Don't Betray Your Allies

I wandered over to IMDB as one is wont to do when looking up Brendan Gleeson movies in a desperate attempt to find all of his films so you can be that Brendan Gleeson completist person, and I noticed at the top something something for Harry Potter. I assume it's a trailer for the new HBO show for the books which are no longer relevant anymore. Harry Potter and the First Book came out in 1997. That's almost thirty years ago, and by some definitions, two entire generations. YES, there are many books that live well past two generations of readers, but those books are not Harry Potter books.

There are several factors in this world that indicate we should just let the Harry Potter franchise die.

Most importantly, the books are terribly written. Full disclosure: I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books because I was 26 when they came out and lol @ you if you were reading bloated middle-grade prose when you were a full on fucking adult. First, I was too busy having sex (oh yeah), and second, I had a job and a social life where I wouldn't want to admit I was reading a Harry Potter book, and third, I am a masochist, but not that much of a masochist. How much of a masochist am I? I actually enjoy going to the dentist. I find it relaxing. Ergo, I'd rather have some dentist's giant fist all the way inside my mouth with needles and powerjet washers than read a Harry Potter book.

It's not just me who thinks they are badly written either. Great writers and critics have harangued the books for their clunky dialog, passive hero, and plot contrivances. Don't believe me? There's proof.

But I do know of the Harry Potter universe writ large because I've been dragged to see every movie. My first experience was with a full on adult female friend who loved the books. She insisted I come, and being constantly desperate for friends, I obliged. She fell asleep after 30 minutes, and I didn't have the heart to wake her from what seemed like a really good nap, so I watched the rest of the 14 hour movie where young Harry Potter finds himself in a lot of trouble but then someone or something swoops in to save him at the last minute.

It was a dreadful experience. I managed to out maneuver seeing the second, third, fourth, and fifth ones in the theaters, but over the years that followed, I was invited to movie nights, Netflix and chills, and more sordid affairs where the movies were shown.

They all seemed to be the same, but directed with varying degrees of success. After Chris Columbus's (a harbinger of a name if there ever was one) tenure, Alfonso Cuarón's solo venture into the world brought some much needed mood. Many consider his the best, which I suppose it is because that's what people say. I think this is most likely because Alfonso Cuarón is a great filmmaker. But the same problems persisted. I actually found Mike Newell's Goblet of Fire to be the most entertaining of the batch because of an influx of new characters, a break from the same routine that had been established in the first three films, and wow, it had Brendan Gleeson.

I'm not going to shame any of the directors for taking the work. They didn't know at the time. I'm not going to shame any of the actors or crew or writers. People need to eat, and whether I like it or not, Harry Potter was a phenomenon. It was doing only what James Bond had managed to do. Even David Yates brought with him a vision for the films. I will say the Chris Columbus ones are the worst of the lot.

I DIGRESS.

There are other problems of note about the books which I saw when translated into movies. Something about house elves being enslaved and people being okay with that. Bankers who looked like they were hired directly from Nazi Propaganda literature. I've heard people talk about the depth of the world building of books, but I mean it's like a school and a village and hints at other places. WOW.

The real reason I am even bothering to write about this garbage is that the author of these books is a transphobic cunt. I use the word cunt in it's American form, where it is a very bad thing versus the Scottish form which could be used to mean someone very bad or someone very funny or someone very endearing depending on usage.

She's gone out of her way to make Trans Folks' lives in the world way more difficult than is necessary. I say Trans Folk, but really she just seems to have a great deal of ire towards Trans Women. She still considers them men, I believe, and I don't think she likes men. And I will be the first to say that not liking men is a perfectly valid worldview. Men are terrible. But Trans Women aren't men. And she has consistently used her wealth, fame, and power to punch down at women who are much less privileged than her.

This isn’t just about a personal grudge or a "cancel culture" buzzword or being "woke"; it’s about the mechanics of disinvestment and the reality of ethical consumerism in 2026. Every time you buy a ticket, a book, a plastic wand, or even a fucking Funko Pop Mad-Eye Moody, you aren't just consuming media. You are casting a financial vote for the creator’s continued platform. In an era where a brand’s value is inextricably linked to its social impact, choosing where not to spend your money is the only leverage a marginalized community has against a billionaire’s megaphone. When the person holding that megaphone uses it to signal-boost rhetoric that endangers your friends, continuing to fund them isn't just "separating the art from the artist." It is subsidized self-sabotage.

And I know it's not just her. There's also the Irish TV man as well as the dude from Monty Python. There are a couple of surprising, boundary breaking people who make the list like Bette Midler and Alice Walker, two people who should know that punching down is not a way to endear you to any fanbase.

As part of the LGBTQ+ community, I never forget the T. I've had Trans friends come and go, but they didn't go because they were Trans. And it's okay to not like people in any selective category. For instance, I wish Peter Thiel wasn't gay. He's a cunt too. But if his rights as a gay man were ever threatened, I'd certainly defend him, as I would anyone in the Alphabet Mafia. We are a minority community, and the T in our community is for the Trans Folk, the smallest of that group. They are constantly regarded as less-thans to everyone. They suffer more violence than anyone else in the Queer community. They suffer more hate crimes and hate related deaths. These are human beings we should be standing with, not marginalizing.

And I will say this clearly: if you are an LGBTQ+ person or consider yourself an ally, and you support these works, you are aligning yourself against your own community. It is the same cognitive dissonance that drives marginalized people to bolster the institutions that historically exist to suppress them (think Black or Gay Men becoming police officers). Much like the author of this franchise, you are siding with the people who have a history of oppressing you. I am not going to apologize for being preachy here, because the disenfranchised members of our community deserve our love and support, not a scolding. If you cannot be on the front line of helping them, the very least you can do is stop filling the pockets of a billionaire who uses that capital to punch down.

That money you are wasting is blood money.

Data for this analysis was synthesized from 2025/2026 sociological reports on hate crimes and global financial tracking of media conglomerates. Literary critiques were sourced from archived periodicals to establish a historical baseline of creative evaluation vs. commercial popularity.