goes back to the author from sales of art is pretty small. Plus, if you’re going to apply that logic to purchases you have to do it to everything in order to be consistent. So, you have to be asking the same moral questions about the farmers that grow crops and raise animals, the owners & board members of every company you shop at, the actors & every single person part of producing every single movie or show you watch… where do you draw the line?
I draw the line at the necessity that people eat??? This is the same argument people make in favor of AI data centers. “The farming industry is just as harmful” well yes but people do need to eat. You don’t need the new special edition of Chamber of Secrets or Coraline. I’m astonished that I have to explain this in 2026. And JKR has said her sales go directly to anti trans legislation. Many times. So I guess if you’re okay with helping eradicate marginalized groups, go ahead.
Yea, I just think the amount of effort it takes to truly stay faithful and consistent to that level of believe requires a full time job. Rowling is rich and will stay rich regardless of if you or I or anyone else ever purchased another thing regarding HP ever again. So, my original point stays the same: supporting the work does not equate to support the author or their beliefs. If someone once to take a moral stance because of personal beliefs to not support someone works that’s fine.
But chastising others for not doing the same is harmful behavior as well. It’s the same as people shaming for folks going to the strip club. Shaming others for not following your moral beliefs is not okay. Most moral/ethical things are not black and white. People should be able to be entertained by whatever they want without hate or guilt.
I mean go ahead and absolve yourself of blame all you want, but JKR wouldn’t be as rich if people weren’t still buying her works. You’re part of the problem if you’re buying new HP products plain and simple. This isn’t a matter of polluting corporations blaming your average mom for not recycling enough. This is literally, from her own words, supporting a harmful cause. I guess nostalgia is more important to you than the lives that have been ruined by her.
I just disagree with your premise that supporting the works of someone bad equates to supporting the bad that person believes. It’s simply not true and that’s the moral issue that we disagree on and that’s okay because it’s clearly not a black and white right and wrong issue. I understand your logic. I just don’t believe it’s accurate nor possible to truly follow that line of ethical thinking consistently.
I don’t understand how you can’t comprehend that giving a bad person money funds their bad causes. It’s so insanely straightforward and you’re choosing to try and spin it as an opinion. Very weird and out of touch. Get HP used or whatever but it’s pretty agreed upon that if you’re buying new, you couldn’t give less of a fck about the trans people who have killed themselves because of JKR’s actions.
Because not all their money goes to the cause? So saying my money does is not accurate nor provable. The evil being done by slave labor from the big corporations is way more widespread and there’s little outcry against Nike or Walmart or stores like. The cherry picking and inconsistency of that moral magic is a huge part of my issues with it.
So don’t support those things either? Deflecting to other problematic organizations in order to justify supporting another is super not the move. But I have a feeling you’re not the type of person that can be reasoned with. Go about your life blind and blameless. Hopefully no one popular ever decides that a demographic you belong to needs to be erased from existence.
There is no opinion to be had in a simple a to b transaction. That’s where you’re lost completely. You can’t have a differing opinion on literal facts of where money spent goes. Especially when the author is very up front about this FACT. Defend buying JKR to someone else. She literally quoted Hitler. Recently. But if you wanna keep supporting a Nazi apologist who uses her money to get people to kill themselves, go for it.
lol again, there’s no proof that my money spent on something goes back to her directly and then that same money is used by her to fund evil things. Those are major assumptions and not factual. She can say whatever and do whatever and it doesn’t prove that’s my money going towards that. That’s an illogical conclusion and pretty wild to think that way. Again, you’d have to apply that logic to anything else you ever buy which is impossible to do.
Thank you 😭 I just don’t get the hate. For the authors, certainly, but I don’t know why this immediately equals hate for people who read the books. Few enough people read anyway, and I’m sure not everyone picking up a book knows the authors backstory. Even w/ something as popular as hp, I know a bunch of kids picking it up won’t know anything about JKR. And the same people who are bullying people for reading are also anti-book banning (as they should be) but it’s def a contradiction.
You are willfully ignoring JKR’s words and the open evidence she has provided on where her book revenue goes. This is not debatable. This is literal facts that you can easily find. Someday maybe you will understand responsibility but for now, keep pretending that facts are opinions.
There are plenty of ways to obtain media without the proceeds going back to the author. They make most of their money via other means as well. Plus, I’m not even talking about her specifically. I’m talking generically. It’s okay to enjoy works created by bad people. Most people are dead that have written books anyways. Plenty of them did or supported horrible things when they are alive. Should we avoid those books as well?
I really didn’t 😅 I’ve been saying I wouldn’t buy it new either or support any of her personal views, honestly my original post wasn’t even directed at hp. It really just boils down to people should be able to read whatever they like without being made to feel inferior. If you truly thought the same I don’t think you’d be so bothered
I love putting words in people’s mouths when starting a conversation on a serious topic 😍 Keep it up, maybe you’ll actually figure out what I was saying in the first place at some point. Read whatever you want. If you monetarily support people like JKR though, then you are part of the problem that’s getting people killed plain and simple. You can’t separate art from the artist while GIVING MONEY TO THE ARTIST.
🤣if they have you blocked you’re lucky. They’re just insulting OP and 1 and like only halfway on-topic but being suuuuper patronizing, like every comment is a “aha you’re not woke enough!” Was there more comments or something??? I didn’t even realize I’m #5 and I can’t see anything from you or 4.
That’s how I’ve always felt too, it was only recently that I started joining bookish spaces online, it seems like the top comments everywhere are about judging what/who everyone else is reading. Honestly it just kind of baffled me and wasn’t what I joined for. I wasn’t really referencing anything or anyone specific, just curious why people are still opposed to reading unpopular authors even when the monetary support variable that is used most commonly as the reason is taken out of the equation
Very bluntly, a lot of online spaces like this are full of performative losers. People love to preach this idea of reading being a source of intellectual freedom but will shit on you for reading controversial authors, it’s so backwards. Going back to Dostoevsky, I disagree with him on most core issues; religion, nationalism, liberalism, etc. But he’s still my favorite author, his ability to express the human condition is unmatched. I wouldn’t have found him if I stuck to agreeable authors.