January 26, 2019
NOT MAGIC, JUST HISTORY:
Is Harry Potter an apologist for neoliberalism? (Polly Mackenzie, 25 JANUARY 2019, UnHerd)
If you want evidence that being partisan rots the brain, take a look at Leftist commentary criticising 'neoliberals' for loving Harry Potter. A classic of the genre was published recently by one RJ Quinn, which sets out such a brain-bendingly idiotic misreading of JK Rowling's novels I could have wept. The hypothesis is that neoliberals love the Potter franchise because it presents a world in which "the magic of facts and reason and elite education were enough to vanquish the ills of society".Well, thanks to my seven year old daughter, I've just reread all one million words of the Harry Potter novels, and I can tell you that Lord Voldemort is not defeated by facts, reason or elite education. He's defeated by love.
Which is, of course, the basis of neoliberalism. Heck, W even named his Compassionate Conservatism.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 26, 2019 8:21 AM