There is no one who "literally cannot let go". It's a book series. One that gives profits to a genocidal maniac. Move on.
The issue with your stance is that it still ultimately brings people to the source material. If a kid is introduced to HP fanfic who otherwise wouldn't have looked into it for being Anti-Trans, they now are more likely to engage with the source material or buy merch. Every penny that simple cycle perpetuates is a penny that goes to trans genocide.
As an additional aside, research tells us that engaging with propaganda weakens our immunity to that exact propaganda. While it's true that being able to engage with the source material on an intellectual level so we can engage and improve our futures is a good thing, it's not true in an en-masse format like this, it only works in places like school study groups, and it continues to finance evil as long as the authors lives.
How old are you? Because this may be an age thing — I’m talking about older people (Millennials) who have had to blast over their Harry Potter tattoos but have mental conditions (ADHD hyperfixations, PTSD comfort books, autistic special interests, etc.) that make it very difficult to ‘quit’, akin to an addiction; that’s specifically what I mean by “literally cannot let go”, and what I mean by harm reduction.
I don’t think children are the primary audience for Harry Potter anymore, or the primary vector of cash, but instead families. If mom is comfortable getting her HP fix from fanfiction, maybe she doesn’t need to take the family to Harry Potter World.
Fanfiction is free, and doesn’t give money to the author. There’s no money to be made by the author there.
Harm reduction means giving heroin addicts clean needles, not whatever gibberish you typed there to try to support your love for a terrible series written by a terrible person. If they just can't quit it, they need to go to therapy and not read more hp fapfic.
it’s so funny that you think they’re not already in therapy, and that that somehow makes my point less salient. Also noticed you didn’t answer the age thing, so I’m going to assume you’re young.
Apply the pattern of giving clean needles to heroine addicts to pointing (older) people emotionally addicted to a series toward fanfiction written by trans authors instead; do you see the overlap?
Like. I’m fuckin’ trans and nonbinary, homie, can’t express how much I fucking hate That Bitch Joanne — but I definitely met my best friend (also trans) through HP fanfiction, and I don’t think either of us has contributed a penny since the first transphobic tweet?
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u/AmazingScoops 11h ago edited 11h ago
There is no one who "literally cannot let go". It's a book series. One that gives profits to a genocidal maniac. Move on.
The issue with your stance is that it still ultimately brings people to the source material. If a kid is introduced to HP fanfic who otherwise wouldn't have looked into it for being Anti-Trans, they now are more likely to engage with the source material or buy merch. Every penny that simple cycle perpetuates is a penny that goes to trans genocide.
As an additional aside, research tells us that engaging with propaganda weakens our immunity to that exact propaganda. While it's true that being able to engage with the source material on an intellectual level so we can engage and improve our futures is a good thing, it's not true in an en-masse format like this, it only works in places like school study groups, and it continues to finance evil as long as the authors lives.
Edit: I'm sorry, I can't type today apparently.