One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[colebiancardi]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch"
<delwynmarch at ...> wrote:
>
> colebiancardi wrote:
> > In the US, it under how we define freedom and rights: 
> > "Your rights end where mine begin".  So, if your view 
> > of defending the truth or sound moral judgement is 
> > trampling on my rights, then it is bigotry and
> > prejudice.
> 
> Del replies:
> Thanks for the clear answer!
> 
> I guess my next question would then be along the lines of:
> "what do you call "trampling on my rights?""
> 
> Let's take the example of homosexuality, since it is the 
> one creating so many waves in the HP fandom lately: how 
> does saying "I think homosexuality is wrong and I don't 
> like the idea of DD being gay" trample on anybody's rights?
> 
> Inversely: when JKR fails to describe DD as gay in the books, 
> and then she says "DD is my character and he is what he is", 
> thus implying "DD is gay whether you like it or not, and 
> even though it's not in the books", isn't she trampling 
> on some fans' right to see DD as not-gay?
> 
> I can understand that she might not *like* the idea that 
> some of her readers would rather DD not be gay, but I find 
> her insisting on defining DD as gay even in the face of the 
> anger or disappointment of some of her fans to be quite, 
> well, intolerant of their opinions and desires.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Del
>

colebiancardi:

well, everyone is entitled to an opinion.  I have strong opinions on
people of a certain political party myself - LOL!!!

however, when group A takes that opinion and tries to enact laws that
restrict the freedom of group B (yet that freedom is available to
group A) then that is bigotry and prejudice and there is no moral
ground here for group A.  It is very easy to turn an opinion into hate
speech, which can lead to horrible results (re:  the rise of the Nazi
party)

However, in the case of JKR, it is her opinion - and since DD is her
brainchild(or brainwizard), she has every right to be angry or
disappointed that the fans would take this to an extreme level.  I
don't find her actions to be intolerant of their opinions or desires,
because quite frankly, they didn't create DD - she did.  

She shared DD with us, warts and all.  JKR is not trampling on their
rights to speak out against her decision and the fans are free to
express their opinions about it.  

I am sure during the Civil Rights movement, there were people who
expressed their opinions peacefully to deny blacks the right to vote
in the US.  They based their opinions, in their view, by selectively
reading certain passages of the Bible and misinterpreting them.  They
felt, in their opinion, they had the moral high ground in that matter.

However, universal morality dictated that our gov't intervene and make
it a federal law that allowed blacks to vote.  The same thing happened
several decades earlier for women to get the vote in the US - people
used the Bible(misinterpreted again) to prove that women were not
supposed to have a say in "politics".  

I do know people who find the actual act of male-male sex to be
distasteful but they do not feel that gays are bad or wrong or good. 
They view them as just people who should have the same rights as
others(in the case of marriage or civil unions or health insurance-
that is a big one!!).  I never understood the argument "hate the sin,
but love the sinner".  I have always viewed that as a cop-out to
tackle the real reasons why someone could "hate" a "sin".  

Adultery, stealing, lying are all in the 10 commandments; being gay is
not - you'd think if it was such a moral sin, God would have made
Moses write that one out on the top 10 (or maybe there really was 15
commandments, like that Mel Brooks movie showed <eg>).  Out of all of
the passages in the Bible, there are only a couple that deal with
homosexuality and that really was just a reflection and a backlash
against the Greek & Roman cultures at the time.  There are more
passages about food "sins" in the Bible than there are about gays.

I just find it oh-so-strange.

colebiancardi
(who is not sure if I answered Del at this point!!)