Harry Potter: The new Atlas Shrugged?

www.lp.org ^ | 8.20.03 | Eryk Boston

[freepatriot32]

There is a pure joy in seeing libertarian principles expressed by unexpected sources in a world teeming with those who love power. This is especially true when the expression is focused on the next generation. Thus, I am almost rapturous about book five in the Harry Potter series, The Order of the Phoenix.

The first blessing of the Harry Potter series is that it is an example of a gifted writer making an obscene fortune by creating a product people love. It has recently been confirmed that J. K. Rowling is now wealthier than the World's Greatest Welfare Mother, the Queen of England. That alone is enough to warm my capitalist heart.

But far more important is that the first printing of The Order of the Phoenix will be 8.5 million copies. Subsequent printings could number in the tens of millions. Millions of young kids, and many not-so-young kids, read these books repeatedly and absorb every detail. And this is one of the most anti-government books I've read since Atlas Shrugged.

I'm not the first person to point out that the Harry Potter books have a libertarian flavor. The wizarding world in the series has a private banking system and no apparent zoning laws. Wizards have the right to carry a wand -- more dangerous than any firearm -- at all times for the express purpose of self-defense. The schools are largely independent (until this book). Dumbeldore, the most powerful wizard alive, actively avoids a position in government. Independent action is celebrated. Notably absent is any mention of a system of taxation.

There is a formal government, but its purpose has been primarily to hide the wizarding world from muggles (i.e. you) and to control abuse of magic that could harm others. Until now, the high-ranking government ministers in the tales have generally been either pompous jerks or bumbling fools. With the exception of the time when the Minister of Magic knowingly put an innocent man in prison as a public-relations stunt, the authorities have almost been comic relief.

In this book, they cross the line into being dangerously corrupt. They deliberately conceal a mortal threat to the world. They engage in campaigns of character assassination against political enemies. By the end, the Minister's personal assistant resorts to the use of torture to retain power and reveals that she sent assassins to take out Harry Potter. The book is meticulous in detailing the wrong they do, the malice in their intent, and the harm they cause.

While Lord Voldemort is the great evil of the series, Dolores Umbridge, the aforementioned government assistant, is the true villain of the book. She becomes the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor and institutes a government-approved curriculum -- ostensibly intended to teach defense, but in reality designed to create helpless and dependent students. Her first class and her appalling "We raise our hands!" teaching method is enough to cause flashbacks in any victim of government schools. She becomes a case study in power lust as she seizes control through the assumption of titles, rituals of obedience, censorship, personal enforcers, and the issuance of new decrees whenever her intentions are thwarted.

But the joy of the story is how the students and professors respond to this tyranny. The very title of the book refers to a private organization meant to fight Lord Voldemort, despite the cowardice of the state.

I won't include any spoilers, but I can say that kids who read the book will get a fine lesson in civil disobedience, passive resistance, occasional active resistance, and the price of seeking power by state fiat. Faced with classes designed to rob them of an education, the students organize to educate themselves in clear violation of the new decrees. State interference with the press is bypassed by utilizing an alternative method. The official effort to silence a news story results in the entire school reading it in one day.

And that is the key to Umbridge's downfall. As a fan of natural consequences, I found great delight in seeing her plans collapse under their own weight as soon as she got exactly what she wanted. This book will do much to instill in a generation of children an aversion to illegitimate state authority and an acceptance of righteous resistance.

As a bonus, decades of government school's efforts to make Americans illiterate could be destroyed overnight as millions of kids line up to buy an 870-page tome. Add all five books together, and they are longer than War and Peace by a wide margin. Plus, there are two more to come. While the books are widely enjoyed by children, neither the plot nor the vocabulary of the books can be said to be childish.

If you haven't already, read the books. Just get the first book and start reading. You'll soon have read all five, and find yourself happily spellbound in Harry's world -- waiting eagerly for book six.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I like Hermonie better than Dagny.

[I still care]

I read the book and this revue is accurate. They have a liberal making the movies now, and I don't know how they will deal with making such a conservative book. They will have to distort the whole story in order to take the big government wants to control you theme out of it.

I have been thrilled with the conservatism of this series.

[Joe Bonforte]

No child will ever think about politicians the same way again after reading about that abusive idiot, Cornelius Fudge.

[sonserae]

Comparing Harry Potter to Atlas Shrugged is a total travesty.

[Cultural Jihad]

It's always good whenever a fantasy ideology searches through fantasy literature for its own self-validation. Next we should discuss whether Batman or Bart Simpson are libertarians or not.

[pogo101]

Comparing Harry Potter to Atlas Shrugged is a total travesty.

A good thesis statement. Now beef it up and let's hear why, perhaps taking on the various points made by this author's piece.

[Tamzee]

I have been thrilled with the conservatism of this series.

Same here! My kids and I read the books together as they come out and I always make sure we discuss conservative points that ring throughout the plot :-)

[pogo101]

Now that I think on it, I did rather like the book's negative take on those who, like "High Inquisitor" Umbridge, tried to take away the students' (and others') right to individual self-defense by insisting "there is no threat" and insisting that any threat would be well contained by the official "police."

That IS a rather libertarian stance!

[jocon307]

Here's a Brit Novel, or 5! Have you read any of these? One of my friends has, she says they're OK, and she's pretty fussy. Another friend has read them too, never heard any adult reader complain that they are too childish, that I will say.

[eyespysomething]

bump to read in a few days when I am done with the book

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Batman is the ultimate libertarian. He is psychotic, and prefers emotional and violent vigilante action to control crime as opposed to rationally using a police force and the due process of law.

[CatoRenasci]

You're right. Harry Potter is better written and less didactic.

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

As a bonus, decades of government school's efforts to make Americans illiterate could be destroyed overnight as millions of kids line up to buy an 870-page tome.

[Joe Bonforte]

Next we should discuss whether Batman or Bart Simpson are libertarians or not.

No, next we should discuss whether Cultural Jihad has so much bile in his system over libertarians that he can't see straight.

[kesg]

Libertarianism and the fantasy world of Harry Potter -- a world that is totally different from the actual real world we live in -- go together perfectly. :)

[Blueflag]

I agree. I didn't like Atlas shrugged either when I read it.

;- )

[Sloth]

I noticed a strong libertarian theme in Book V as well. Dolores Umbridge IS President Hillary Clinton.

[I still care]

How about when they decide to make "Defense Against the Dark Arts" class totally without practice? That they just need to learn the theory from the book, because the goverment will take care of all defense.

But to me the most relevant part of the story is when the Ministry starts passing laws that they must approve all teachers at the school, and all subjects at the school. They subsequently "cleanse" the school of anything not approved by the government.

[CatoRenasci]

Just as the fantasy world of Ayn Rand is totally different from the actual real world we live in.....

[Cultural Jihad]

Then again, if Batman wasn't personally robbed, raped, or assaulted, why should he care? What's in it for him, eh? If anything, his ability to empathize and pass judgments precludes his membership in that esteemed group. ;-)

[Chancellor Palpatine]

*snort*

You're right. Rowling really does have talent - I know I'm hooked and look forward to each new book in the series.

In addition to being a plodding writer, Rand was truly a self absorbed twit.

[pogo101]

Hillary Jane Umbridge-Rodham.

[MightyMouseToSaveThe Day]

I'm a huge fan of JK Rowling--brilliant writer who singlehandedly renewed people's love for books. I've also been extremely pleased with the first two movies whose director conscientiously adhered to the book's trueness.

I've been getting sick with all the leaked rumors of the director they hired for the 3rd installment. He's an unabashed liberal and has decided to impart his own interpretation of what he thinks Rowling MEANT to write. aarrrgh...for example, this director recasts the wise old Dumbledore into an aging hippie (I kid you not). The Director's model for evil Lord Voldemort is none other than George W Bush whom he feels is Lord Evil himself. He sees the book's struggle of good vs evil as, in reality, a rebellion of the caste system and the struggle between the haves-and-have-nots. All in all, he's RUINING book#3.

thank goodness I hear that he's already been replaced for book#4.

[Cultural Jihad]

No, just moral-liberals.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Ah - you mean he is initiating force against people who haven't done him any harm - and is doing it altruistically, with none of that highest of motives - profit - in mind. That means that in the libertarian world, he is a criminal deserving of some gruesome execution.

[CatoRenasci]

And one whose personal morality -- cuckolding her husband Frank O'Conner with young Nathanial Brandon -- you would not likely approve.

The best comment I've heard on Rand is from a libertarian intellectual friend (his philosophy PhD qualifying paper was on Rand). He said that she was saying to all readers who did not agree with her fully: "Get Thee to a Gas Chamber! Go!"

[Allegra]

I read the book and this revue is accurate. They have a liberal making the movies now, and I don't know how they will deal with making such a conservative book.

I read that the liberal is only going to make the one movie he is working on right now. I also read that he compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Cornelius Fudge to Tony Blair. It's in a fairly recent issue of "News-weak"...the one with the Hussein Brothers on the cover.

That's all I needed to read about him to have total contempt for the guy.

[Sloth]

Another good element, from an earlier book: reporter Rita Skeeter -- it is obvious that Rowling has a viceral dislike for journalistic bias.

[I still care]

I really enjoyed and liked these books. The idea of this idiot wrecking the movie ticks me off.

If he had half a brain, it is easy to see that it is Dumbledore who recognizes the danger from evil and Fudge insists everything is fine. Talk about twisting an obvious lesson. I wonder how much control Rowling has over this.

[I still care]

And at the end of the 5th book is a strong statement on eternal life. Not reincarnation, eternal life.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Judging by some postings I've seen on other websites, the Left has convinced itself that Cornelius Fudge is Tony Blair (or GWB), and Dolores Uxbridge is Margaret Thatcher. They completely miss the libertarian slant of the book, and think that Rowling is condemning the evils of capitalism and conservatism.

[Cultural Jihad]

"You do your own thang and it's all nobody's business!"

[Richard Kimball]

Yeah. Rowling knows how to write.

[Dr. Frank fan]

The best comment I've heard on Rand is from a libertarian intellectual friend (his philosophy PhD qualifying paper was on Rand). He said that she was saying to all readers who did not agree with her fully: "Get Thee to a Gas Chamber! Go!"

He didn't exactly invent that one-liner you know, he was quoting (sort of) Whittaker Chambers' review of Atlas. Chambers asserted that a voice "could be heard" saying this in her writing. The only thing your "intellectual friend" added, curiously, is the "Get thee" part. Look it up (scroll down to "Big Sister Is Watching You).

I am not a fan of Rand's writing (couldn't even get all the way through The Fountainhead), or even a "libertarian" per se, but this was not Chambers' best moment, nor is it your "intellectual friend"'s.

Wild baseless accusations that you can "hear" something about a gas chamber in someone's writing are cheap and childish.

What's more, I'm pretty sure I've told you all of this (I'm pretty sure it was you) before on FR, and yet you're still using the line in threads which concern Rand. Why? This line does not speak well of you or anyone else.

[CatoRenasci]

He also describer Rand as a mild Marxist: she was a athiest and a historical materialist.

Almost as good as the (well-known) philospher who quipped to me after a few beers that perhaps Nietzsche could best be thought of a some sort of a mad logical positivist.

[tpaine]

Next we should discuss whether Batman or Bart Simpson are libertarians or not.
6 -Cultural Jihad-

Batman is the ultimate libertarian. He is psychotic, and prefers emotional and violent vigilante action to control crime as opposed to rationally using a police force and the due process of law.
12 -Chancy-



Two of FR's foremost psycotics attempt to wax eloquent on rationality.

The clown viewing doesn't get much better at FR's circus.

[null and void]

Yup. My son and I are on our 4th listening of the book. There is an absolute wealth of teaching opportunities in Order of the Phoenix.

He really gets the pro-responsibility slant, and how a regiem exsist only to perpetuate itself.

How mant 10 year olds do you know who even know what a "white mutiny" is, let alone how to apply the concept?...

[null and void]

I'm out of popcorn - can I share of yours?

[tpaine]

Next we should discuss whether Batman or Bart Simpson are libertarians or not.
6 -Cultural Jihad-

Batman is the ultimate libertarian. He is psychotic, and prefers emotional and violent vigilante action to control crime as opposed to rationally using a police force and the due process of law.
12 -Chancy-



Two of FR's foremost psycotics attempt to wax eloquent on rationality.

The clown viewing doesn't get much better at FR's circus.
37 -tpaine-


I'm out of popcorn - can I share of yours?
40 -N&V-


Sorry , popcorn is banned at our Chancy & The Cultist Show.
[too many chokeing incidents] -- Candy floss OK?

[null and void]

The candy floss sales man
watches ladies in the sand
down for a freaky weekend
in the hope that they'll be meeting
Mr. Universe

[StarCMC]

Me too - a true classic!

[MonroeDNA]

Pass the M&M's.

[jmc813]

The weird thing is that the ONLY time those two have anything in common is when bashing libertarianism. I get tempted to bring up homos just for the humor factor of seeing them turn on each other. :-)

[DannyTN]

What I liked, was the way the book showed how the press could be misused and the way the press slandered Dumbledore and Harry.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Pot stirrer - LOL.

[jmc813]

Pot stirrer - LOL.

That's world class pot-stirrer to you. :-)

[tpaine]

The weird thing is that the ONLY time those two have anything in common is when bashing libertarianism.

Not really true my boy. They are both closet socialists, quite adept at hiding their true agendas at FR.

I get tempted to bring up homos just for the humor factor of seeing them turn on each other. :-)

As we've just seen, it bought a quick nervous 'LOL' from Chancy. He must like you.

Youz in trouble.

[jmc813]

As we've just seen, it bought a quick nervous 'LOL' from Chancy. He must like you.

Eh, me & CP differ about as much as possible politically, but have several mutual non-political interests, so we tend to get along pretty well.

CJ, on the other hand, hates me. :-(