Speedrunning Lessons on the Paradox of Tolerance
Karl Popper, an Austrian-British philosopher, famously came up with the Tolerance of Paradox in his 1945 book *The Open Society and its Enemies*.
Largely written in response to the rise of Nazism in Germany, it is grounded in Plato's defense of "benevolent despotism". In short, it breaks down as such:
>Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. >But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. **We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.** [emphasis added]
So, let's assume some basic premises — incidentally, all of which are substantiable by evidence: 1. JKR has [publicly taken transphobic positions repeatedly](https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/21285396/jk-rowling-transphobic-backlash-harry-potter) on social and mass media, [and has publicly "come out" as a TERF](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2019/12/19/jk-rowling-comes-out-as-a-terf/?sh=550934195d70). 2. The HP game was lead-developed by someone who is substantiated as an an alt-right anti-semite who [previously ran an anti-social justice Youtube channel](https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/02/22/troy-leavitt-harry-potter-video-games-hogwarts-legacy-gamergate-youtube/), and his involvement with the game was scrubbed/hidden, the same way that Blizzard sought to scrub/hide the fact that it was horribly abusive to its female employees. 3. The game as well as [*the source material itself*](https://7news.com.au/entertainment/harry-potter-fans-call-out-jk-rowling-over-cartoonishly-stereotypical-character-names-after-return-to-hogwarts-reunion-c-5178042.amp) is [replete with anti-semitic and racist tropes](https://www.timesofisrael.com/are-the-goblins-in-blockbuster-harry-potter-game-hogwarts-legacy-antisemitic/amp/).
With these established premises, within the context of Karl Popper's Paradox of Tolerance, the *only* proper response to JKR is being thoroughly intolerant of her bigotry. Naturally, this extends to people who support her and consume her IP.
Nobody worth their salt objected to Richard Spencer — a known white nationalist — [getting absolutely punched in the face](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/01/20/politics/white-nationalist-richard-spencer-punched/index.html), because fuck Nazis and they deserve to get punched in the face.
Concomittantly, people who play a video game developed by a virulent transphobic racist anti-semite are choosing — even after they've been presented with clear and compelling evidence that both the IP and its progenitor are fucking terrible — deserve the hate they're getting.
To paraphrase Erika Ishii, Harry Potter had a lot of magic for a lot of people who eventually came into their own gender identities, but [fuck TERFs](https://twitter.com/dimension20show/status/1412599020850139138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1412599020850139138%7Ctwgr%5E611bd1f5208ebb3f1fb90722ef53ae02af23f36b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgaymingmag.com%2F2021%2F07%2Fapex-legends-voice-actor-erika-ishii-says-fck-terfs-on-dimension-20-show%2F).
And to quote Aabria Iyengar: "Once you know better, do better.... [[JKR] is a truly unworthy hill to die on."](https://twitter.com/quiddie/status/1623541706280042497?s=46&t=X-f1xhuhhRJeRWUubgi1sg)