JKR messed up........ yes

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 178418

Bunny said:
…those making excuses for why JK Rowling 'outed' Dumbledore, should 
consider that homosexuality in many countries and to many religions, 
is totally unacceptable and offensive. I've been told that the 
response in India, for example, has been hostile outpourings towards 
JKR and her books. She knows her books are read in many countries by 
many cultures and she has certainly enjoyed the financial benefits 
of this. It's too late now but if she'd kept her mouth shut, it 
would have been best for everyone.

Shelley said:
I hear talk on other lists of people who are deciding that their 
younger children won't be reading the series because of this 
announcement, as that's what people are now thinking this series is 
about (for those who haven't read it fully so far).

Katie said:
JKR wanted to promote a message of love and acceptance, so if 
certain people can no longer accept the books and the message 
because Dumbledore is gay...well, I would say that is their loss, 
not JKR's.

Tonks:
It will be their lost.  But you see this is exactly the point. The 
main teaching in the books will be dismissed because Rowling has 
crossed the line.  All that she has worked for all of these years 
will be thrown out the window, the baby with the bathwater. This is 
not an argument about gay rights for me. It is an argument about 
common sense in getting a point across to millions of people around 
the world, some of which as Bunny pointed out are from other 
religions and cultures.  It does no service to the books to insult 
the people that you want to read it.  There is great and important 
teaching in these books.  This series, IMO has the power to change 
the world. But, NOW, if people won’t pick up the books or in some 
countries won’t let it pass the sensors, what good is that? If you 
want to bring someone around to your way of thinking, especially 
when they are no where near it, you don’t start by hitting them over 
the head with the most controversial point. You start SLOWLY. Change 
can only happen slowly. Public opinion can only be changed slowly 
over time. Any sensible person knows this.  Personally I think she 
was short on sleep and not thinking clearly. Like I said before, she 
shot herself and the potential readers in the foot. STUPID. 

I wish there was a real time turner so we can go back and redo this. 
Make the kid who asked the question go somewhere else that day. When 
she really thinks about what she has done, I bet she wishes she had 
a time turner too. Again this has NOTHING to do with gay rights. I 
am NOT anti-gay. It has to do with salesmanship and getting a 
message actually heard and people WILLING to follow it.  Baby-steps, 
that is where you start. You start at the beginning, start where the 
reader is, not where you want them to be.  Again what Rowling did 
was Stupid and harmful. She killed off half of our beloved heroes, 
and not she is trying to kill her books. 

Tonks_op