Do calm down (was FALSE ACCUSATIONS)

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 14725

mssabano at yahoo.com wrote:

> WOULD YOU PEOPLE BACK OFF. FIRST YOUR'RE ACCUSING J.K. ROWLING OF
> 'STEALING' THE WHOLE IDEA FROM STOUFFER (OR WHATEVER HER NAME IS) AND
> NOW YOU'RE SAYING SHE'S BEING RACIST BY RELATING MUDBLOODS TO JEWS AND
> DIRTY TO AFRICAN AMERICANS. SHE'S JUST WRITING A BOOK,FORHEAVEN'SSAKE,
> SO STOP IT WILL YOU. PLEASE.

Calmness, please. All caps, by the way, is generally interpreted as
'shouting,' and is considered rude.

I don't know how long you've been reading postings from the list, but so
far I can only think of one person out of our current 1074 (or
thereabouts) who thinks there's any credence at all to the Stouffer
claims. The overwhelming majority here think Stouffer saw a grand
opportunity to make a buck riding on someone else's coattails, and the
whole suit is pretty farfetched.

The current racism discussion has in no way called JKR a racist. It is
exploring how she examines the *theme* of racism or prejudice in how her
characters interact. And so far, her work has decried those who are
unthinkingly prejudiced. Many of the postings have been praising how she
handles it, or have been looking at the quandary of the moral dilemma of
forcing what's "best" for someone on them, in the face of their own
stated position. The WorldWarII parallels are many and have been
revisited many times--they reach into many more thematic areas than the
"prejudice" one.

[This sort of emotional reaction, by the way, is one reason I tend to
refer to the theme as "prejudice" rather than "racism," because the
latter is such an emotional button, at least in American society.]

Anyway, no, we won't stop it, because we are engaging in literary
analysis and thoughtful exposition. All the posts on the subjects you
mention have been clearly written and would be, in my opinion, extremely
difficult to interpret incorrectly--I can only assume you're only
scanning them, or perhaps only reading the subject lines. Please do your
research a bit better before you sound off.

--Amanda


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