God, I Love Rumors... (WAS: Re: interview)

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20016

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Joe Earles" <jearles at b...> wrote:
> This *IS* Harry Potter for GROWNUPS, isn't it?  Honestly....
> 
> >And the possibility of JKR revealing it without causing an immediate
> >explosion of "Harry Potter's Godfather Gay?" headlines and a
> >raft of talk-show debates is even less plausible.
> >
> >Amy Z
> 
> 
> See, this is where someone's "sense of humor" can really make a mess of
> things. Forgive me, but WADR was this little joke *really* worth the
> controversy?

Well, you overlooked the detail that this "news" was allegedly
(and in fact not at all) revealed in conversation with JKR, and
not in the books.  JKR's aware that she's writing for all ages,
and - while I haven't met the veela yet - I don't think she's
going to make /any/ kind of sexual motive a big theme in the
books.  Percy daydreaming over his girlfriend's photograph is
surely as much as we need to know about.  Someone else already
wrote _Forever_, this isn't it.

That's not to say that in JKR's mind, characters in the books
can't have relationships that aren't told - back-story.  Why
does Dumbledore blush when Madam Pomfrey admires his earmuffs?
What about Hagrid kissing Professor McGonagall?

It's also not to say that credible relationships between adults,
even relationships that we don't approve of, shouldn't be portrayed
in books for children or for young adults.  It's still educational -
particularly since we surely hope that our children will grow up to
be adults some day, with adult judgment - which they'll need, anyway,
since we can't censor their experiences for the rest of their lives.

My own view is that what was alleged would probably be illegal
if these were real people, but would not be impossible.
I did resent being taken in, though.  My own phobias aside,
I'd have appreciated a better clue - James/Sirius instead of
Remus/Sirius would have made me more suspicious.  But then,
I have no idea where (who?) Ann Arbor is, whether it's America's
Hay-on-Wye or whatever, and I also strongly suspect that I'm
generally more gullible than most folks.

For that matter, we've only your word for it that you're so offended.

Robert Carnegie
Meretricious!