It also has a lot of power for good. It’s a positive good that racist assholes face hordes of harsh criticism online if they dare to spout their drivel. This is a fact of the internet, but it’s not inherently good or bad. It can be either, depending on the circumstances. Most of the time it’s just background noise.
Was it MLK that was instrumental in civil rights, or was it the people (the mob) who followed him?
If they are saying something worth considering, does the color of their skin diminish their argument?
Yes, that’s her. You’d have to find out what she wrote before she was fired though, to see if there was any more to it.
Okay, so assuming that it was Philips that you were talking about when you said an author was fired for backing JKR, were you writing a thoughtful essay about the situation, or were you just piling on due to hearsay.
Were you aware that she has a ton of very, lets say, “problematic” content that she chooses to share with the public when you said that she was fired for backing Rowling?
MLK was the inspiration. Imagine MLK trying to inspire social change today and having to face an online mob who dug up his infidelity to sink his ideas. We see it now with current political leaders who are otherwise good people who want to move towards a more just society.
I’d say that the thing that she wrote that got her sacked was not her support of Rowling, but when she said, “Bring it on, homophobes and lesbian-haters”.
What she “believed in” so ardently is that certain people shouldn’t get to exist peacefully in the manner that suits them.
I don’t think she should be assaulted or killed, but if you think that someone has no right to exist, don’t be surprised if they reach the same conclusion about you.
Such a movement would be even more successful today, as the internet would make it impossible to be ignorant of the widespread brutality and abuse against black people at the time. MLK might not be quite as popular, but the movement would be much more so.
EDIT: I forgot that at the time, most white people actually opposed MLK and his movement, and he didn’t become the almost universally popular figure he became until after his death. So I take back the part about the internet possibly hurting his popularity.
Online mobs are going after infidelity now? When has this happened?
Can you imagine MLK trying to inspire social change today and having to face a bunch of people complaining that he is trying to cancel busses and lunch counters?
Keep in mind, she got sacked from a job to write books in a specific series geared for 8-12 year olds.
Sorry guys… gotta bail for now. Got a production environment issue I gotta handle. I’ll respond as time permits.
Where on earth did she say anyone has no right to exist?
We all have to live in a society, if ‘living in a manner that suits you’ causes inconvenience or difficulty or danger to other people, then some compromise may be required.
It didn’t occur to you they might genuinely be concerned about freedom of speech and thought?
Pinker, at least, has some personal experience with this:
For those four in particular? It’s mostly been whining about being criticized. In the past, I’ve liked much of what those guys have said on a variety of subjects. But on this topic, they’ve mostly been pathetic whiners. Maybe they have some genuine concerns, but what they’ve had to say on the subject has mostly been nonsense.
Can you link to an example of what Pinker has said on the subject, please?
Here are a couple of links that reflect my feelings on Pinker, with detailed examples:
Is she not saying that people who menstruate can only refer to women? As well as doing so in rather infantile terms?
If you are not a woman, and yet you menstruate, then according to JKR, you don’t exist. And she will point this out in a mocking and hostile fashion.
I can safely say that “genuinely concerned” does not attach itself to anybody on that list, and that we’re getting more hot takes than ever from people who complain about a “chilling effect” on speech.
These are people who think they’re entitled to be liked and celebrated even if they put out offensive crap. They are confused about the difference between freedom of speech and freedom of consequences.
Folks, are we re-hashing the JKR thread in the other Forum? It’s lively and goes over many of these points.
Focus, people.