Mugglecast and Pottercast episodes on the trial

[geri_chan]

I was merely going to add a short update to my previous post, but after listening to the PotterCast episode on the trial, I got so worked up emotionally that I decided to make a separate post on the subject. (The relevant podcast episodes that I'm talking about are #142 for Mugglecast, and 148 for PotterCast. You can download directly from the websites, or get them on iTunes.)

First off, here is what I posted about the Mugglecast episode yesterday in my update on the earlier post:

A commenter on my IJ post said that Mugglecast's trial podcasts were reported to be more even-handed than Pottercast's, although not perfect. And after I thought it over, I decided it wasn't fair to make a judgement about it without having listened to it myself, anyway. All the hosts stated that they were supporting JKR, but one of them, Eric, made a very good effort to be fair and objective and try to examine the issues from both sides; the others, not so much. Micah obviously felt very passionate about the matter, and you could tell from his voice that he was barely holding back his anger against Steve at times. However, the conversation was mostly civil; I think Andrew did start to poke a little fun at Steve, and I believe it was Eric who jumped in and said that they shouldn't mock Steve, and Andrew quickly agreed.

As I said, Eric did try to be fair--he pointed out that there is some creative material on the Lexicon, such as the floor plans Steve created for Grimmauld Place based on the description in OotP. However, Micah and Laura claim that there is no such creative material in the book (as opposed to the website), and were quite adamant about it, and I was a bit confused by their certainty. Not sure if they're just going along with WB's claims, or if there was something in the full court transcripts confirming that the book is simply a dictionary list of spells, people, etc. He also said that he felt sorry for Steve, who is such a big Harry Potter fan and now is being attacked by the fandom. Micah said that he wants to feel sorry for Steve but can't, and says he brought it upon himself.

They did bring up at the beginning of the podcast that emotions have been brought into the trial, but the case has to be judged on the facts and not those emotions. However, later Micah stated that he couldn't understand how Steve, as a Harry Potter fan, could have gone ahead with the book without taking into consideration JKR's "feelings". So obviously they are having a little trouble separating the two themselves. And they brought up JKR's accusations that the Lexicon is sloppy and full of errors, without pointing out the inherent contradiction that JKR once used the website for fact-checking.

However, I do give them credit for at least acknowledging that they don't want to piss off WB, whereas Leaky/Pottercast has expressed indignation at accusations that they're siding against Steve to make nice with WB/JKR.

So it's a somewhat mixed bag. I think they tried to be fair, but their own biases obviously showed through. It was meant to be more of a discussion, I think, than objective reporting, though, so everyone has the right to express their own opinions, as I am doing in my journal posts. I do think it would have been good if they had included one actual Lexicon supporter on the panel just to give a true POV from both sides. I did send in a polite response to their points, so I'll see if they address any of those in a later episode. But I'm not sorry that I listened to the podcast, and I will check out the HP Prognostications podcasts that Venturous1 suggested.

In addition, I realized that I forgot to mention that Andrew was not impressed with WB's lawyers, referring to the judge's statement that one of their expert witnesses failed to make their point, saying that they were presenting supposition as fact. And furthermore, regarding JKR's statement that she might not have the heart to continue working on the encyclopedia should RDR win the lawsuit, the hosts pointed out that it sounded like a threat, as in "I won't write the encyclopedia if the Lexicon book comes out." Then Andrew said that he didn't think she'd follow through on that because it would make her look bad, since the profits of the encyclopedia are supposed to go to charity.

So in all fairness, I must give them credit for not being blind in their support of JKR, and recognizing manipulation when they see it. And they did remind fans to keep their discussion of the matter polite.

I did send in a response under my Mugglenet ID politely (I hope) giving my views on the Lexicon and asking them to clarify how they know that the book has no original material, and bringing up the contradiction of JKR accusing the Lexicon of being full of errors even though she has used it for fact-checking. So if they should happen to read an e-mail from "Seraphim" and some of it sounds familiar, well, that's me. ^_^ No guarantee that they'll use my response on the next show, though, since I'm sure that they'll get tons of feedback on this episode.

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So now, on to Pottercast. They didn't even make the attempt to try to see the case from the other point of view, as Eric on Mugglecast did. Apparently hosts Melissa and John actually attended the trial, and from the start they were talking about how "awesome" it was to see "Jo" walk into the courtroom. Basically, the whole episode was all about how right JKR is, and how they can't understand how anyone can possibly see it any other way. Since they were actually at the trial, they did go into a bit more detail about the proceedings and clarify some of the things I was questioning Mugglenet about.

Supposedly one of WB's expert witnesses made a "pie chart" in which she went through every line of the Lexicon manuscript to see how much was original and how much was from the HP books, and according to the expert, 91 percent is direct quotes or quotes that have been paraphrased slightly. Apparently the pie chart was not admitted as evidence, because due to time constraints, the expert was presented only as a rebuttal witness and did not give the full planned testimony. However, the Pottercast hosts say that the pie chart has been all over the internet.

And as for JKR using the Lexicon for fact-checking, she attempted to explain that away in her testimony. When questioned, she claimed she couldn't remember exactly what she looked up, but admitted that she did go to the Lexicon a couple of times merely so that she could say she used it, to reward this fan site that so much hard work went into. You know, so that the Lexicon could reap the kudos of, "JKR said she used our site!" (My words, not hers or PotterCast's.) However, she said she could just as easily have googled the same information.

Well, that's still sort of irrelevant, isn't it? Regardless of whether she could have found the information elsewhere or not, she did use it as a reference, and presumably the information was correct at the time. Of course, it's kind of hard to say, since she seems to have misplaced her memory. But I would think that she'd remember if it was so full of errors that it was useless as a reference tool.

They did a few things that I think were a little childish, such as poking fun at one of the defense lawyers, a Mr. Hammer. They had a running joke about his name that's kind of hard to explain unless you listen to the podcast. Apparently JKR kept repeating his name so often during her testimony that it became humorous to them. They said it was something to amuse themselves during the boring parts of the trial. But I notice that they're not making fun of the WB lawyers.

Also, when JKR responds sarcastically to the defense lawyer, she's being "effective" in her testimony, but when the defense lawyer gets sarcastic, he's being "snarky". (Of course, to us Snape fans, "snarky" is actually a compliment, but I don't think they meant it that way.)

John, like Micah, was obviously emotional about the matter and very angry at Steve--even more so than Micah, I think. They talked about Steve crying on the stand, and John said he felt no sympathy for him. Again, he made the argument that Steve brought it on himself and that a "true Harry Potter fan" would not be going against JKR that way, would not be doing something that is so obviously wrong. And he said that Steve is a "bad Harry Potter fan" for putting his own interests ahead of those of the other Potter fans. (Referring to the possibility that the lawsuit might lead to JKR being more restrictive on fan sites and fan activities in the future.) And furthermore--this is what really enraged me--he said that he could not see how a true Harry Potter fan could feel sympathy for Steve. He really spoke as if Steve was deliberately committing an illegal act by going ahead with the Lexicon book, even though all the experts say that the copyright laws are not clear on the matter.

The other hosts agreed to a lesser extent. One of them did point out that it's not actually a crime, but a civil matter. But they are all adamant that Steve is in the wrong, and likened their feelings regarding Steve as to how you might feel if a family member or loved one committed a crime--you feel for them as a person because you care for them, but you can't feel sympathy for their actions. Sue kept saying how "hard" it was for her, because she and Steve were close friends, and Melissa said that she severed her friendship because of the book and lawsuit. (This is in addition to severing her professional relationship with Steve, as the Lexicon used to be hosted by The Leaky Cauldron.)

That is pretty harsh. Obviously, she has the right to choose her own friends, but I have family members and friends with political or religious or moral views that I strongly disagree with. That doesn't mean that I'm going to disown them because they don't agree with me. Of course, their friendship was based on a mutual love of Harry Potter, so maybe it's not surprising that it would end now over a disagreement about Harry Potter.

But really, that's Melissa's own personal choice. What I am most angry about is John setting himself up as the judge of who is or isn't a "true" fan. Here is the response I sent to them:

While I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I am very upset about comments that John made on the podcast that Steve cannot be a "true Harry Potter fan" because he went against JKR's wishes, and also that a "true Harry Potter fan" would not feel sympathy for Steve.

First of all, I believe it's possible to disagree with an author on a legal or moral issue while still being a fan of their works. To use an extreme example, I love the book "Ender's Game". However, the author, Orson Scott Card, believes that homosexuality is immoral and that gay marriage should not be allowed, and I cannot disagree with him more. Am I therefore not allowed to be an Ender's Game fan anymore?

As for the Lexicon lawsuit specifically, I believe that it should fall under fair use and here is why: [here I list some of the arguments that I've made on my journal posts, so I won't repeat them.]

You are free to disagree with me, of course, as is your right. But I am very hurt and angry that you would sit in judgment over me and call me "not a true Harry Potter fan" just because I happen to disagree with you on this issue. I know you did not address me personally, John, but you strongly implied that anyone who sides with Steve cannot possibly be a true fan. This is the kind of divisiveness that has been tearing the fandom apart. I have seen many examples in the Leaky news comments and forums of people on both sides insulting each other and calling each other names, accusing each other of not being "true fans" or of being "suck-ups" to JKR. I was expecting you guys to set a better example, and urge fans to agree to disagree with each other respectfully, and you have sorely disappointed me.

Again, I signed this as "Seraphim," since I was feeling a little paranoid and did not want fans of the more fanatic sort (like the ones who left the death threats on Mugglenet) possibly trying to look me up on LJ. I was so mad when I was originally typing out my reply that my hands were shaking. Now, I'm kind of like, eh, why should I care what this idiot thinks of me? But I'm still pissed off.

So ironically, the Mugglecast hosts, whom I believe are mostly in their teens, behaved much more maturely than the older Pottercast crew. Which just goes to show that maturity is not necessarily dependent on age.

Um, in all fairness, I forgot to mention that PotterCast made some good arguments about the Lexicon book not having proper citations of quoted material, which if it is true, is an argument in WB/JKR's favor. However, that is something that could easily be mended in a revision, if both parties were willing to settle.

Actually, they did make some good arguments here and there, but their emotions and biases were coming through so strongly that it was hard to separate the arguments that had merit from all the "you are not a true fan" crap.
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In more pleasant news, there were a couple of more copyright entries on Neil Gaiman's blog here and here. I really liked what he had to say on the first entry: As far as I can see it's only about a couple of really grey areas of copyright law -- I suspect, and I am SO not a lawyer, that it will come down to whether or not what Mr Vander Ark had done to Ms Rowling's work in his Lexicon was sufficiently "transformative" as to render it a new work.

And ironically, after bringing up Orson Scott Card in my e-mail to PotterCast, lo and behold, I see an article on Leaky where he attacks JKR for being hypocritical. He says: "Once you publish fiction, Ms. Rowling, anybody is free to write about it, to comment on it, and to quote liberally from it, as long as the source is cited." Direct link to Card's editorial here, in which he goes on to say, "Well, heck, I feel like the plot of my novel Ender's Game was stolen by J.K. Rowling." (He lists several similarities between the two stories; see article for details.)

I have sort of mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I agree with a lot of his points, although I think he goes a little too far in making assumptions about JKR's personal motives. I don't necessarily like the woman, but I would never claim that I know what goes on inside her head, either, and I would be angry if someone made similar assumptions about Steve.

On the other hand, I feel kind of weird about having my beliefs defended by a guy whose homophobic rants I despise. (I don't have the links at present; there were some on metafandom several weeks ago when there was some controversy over him winning a Young Adult book award.) It doesn't mean that he's not a good writer of fiction, which he is, or that we can't see eye to eye on other issues. But it's hard for me to respect a guy who believes that gay marriage threatens the whole institution of (heterosexual) marriage, yet claims to have gay friends. Um, JKR isn't the only hypocrite around here, huh?

I do still like Ender's Game (and the sequels), but I don't buy his books anymore; I choose not to put money into the pockets of someone I consider a bigot. I borrow them from the library now if I want to read them. Although my real-life knowledge of him has spoiled my enjoyment of the books, I must admit. It's hard to just lose myself in the fantasy world now that I'm preoccupied with my knowledge of the author, and looking for signs of his prejudice in the text.

Okay, I found the link on metafandom to an IJ post that has a number of links on Card, in case anyone's curious.