DISCLAIMER #1: Just so we're clear, I'm NOT trying to say Rick Riordan is better than JK Rowling. I'm just comparing the two authors' views on trans people/issues because that's important to this comic. A person can be transphobic and have good qualities or be trans supportive and have bad qualities. Please don't bring up something good Rowling has done/said or something bad Riordan has done/said in the comments. That's irrelevant to this discussion.

DISCLAIMER #2: I'm writing all this from the perspective of someone who has never read any of the Harry Potter books or watched any of the movies and isn't trans. Actually, the latter's a little more complicated. I suspect I might be nonbinary, but I'm not 100% sure. At any rate, I'm definitely not FtM trans, I have no desire to medically transition, and I haven't had most of the general trans experiences. As such, I apologize if anything I say comes across as ignorant or insensitive, and please let me know if it does.

That said, let's get into this.

I've really been losing faith in humanity lately. In fact, I feel like I'm reverting back to my "angry preteen" phase, you know, hating the whole world and thinking everyone's mean and dumb. Sure, maybe not everyone's an abuser, a pedophile, or a bigot, but other people still think in black and white, have "us vs. them" mentalities, make exceptions for themselves, et cetera. Even worse, I know I'm not innocent of these things either.

Some might say I need to get off the Internet and talk to people in real life, but the way I see it, the Internet's anonymity reflects people's true natures, everything they say and do because they don't have to suffer the consequences. It's especially distressing because I need a comfort person, yet these days I'm afraid to get attached to anyone, not just because I'm afraid they'll disappoint me but also because I'm afraid I'll jump to take their side if they do or say something harmful.

I wish I could make all people perfect. Unfortunately, I can't, but hopefully I can encourage people to reconsider the way they think through my art. Obviously, I'm using the whole JK Rowling controversy as an example, but this can be applied to other situations. It's no secret that Rowling has, in later years, become known for her controversial views on trans issues. I'm not here to argue whether or not she's actually transphobic. I will say this: from what I've seen, she seems to be against modern trans activism rather than trans people themselves, however I understand that many of the views she perpetuates and the people she supports are harmful to the trans community. At any rate, black-and-white thinking is what I'm here to talk about.

Let me start by saying I think it's insensitive, especially as a cis person, to tell trans people what to think about this. I'm hyper-empathetic, so empathizing with unfamiliar situations comes naturally to me, but I also find it helps to compare a situation to something I relate to.

Since I won't be saying many nice things about this YouTuber, I won't give his actual username; rather, I'll call him Carson. What's more, it's been years since I've tried to watch any of Carson's videos, so I don't know whether or not he says these things anymore, but I'm going to pretend he still does for the sake of this discussion (and because I can't forgive him for hurting my self image).

Anyway, as an autistic person, I despise Carson for his blatant, shameless ableism. He doesn't just make edgy jokes and use "autistic" as a pejorative. He actively blames his commentary video subjects' bad behavior and takes on them being on the spectrum, as opposed to judging them as people first and showing empathy for them being on the spectrum while still holding them accountable, like a decent person would do. I also don't like seeing people praise or defend him. For me, it's not a difference of opinion; it's ignorance on the other person's part. I don't think genuinely enjoying his videos makes anyone a bad person, but I want them, especially if they're neurotypical, to understand how harmful Carson's words are to people like me.

All this goes to say that I imagine this is how many trans people feel about Rowling and, by extension, Harry Potter. There are differences, of course. For one, whereas I've always hated Carson and seen his videos as a hostile environment, many trans people once looked up to Rowling and saw her books as an escape, so to have that taken away must be especially brutal. For another thing, while Carson does have a decent number of subscribers, he's a relatively obscure YouTuber, nowhere near the level of PewDiePie or Mr. Beast, and so doesn't have the same massive influence Rowling has. Finally, whereas Carson's ableism is right there in his videos, and he doesn't even try to be subtle about it, the Harry Potter books themselves aren't transphobic, as far as I'm aware (not saying they don't have other problematic elements), so some may find it easier to separate the books from the author, whereas it's impossible to separate Carson's ableism from his videos. Aside from that, though, I get it.

My issue comes when people let their emotions override their common sense and delve into black and white thinking. It's one thing to be mad at Rowling or feel wary of people who still read Harry Potter because you don't know whether or not they support Rowling's views; it's another thing to demonize or harass Rowling or insist that engaging with the Harry Potter franchise is in and of itself transphobic, whether or not the other person engages with it in ways that give Rowling money. The same goes for me; it's not okay for me to harass Carson or send him death threats, nor is it okay for me to insist that anyone who watches his videos is ableist, when for all I know, some might just find the videos entertaining and like them in spite of the ableism, not because of it.

Matter of fact, panels 8-10 of this comic are based on an actual online conversation I've seen. It was hilariously ironic, and I think of it to remind myself that a person can like a certain piece of media without agreeing with the creator's views or supporting their actions. If this guy can like Percy Jackson and hate Harry Potter yet agree more with JK Rowling's views on trans issues than with Rick Riordan's, then surely a person can like HP Lovecraft's works without agreeing with his racist views, like Ren & Stimpy without defending John Krikfalusi's sexual assault, like Roald Dahl's works without agreeing with his antisemitism, et cetera.

One more thing: I think we need to approach bigotry itself with a less black-and-white mindset if we're going to solve it. Let's face it: being bigoted to bigots only creates more bigots. I think we should start by trying to understand where it comes from. More often than not, having bigoted views doesn't reflect a person's morality so much as their upbringing, personal experiences, et cetera. In fact, people often think they're justified in having these views and are the heroes of their own stories, even if others see them as villains.

Going back to JK Rowling vs. Rick Riordan, I think their differing views reflect their personal experiences more than anything. Riordan used to be a middle school teacher and has had trans students; it's clear that through them, he learned more about the trans experience and thus developed more empathy. Rowling is a sexual abuse survivor and is passionate about women's issues; she may have trauma involving men that affects her perception, and she seems to see parts of modern trans activism as a threat to cis women's health and safety. I'm not saying she's right; I'm saying that's probably why she thinks the way she does.

Heck, as much as I hate to defend Carson, he might have some unresolved insecurities, or he may have seen too many examples of autistic people behaving poorly online and not met enough autistic people in real life. Even I myself have some underlying bigotry to resolve. I'm biased against Christians because the religion is a source of personal trauma for me and against non-neurotypical-passing autistic people because of my internalized ableism. All I can do is recognize these biases within myself and try to overcome them.

Ultimately, I don't think demonizing and berating people for having bigoted views does any good. What we should do is persuade people to think about why they think the way they do and try to help them unlearn their harmful views. Overall, we really should encourage people to accept and understand the struggles of marginalized groups because it's the right thing to do, not because it's politically correct or some bullshit.

*Whew* I've said a lot. See you around.