If the title of the post made you think, that I’m going to throw hate on Rowling, just like everyone else does nowadays, you’re totally wrong. I was planning to write a post dedicated to her on her birthday, in a month, but the resent events don’t let me stay silent, while there’s a hurricane of thoughts in my mind.

A quick rundown of what has happened. Joanne Rowling ( the author of Harry Potter, if anyone didn’t know) replied to an incompetent tweet and said that “people who menstruate” are actually called “women“, also stating that she identifies herself as a female, as she believes in the concept of gender. And that’s literally it, but everyone made such a big deal about it. And of course she got attacked by thousands, who said that she’s transphobic and homophobic…While she clearly mentioned in her tweets many many times, that she doesn’t have anything against transgender people, that she loves and respects them, that they have every right to do what they want, live how they want.

This isn’t the first time she’s getting lots of hate, just for saying her opinion, while not offending anyone. She never said that people belonging to transgender or lgbt communities don’t have the right to do what they want, that they’re bad or anything like that. On the contrary she always mentions that she thoroughly supports them and all their rights. Yet people still judge her. And it made me think, why? Why a person, who was the “perfect role model”, most humble human being, “Our Queen“, as the fans of HP used to call her, suddenly became the antagonist, a monster? Has she changed, or people have? And I think I’ve come to a reasonable answer to this. All this can mainly come from the fact that lots of people made her into their idol, expecting her to totally share their perspectives, their opinions and their worldview. To always be right, never make mistakes, be ideal. They loved, adored, worshipped her, and made her into someone, who she wasn’t- a perfect human. And as we all well know, there isn’t such a mythological creature on this world yet. So when it turned out that Jo had her own individual opinions about various things, people started to hate her just for that, just for saying what she thinks. Because what she did was just stating her opinion, how she identifies herself and nothing more. See how fake and hypocritical this whole idea of “freedom of speech” is? It works only in one-way, only if you say something that will please 90% of people. But once you say something, that is a little different, even just a tiny bit, you get judged and hated for it. Isn’t it kind of an absurd?

I think people should understand, that everyone has their right to say what they think, even if it doesn’t coincide with the “normal acceptable” opinions. Rowling is just one person, who has millions of fans, and she can’t please everyone, because whatever she says, there’ll always be people thinking the opposite way and being offended by her truth. So what, if one day she says that she’s a vegetarian and she thinks that eating meat is wrong, should all her fans, who love meat, be offended by that? And vice versa, if she says that she loves meat and thinks that it is beneficial for people, all the vegeterian fans will go crazy. This is just a simple example, that whatever she states, she’ll always “hurt and offend” somebody. But why should people be offended by that? If someone is a self-confident human being, knowing their own worth, being sure and happy about all their decisions and life choices, they shouldn’t care what anyone says, especially if it’s not their closest person. So even, even if (a very big if, just a hypothetical example) Jo says, that she doesn’t love or understand transgender people, so what? Does it mean that she wants all transgender people dead? Or is she our God, that if she says she doesn’t like someone, it means that this someone doesn’t have the right to live or be proud and confident about who they are? Just try to think objectively, if Jo, or anyone else, doesn’t matter who, says that they don’t like brown hair, or freckles, or blue eyes, etc. should we really hate her for that and be offended? We’re already that, we already have what we have, and it shouldn’t matter what opinions different people have about us.

I really hope that I’m making myself really clear, because this is a very controversial topic to talk about. So let me state my own opinion before moving on. I’m not homophobic or transphobic. I think every person has the absolute right to do whatever they want to do, unless it hurts other people. So if you’re not trying to kill or beat someone else, please go ahead and do what your hearts want. I will never judge someone because of their race, gender, orientation, nationality, religion… I will never refer bad to a person just because of all the above mentioned things. Because while talking to someone, I primarily see a person, a human being, who is equal to me, equal to anyone else. I will only judge them by their actions, good or bad. But I don’t like seeing how the concept of tolerance is kind of crossing the line, making a person identifying themselves as a male or female guilty and evil. Tolerance shouldn’t be one-sided, it should involve all the aspects, all the different sides and people. Otherwise, it’s not tolerance. I don’t like that people are afraid of saying their opinions, because everyone became so much over-sensitive, that you can’t even make a simple remark or an innocent joke without offending anyone. I don’t like that nowadays stating an opinion is like walking in a minefield, one “wrong” word, and boom, you just exploded.

And most importantly for this blog, I should say, that I love Jo. She’s still my queen, because she presented me with something very very special in my life. And I know that if not millions, at least thousands of people feel the same way about what I’m going to say. She created a world, where I, and all HP fans, feel myself the safest and happiest. She created such a masterpiece, that never gets old. Something I’ve been reading for the majority of my life and never getting tired of, finding even more interesting facts every time I reread it. If it wasn’t for her and the world she created, I wouldn’t be the person I’m now. I may have never loved fantasy and magic, or I may never loved reading as much as I do now. And I’ll be forever thankful to her and she’ll always be a positive person for me. Nevertheless, I never made herself an idol. I never expected her to be the way I want her to be, say things I want to hear. I’ve been following her for a long time now, and I can clearly see, that she has also made mistakes, or maybe has said or done something that I don’t understand or accept. But I wouldn’t hate her for that. I understand that she’s a human, just like all of us, with both light and dark inside.

Jo has taught so much through her books. Her books aren’t just a regular fantasy. They contain so many amazing life lessons, about love, friendship, about good and bad, about overcoming fears and temptation, about not judging people by their appearance or their flaws… Every character, every spell, every event all have such a deep meaning, that I could just talk about for hours. But I think most of her ex-fans have forgotten lots of it, so it seems like all was in vain. She’s one of the few people, who made her main characters have many flaws. I really love the examples of Dumbledore and Snape. Throughout the first 6 books, we see Dumbledore as this “ideal“, wisest, smartes, strongest, most powerful and understanding person in the whole wizarding world. And then bam! in the last part we find out a lot about his dark past, about the bad sides of his character. The book “Life and lies of Albus Dumbledore” (hence the title of the blog) presents us with everything that we didn’t know about him, how he wanted to master the death, control people, how badly ambitious he was, seeking for fame, putting his family into second place, using Harry as a weapon… Lots of people started to hate Dumbledore after this, just like they do now with Jo. But I think that was just a great way of showing that even the most “perfect” person can have a very dark past, and mistakes. A wise and good person isn’t the one, who doesn’t have any flaws or bad characteristics. A wise and good person is someone who understands that they have a weak spot but still chooses to act on their good side.

The same was done with the character of Snape, just the other way around. First we see him as the “bad guy“, but then dive deep into his character, learn a lot about him, his past. Snape wasn’t a hero, but he wasn’t a villain either. He had many bad sides, he was bitter about a love he lost, but he didn’t choose revenge, he turned into a double agent, risking his life on a daily basis for a better world.

I think this blog is becoming longer than the book of Rita Skeeter itself, so let’s slowly wrap it up. I don’t believe Jo is a bad person. A bad person couldn’t have written and made something great, that touched so many people’s souls. It means she wrote it with her whole heart and soul. Her whole writing has an incredible atmosphere of light and love, and a person who doesn’t have that within, couldn’t have pulled it off. If she wrote it just for fame or money, it wouldn’t feel the same way, so she clearly has a sincere, clear heart. You can tell a lot about a person, after they become rich and famous. Jo hasn’t changed, she’s still the same humble person. She has had a very tough life. When a person like a past like this becomes a criminal, people try to justify them by saying “oh they had such a bad childhood and life“. Jo had such experience, but ended up being good. She can make mistakes, she can say or do something bad or wrong, she can state and write whatever she wants and it doesn’t have to correspond with all the opinions of all her fans or people in general. Stop hating on her, just because she, an adult woman, speaks her mind. She could’ve written lots of insincere bullshit, like everyone else does nowadays and be adored for that, but instead she’s got the guts to say what she actually believes in. And that’s one of the many things I respect her for. So instead of throwing immediate hate, try to actually understand what that person is trying to say. Most of the time people don’t mean to upset or offend others, we’re just on the constant protective mode, ready to snap back at anything that is said. Think objectively, put more attention to what’s being said. Read Harry Potter one more time, and instead of just enjoying the good writing, try to see all good things, wise lessons that is hidden in the simplest lines and characters. I think that a person who will truly understand the books, will understand life a little better.