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Harry Potter and the Fascist Ubermensch

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0.0 It frightens me that she called herself a "political animal".
posted Vor mehr als einem Jahr.
 
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^LOL yeah, that was rather creepy. And yeah, I found this article and thought it was kind of ridiculous. I was interested to see if anyone agreed with it, XD
posted Vor mehr als einem Jahr.
 
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"There is no evidence of there ever being a female Minister."
Hmmm...try...the very first Minister for Magic? UGH.

Harry was raised as a Muggle, and never once did Jo say the Muggle world is tedious and terrible. It was like that for Harry; not because his uncle and aunt were Muggles but because they were terrible people, full stop. But Hermione was Muggle-born and she mentioned her parents a few times and the holidays they had. She's also completely brilliant - and that's the point. Prejudice against muggleborns, half-bloods, half-breeds, "blood traitors", muggles etc is completely unnecessary. She's twice as skilled as Ron, who is descended from a long line of pure-blood wizards.

It has to be said, she used so many long words I didn't really understand it, but on the thing about Dobby and the house elves - Ron said it himself "We don't want any more Dobbies. We can't order them to die for us." Dobby CHOSE to save Harry and his friends and thus, endangered his own lives. The way house elves are treated was brought up by Hermione and S.P.E.W and I think it was a very poignant point that Dobby was offered a high wage and weekends off by Dumbledore, but he turned it down in favour of a smaller wage and a few holiday occassions.

Jo includes multiple perspectives - for example, Petunia's jealousy of her favoured and "special" younger sister Lily. She says the readers of Harry Potter probably can't relate to these special, magical characters - but I certainly can. Bookish Hermione, Ginny with her temper, and of course Luna, who I relate to in every possible way.

People in the comments had the right idea - I bet she reads her own children politically correct bedtime stories.

Ps; I know you don't agree with it, Kate.
posted Vor mehr als einem Jahr.
 
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bri-marie said:
Potter readers learn that have a happy, free life, one has to be born special
Except, there was no part of Harry's life (until he defeated Voldemort) that could even be construed as "happy" and "free." He was forced to duel off against Voldemort - it was determined before he was even born and continued on throughout his entire life. That's not "freedom."
He was hunted for seven years by lots of different people, lost loved ones and friends and family, was ostracized, abused, called a liar by practically the entire wizarding community, bullied by teachers, looked down on for his fame, and had to deal with all those pesky things that every teenager has to go through on top of it. Since Harry isn't a masochist, I seriously doubt that this constitutes "happy." Unless the person interpreting it is a sadist.

There is clear-cut, negatively-framed racism inherent in the system in its treatment of “mudbloods”
No! Really? You mean the book that was meant to show how bad racism is actually has examples of how bad racism is? Wow! I never would have thought.
Understanding what she's reading: shis doin it rong.

the relationship between the Minister for Magic and the Prime Minister is deeply disturbing
So she's upset about how bad the racism is, but then is upset when the wizard's put aside their prejudice for the greater good?

to be brief, the former controls the latter’s actions whenever he (there is no evidence of there ever having been a female Minister) deems it necessary, via direct mental coercion
What coercion? Oh, you mean the part where he said, "There's a mass-murdering psyco wizard on the loose, hell-bent on taking over the world? We're going to give you powerful protection to save your life." Where's the coercion? He didn't lie or anything, he told him the truth. Now the writer's against that, too?
Oh, and, there was a female Minister. Ironically, there was a female Minister at a time when women were deemed porcelain dolls who couldn't do anything for themselves.

This subverts the process of Muggle democracy, and renders the entire country a dictatorship with a racist aristocracy
Except, ya know. It doesn't. The wizard's let the Muggles run their own governments. They don't interfere unless necessary.

they would be far more likely to be born Muggles, and be subject to an ancient, corrupt system of political and racial oppression in which they do not even have the right to their own experiences
That has nothing to do with Harry Potter, so I'm not sure what the point is. Is she honestly trying to say that governments are perfect and there's no racism outside of fantasy books? 'Cuz, stuff like this happens out here in the real world.

Wizarding Britain is a nation in which the death penalty is enacted at the request of the Minister for Magic
Oh, you mean, kind of like here in the real world, where the death penalty is enacted by the request of a judge? The death penalty isn't fiction. It happens to real people, in real life, all the time. And it was around way before HP.

One might argue that these aspects of Rowling’s secondary world are not intended to be desirable
Nope. I think JO totally wanted people to really want to go to Azkaban. Since, ya know, she made it seem so "totally cool" and all.

not a single Muggle of the few that appear in the book is either enviable or positively presented
What book is she reading?

It might be argued that the revelations of the seventh novel redeem the books and reveal the system to be in need of restructuring
Actually, if she read really, really closely, that theme pops up way before the seventh book. It actually pops up very obviously in the second. But I guess the whole, "Hagrid being framed and taken to Azkaban for no reason" was too subtle for her. And the Sirius' whole, "I didn't kill Peter and I was sent to Azkaban without a trial" was completely missed as well.

there is no sign that Muggles are any less oppressed, or that the racial laws have been repealed.
There's no sign of anyone having a job either (except Neville and Percy). Guess they're all just lazy bums with no future.

In the Harry Potter novels, racist conceptions of Othered humans are made into separate magical races -consider the long-nosed, conspiring, bank-owning goblins, for example
Again, a major theme in the book. Also, is she really trying to say that it's wrong that centaurs aren't considered human?

his inability to really assert his independence
Oh! That's why Dobby couldn't get a job! Because he was unable to assert his independent right to want to be paid. Oh, wait a minute. Dobby tells us that he was unable to get a job for so long because he requested he be paid.

I'm not even going to finish picking out all the wrongs in this article. It seems like this person picked up random books, flipped open to a random page and read a little. She claims to have read the series, but her claims prove otherwise. It's ridiculous.
posted Vor mehr als einem Jahr.