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

[Shaunette Reid]

No: HPFGUIDX 178448


> Tonks:
[snip]
  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.
[snip]
   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

Shaunette:
um, I'm pretty sure she's not trying to "kill her books".

Just because her themes are wonderful and have the potential to cause
bigoted readers to rethink their worldview doesn't mean she has some
sort of responsibility to deliver the message of tolerance in the most
airtight, effective way.
Should she have not mentioned that Angelina is a tall *black* girl in
canon, in case some people were picturing her as a member of the white
majority and might not like their children reading about black people?
Bigots aren't that hard to offend or alienate.
By the way, some progress can happen quickly. Sometimes people need a
good shock, a bit of a smack in the face to wake up, too. There are
plenty of slow, gentle messages out there for people who are too afraid
of certain ideas. And slow, gentle persuasion can easily be
misinterpreted or twisted to suit any warped person's worldview.

Personally, I don't think her goal was any of it, she wasn't trying to
kill her books, she wasn't trying to shoulder the responsibility of
somehow gently persuading everyone without offending any bigots, and she
wasn't intending to smack people across the face with her thoughts on
Dumbledore.

She wanted the movie to be accurate, she answered a question truthfully
and she shared an interesting and yes, (sadly) controversial fact with
us.

I'm disappointed that she didn't choose to put a bit more of a hint
about DD and GW in the last book for us (I'm a real sucker for tragic
love stories, myself, and would have had even more sympathy for
Dumbledore if I'd known that heartbreak was in the equation) but I don't
have trouble guessing why it was left out. Either way, I thought it was
really neat that she'd always thought of him that way.

Rowling had a story to tell; it's not up to her to convert the world to
tolerance. It's awesome that she intended tolerance to be the big
message nonetheless.

Shaunette