Saturday, July 21, 2007

Harry Potter for Adults

Blog treasure Jon Swift on how Harry Potter is making the world less safe for the Unitary Executive:
Although some admirers have pointed out that the Harry Potter books have gotten kids reading again, this has come at the expense of taking them away from more important pursuits like playing video games which prepare them for the 21st century wars they will be fighting. Reading books, as many Americans are coming to discover, is overrated anyway, but reading these books (which for many Americans are the only books they do read) could be especially detrimental because of the lessons they are teaching our children and even many adults.

Harry Potter is a terrible role model. He is a petulant, self-pitying brat who routinely breaks rules that he believes don't apply to him. In the anything goes, slippery slope morality of Harry Potter's world, nothing is taboo... .
Although President Bush has stood as a bulwark against indulging children with medical care they cannot afford to pay for, for example, the insidious influence of British socialist propaganda like the Harry Potter books will not make this task any easier.
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If J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, had been an American we wouldn't even have been subjected to these terrible books. She was a single mother who leached off the government dole for years while she scribbled away on the first book, daydreaming in Edinburgh cafés about Horcruxes and Patronus charms and other childish things instead of worrying about paying her bills. If she had lived in the United States she would have been forced to get a proper job and had no time to write at all. A self-professed admirer of Jessica Mitford, a muckraking journalist who was a member of the Communist Party, Rowling has filled her books with subversive propaganda... .

"In typical children's literature, only "bad kids" disobey adults, and they get hurt or into severe trouble," wrote liberal Mike Hersh. "Heroes seldom question authority, and if they do, they quickly learn their folly. Not in Rowling's realistic view. Her heroes repeatedly defy adults, break rules, and exemplify bold courage in the face of oppressive authority." Harry Potter and his friends are the kinds of kids who would stand outside of Hogwarts with a sign saying "Bong Hits for Jesus," which, thanks to our new Supreme Court, can no longer happen in America.
There's more.

1 comment:

Matt said...

Wow. I've never read a more intelligent and interesting perspective on Harry Potter. That being said, I have to completely disagree with everything it said.

First off, the point about the kids "disobeying" adults is moot considering that, in the books, they are in fact the ones who are right. Judging from Jon Swift's argument, it's better to sit back and do nothing when a terrible injustice is ignored by the authorities?

Also, it's a ridiculous statement to say that Rowling shouldn't have been writing her book when you know damn well that she is now one of the richest women in the world because of it. If living in America would have prevented this, then why the hell would anyone want to live there?

(P.S. this is a great local blog, and if you ever need great content for it, check us out at thenewsroom.com)

--Matthew from the local desk at thenewsroom.com