J. K. Rowling Says Goodbye to Twitter

April 29, 2019 by 8 Comments

I think we can assume, on the model of someone being declared ‘officially dead’ after disappearing for a sufficient period of time, that J. K. Rowling has abandoned her Twitter page and will not be returning to it. She has not posted since 10 January 2019, just shy of sixteen weeks ago today, and I think we are obliged to think this is not a vacation from the twitter wars but a turning away from the mindless, endless distraction of it all in order to return to her vocation as writer, both screenwriter and novelist.

Three thoughts on this occasion:

(1) The File: I keep an imaginary file in which to store ‘Things True Only of J. K. Rowling.’ You’ll find in it, if the file existed outside my interior ‘cloud,’ Rowling’s claim that she does not ‘see’ Daniel Radcliffe in her mind’s eye when she thinks “Harry Potter.” And that a film studio pledged its bankroll to make five blockbuster films on the pledge of a screenwriter who had not yet written a screenplay to write five stories, sight unseen. Add to this file Rowling’s walking away from 14.7 million followers on twitter, the largest social media platform for any living author. Forgive me for thinking that Warner Brothers, Harry Potter Theatrical Productions (Cursed Child), her various publishers, and Lumos cannot be thrilled by her decision to #JustWalkAway. I won’t mention the Remainer faithful and anti-anti-Semitism activists who will miss her daily, sometimes seven-times-a-day, notes for their causes. This is truly a remarkable decision, even if only temporary.

(2) She Told Us It Was Coming: As noted in previous tweets about Rowling on Twitter and her absence since 10 January, there have been signs. First there was the blowback from the online Harry Potter generation about Rowling’s being insufficiently ‘woke’ with respect to Jonny Depp, Nagini, Gay Dumbledore, etc. Rowling’s last picture that was posted on 10 January was a screenshot of a tweet that said the Rowling ‘Cinderella Story’ was a “lie.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Twitter

Rowling Returns to Twitter – Maybe?

March 15, 2019 by 2 Comments

There are two re-tweets this morning and a pinned note that links to Rowling’s website and her answers on the linked to page to frequently asked questions about writing. This is the first activity since 12 January, a silence of just over two months. The page header and cameo remain the same pictures that went up on 7 January.

Three notes:

(1) Is she still alive? Maybe. Maybe Not. The pinned link from 7 January is generic though written in her voice and is not new. The two re-tweets tell us nothing except that someone has the password and access to her Twitter account. I’ll feel confident she is among the visibly living when we have a confirmed sighting or post in her inimitable voice. Or just some explanation of where she has been? 14.6 million followers want to know.

(2) Ironic Re-tweet. Rowling re-tweets a comment from Oz Katerji who calls out YouTube for not sufficiently purifying its platform in the name of combatting “f-ing Nazis.” Americans differ from Brits, of course, in our conviction that silencing free speech even of deplorables and terrorists is one of the telling symptoms of fascism. Still, not a proof that Rowling is back and well. Everyone is reeling from the Christchurch murders.

(3) Signature Re-tweet. The other re-tweet is a call for the Daily Mail  to pull a murder video off its website because it represents “a new low in clickbait.” Now that sounds like a particularly Rowling-esque concern, i.e., disdain for the insensitivities of the news media in the name of profit and gaining readers. Of course, throwing the f-bomb and calling people whom she despises “Nazis” is something she has done, too. Maybe she really is back!

If true, so much for the idea that she had decided in the New Year not to be a Progressive Firebrand and Lightning Rod on her twitter feed. We’ll know for sure she’s back, though, and given up on this resolution only when or if she returns to the Brexit Follies currently running on the UK political stage without intermissions or restroom breaks. Today’s reappearance may be only an understandable outburst from her hermitage consequent to the tragedy in New Zealand.

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Twitter