Only two days after the murder of 16-year-old trans schoolgirl Brianna Ghey, which elicited horrific comments and abuse from numerous "Gender Critical" activists, JK Rowling happily boasts that she will be featured on a podcast called "The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling".
In her announcement, JK Rowling claims that she wanted a "two-sided conversation".
Two-sided.
In a podcast that is literally titled "THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING"
With, of course, a cis person rather than any of the trans people actually harmed by her bigotry.
The idea that JK Rowling is some well-meaning buffoon who has "accidentally-ed" her way into becoming a messiah-like figure for transphobic extremists is farcical and it is genuinely embarrassing that anyone pretends to to believe that there is some hidden nuance to her actions.
Rowling claims "I Never Set Out To Upset Anyone"
Which, a) is the kind of statement you make along with an apology on Day 1, not after years of LGBTQ+ people and feminists painstakingly explaining why your behaviour is harmful and how many of the things you say are lies...
... during which time you just flat out refused to engage with meaningful criticism.
And b) how exactly were you ever envisaging a hate-crusade against trans people and their rights not upsetting anyone, Joanne? You do... understand that LGBTQ+ people are capable of feelings?
Going out on a limb here to say that I do not think we will in fact be surprised by the thoughts she shares.
It's also worth noting this whole propaganda circus is being produced by "The Free Press" - which as the name might suggest is a reactionary, transphobic outrage-bait company founded by reactionary, transphobic, outrage-baiter Bari Weiss, also known for stooging for Elon Musk.
The impartial interviewer Megan Phelps-Roper kicks off her essay on the podcast by comparing JK Rowling to God and Harry Potter to the Bible.
Though given she grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church, I suppose Rowling does have a fair amount in common with their version of God...
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JK Rowling is - I suppose safe in the knowledge that her supporters do not care about facts, evidence, or reality - asking for examples of the many, many times she has spread disinformation.
So here is just a tiny handful of those occasions🧵
Most recently, JK Rowling shared a falsely headlined story about a toddler being removed from a nursery with a fake claim that it was for "being able to recognise sex" that she apparently either completely made up or copied from someone who made it up.
There was the very infamous time that JK Rowling suggested the well documented Nazi attack on the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, and one of the Nazi's most infamous book burnings, was in fact a "fever dream"
This is a bizarre but incredibly important interaction for understanding how JK Rowling's mind works post-radicalisation, and how cult movements and extremist groups are able to function in conflict with seemingly undeniable reality.
A small thread 🧵
... Rowling makes a post suggesting that the Nazi attack on Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was "a fever dream" without a "source"
Alejandra Caraballo responds by giving sources. It's a well documented historical event. Sources are easy to find.
And then things get weirder...
... JK Rowling suggests those sources don't actually count because they don't prove "all research on trans healthcare was burned" or "trans people were the first victims of the Nazis".
Well yeah. They don't claim that.
The tweet Rowling called a fever dream didn't claim that...
This was going to be a short post about yet another victim of JK Rowling being compelled to apologise...
... but unfortunately after a little checking up it's become a thread on how Caolan Robertson appears to be going above and beyond to throw LGBTQ+ people under the bus.
For context, Caolan interviewed India Willoughby about transphobic abuse she'd received on Twitter from JK Rowling.
In turn, Caolan was also targetted by Rowling and received a pile-on from her extremely abusive fanbase.
Caolan used extreme language to respond to Rowling.
Now, conversations about tone policing, hypocracy, and "sinking down to JK Rowling's level" aside, if Caolan wishes to apologise for the specific language he used, fair enough.
But it looks very weird to declare he "respect[s]" her after seeing the behaviour she partakes in...
Irish writer John Boyne has - and we swear this is completely real - tweeted out a bizarre poem apparently attacking gay journalist Owen Jones over his public support for lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people.
The poem is very very very exceedingly not good.
Owen Jones receives relentless abuse and harassment from "Gender Critical" activists due to his sexuality and vocal support for LGBTQ+ people. He has been attacked in the street by far-right homophobes.
John Boyne suggests that he penned his assault on literature in response to Owen Jones explaining why the term "homosexual" is disliked by many gay people due to its history, which Boyne sneers at.
Boyne has also written about how being described as queer is traumatising to him.
Extreme anti-LGBTQ+ MP Rosie Duffield instigates misogynistic harassment against a mother featured on the news because she is allegedly trans.
Duffield has been endorsed on multiple occasions by JK Rowling. She has never condemned Duffield's bigotry or abusive behaviour.
A quick glance at Rosie Duffield's Likes is quite illustrative.
The fury at a mother simply existing while trans is bound up with fury at women for not "correctly" performing womanhood.
"Gender Critical" ideology is built upon misogynistic policing and enforcing stereotypes.
JK Rowling's pal Rosie Duffield featured on this account recently - though not in most of the British media - after her ghoulish reaction to one of Kirsty Blackman's constituents contemplating suicide.
JK Rowling has retweeted a post from Chris Rufo, one of the American extreme right's most influential and dangerous propagandists.
Rufo was the architect behind the "Critical Race Theory" moral panic, which sought to promote racism and forcefully censor schools and universities
Here is Rufo outlining his tactics in promoting racism and demonising anti-racists.
He tacitly admits that, without genuine facts to support his position, his aim is to create a moral panic that will shut down critical thought and propagate lies and racist hysteria.
Anyone familiar with the "Gender Critical" hate movement will recognise these tactics, and it's no surprise that recently Rufo has pivoted to extreme anti-LGBTQ+ and transphobic lobbying.
The bizarre post promoted by Rowling suggests that trans healthcare makes people non-human.