Harry Potter And The Cold Hard Fact Of It Is That If You Were 10 When The First Book Came Out You’re Creeping Up On 40 Right Now And Maybe It’s Time To Stop Acting Like A Bigot’s Book About Magical Children Is Something That Matters.
Harry Potter And Whether You Like It Or Not That Whole Story Is About A Trust Fund Baby Turned Sports Jock Who Went To A Posh Boarding School For That Particular Kind Of Sports Jock Where The Smartest Girl In That Posh Boarding School Carried His Ass In Every Class Every Year And Then He Married His Narrative Afterthought High School Sweetheart And Eventually Graduated And Became A Cop But If You’re Still Buying The Merch 20 Years Later Then You’re Not Ready For This Conversation.
@mhoye not to mention, in all honesty, even if the books and author weren’t horribly problematic, they’re just *not very good*. if you’ve only read harry potter, go pick up another fantasy series. you will be BLOWN AWAY
@GroupNebula563 inoculating your kids with C. J. Cherryh or Jo Walton seems like a healthy preventative measure.
Innoculating then against fascism and other forms of stupidity might be more beneficial 🙂
@mhoye @GroupNebula563 Cannot forget Ursula K. Le Guin!
Aug 15, 2026, 8:07 PM@GroupNebula563 @mhoye I mean the Sorting Hat was sort of a clue to the odious opinions she would later espouse: "You are who we say you are and your role is ordained."
Directly contrary to that, Terry Pratchett wrote in A Hat Full of Sky: "The only hat worth wearing was the one you made for yourself, not one you bought, not one you were given."
@GroupNebula563 @mhoye No, this is not a justifiable statement. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of legitimate objective criticisms one can make about the series, but "they're just not very good" is not one of them. It's an opinion, and one that many many people do not share. (I happen to think that casting opinions as facts like this tanks one's credibility and undermines legitimate criticism, but I suppose that's just my opinion.)
@diazona
A statement beginning with "in all honesty" is clearly framed as an opinion, so what are you even talking about?
Besides, her prose, story structure and world-building are widely and uncontroversially held to be mediocre. It's not incompatible with a lot of people liking them, but an opinion that the books "aren't very good" is not only justifiable but nearly unassailable on its own terms, and merely saying it isn't objective is saying nothing.
@petealexharris No, "in all honesty" does *not* clearly frame something as an opinion.
I haven't heard anything about the prose, story structure, and world building being widely held to be mediocre. That may be true for some definition of "widely", but whether that's the case or not, it doesn't really affect my point. (And I'm ignoring all this stuff about "uncontroversially..." and "unassailable on its own terms" - that may be wrong, but again, it doesn't really matter.) What I'm saying is, the post I replied to presented an opinion - that the stories are not very good - as objective fact, and it was incorrect to do so.
@mhoye 🤣 that about sums it up!
@mhoye dropped out after year six, largely funded his bud's vanity venture, etc.
@mhoye but the trust fund baby was abused as a kid so that makes him relatable and sympathetic!
You also forgot the Destiny component, which relieved him of responsibility for choosing or working to be a hero.
@mhoye Harry Potter and the Trash Can I'm Yeeting Those Stupid Garbage Tier Books Into Because I'm Giving My Kids The Earthsea Books Instead
@mhoye Also loudly proclaiming your boycott and congratulating directors feels a lot more like self-aggrandizing behavior than like they actually give a shit. There's a LOT of white knight-ism going around.
@mhoye I was around 12 when it came out and had immediately decided it was too childish for my taste. Then out of principle, I neither read nor watched nor played anything from that franchise.
I obviously didn't have the sociological literacy required for an analysis back then but since JKR came out as bigot I feel strangely vindicated.
Aug 15, 2026, 9:28 PMCould you please send this to my kids?
@Amgine you probably know them better than I do
Aug 16, 2026, 12:08 AMDo you listen to your parents? or some random schmoe (or chatbot) on the internet…
sorry. ranting. They said if I could just get 'em through their 30s, it'd be smooth sailing from then on.
@mhoye also, if you are almost 40 and still believing Harry Potter to be this magical wonderful thing, you should get a colonoscopy, because some pretty weird shit is coming out of your ass.
Edit: wait that's your mouth. Sorry, couldn't tell, weird shit's coming out of it.
If you're not, you should probably still get a colonoscopy when it's time, because you don't want the weird shit coming out of your ass.