JK Rowling is proof positive that Karens don’t like to be held accountable. The embattled “Harry Potter” author has joined 150 public figures in signing a missive railing against the so-called “cancel culture.”
High-profile individuals like Margaret Atwood (author of “The Handmaid’s Tale”), sociologist Noam Chomsky, and jazz great Wynton Marsalis rank as her fellow signatories.
While there’s some level of authenticity with many of these writers and artists who denounce “cancel culture,” that’s not the case with Rowling.
Lately, JK Rowling has come under fire by LGBTQIA+ activists for “liking” tweets that appear transphobic.
Her subsequent cultural commentary was so incendiary that Stephen King – the father of a queer daughter – had to clarify that “trans women are women” to distance himself from her transphobic language.
While Rowling claims she “supports trans women,” she feels that trans-inclusive language is “hostile and alienating to women.”
How does this make any sense?
When JK Rowling signs off on a letter that calls for “justice and open debate ,” it’s more than a bit disingenuous.
Here’s one brief excerpt:
We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters. But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought. More troubling still, institutional leaders, in a spirit of panicked damage control, are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of considered reforms.
JK Rowling doesn’t seem to understand that no one – absolutely no one – is restricting her right to free speech. She’s allowed to say what she wants, when she wants, and on whatever platform she wants – including her own .
What she refuses to accept is that freedom of speech does not – and never has meant – freedom from consequences.
If Rowling wants to write a “Harry Potter”-length book spreading her obtuse views on trans women, she has every right to do that.
She’d have to accept that this would trigger a response – one she probably wouldn’t like. As a writer, she has to be willing to defend her statements in the court of public opinion.
In other words, JK Rowling has to be accountable. Unfortunately, the mark of a true Karen is the shameless belief that you don’t have to answer to anyone.