Only worth showing the book to your child if he's smart enough to discriminate between the two. Even then, it could encourage him looking for other Harry Potter fans who will likely be woke.
I do not know anything about Yellowstone, but the idea that anything tolerable coming from Hollywood is just a joke, unless its some kids movie or purely action movie (even then have to be very careful). Normie conservatives are still way too attached to the parasites that feed from their souls. Only ever make the most simple sacrifices that are more like trading one vice for a slightly lesser one.
There's enough good hobbies, books, and generally other things to do with your life that will be more fulfilling than consuming anything remotely woke. It is frustrating that people will still even consider entertaining and funding woke media and entertainment. That's the easiest thing to remove yourself from.
Great essay Mr Kurtz! I agree with you entirely as I was a kid myself who throughly enjoyed the HP Books but was never that interested in the films.
This is also the inspiration of for an idea of mine: Based Editing. Scrape off all the rubbish leftist denotation and apply a nice RW one to go with the setting.
Never a fan of Harry as a child, and you pinpoint some of the reasons why quite brilliantly. Prose aside, I always felt like it was preaching something at me that it was also unintentionally contradicting. I love Classic Fantasy novels but the only reason I find the wizard with the lightening scar interesting is because he is a good example of a left-wing woman's unconscious yearning for conservative values, in a society where the great feminist juggernaut has reduced a lot of social rules that used to be taken for granted to dust. Feminists who are borderline religious about politics will never admit straightforwardly that this made a lot of things feel vague and uncertain for women as well as men. But I think it sometimes pops up subconsciously in their media. For an extra example, a while back I noticed that many of the men that she portrays negatively as conservative all have undertones of a good spouse; Snape is a one-woman man and dies a hero, Mr. Dursley takes care of his wife's nephew however reluctantly and also lets her stay at home as a housewife. I heard that in a sequel no one watched it is revealed that her strawman racist nursed his wife while she was terminally ill. Keeping in mind that Rowling is a leftist lady this seems like a very odd choice; I wonder if deep inside she associates conservative families with stability.
I enjoyed Harry Potter, but agree with this. My biggest issue with the books--as you hint at, is how obsessed adults are with them. I view this as symbolic of our culture as a whole, a lack of struggle or real enemy (or religion) resulting in obsessing over fairy tales that hint at any form of morality.
Interesting. I've long noticed the leftist strategy, one of their most insidious, which is really saying something, of hijacking traditional ideas, archetypes, motifs, etc. for their own perverted ends. Or selectively and tactically deploying right-wing tropes and subtexts (like honour, manliness, physical strength or patriotism) that they denounce and screech against in all other contexts. It's like the old overgrown statue of the king in the Return of the King where the whole thing is intact, except the head has been knocked off and replaced with a hideous orc carving. The deepest possible mockery, defilement and desecration, under the guise of faux-sincerity. Like the corporate commie ghouls who never cease proclaiming what huge "fans" they are of and how much "love" they have for whatever great Western fairy tale or fantasy property (and fantasy has always been innately reactionary and right-wing) they're ripping to shreds and smearing with black and brown and rainbow faeces. It never fails to make me incandescent with rage. It's just so blindingly, unbelievably shameless and dishonest.
It was not the books that did that, but the ideological/tribal landscape. By polarizing those books, the Right made a huge mistake. Nothing argues more strongly against doctrine than its falsification, esp. when that truth is discovered in early adulthood.
May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023Liked by Johann Kurtz
The problem is that we've been psyopped into thinking we can separate the artist from the art. You can't, it's impossible.
We know that JK Rowling is a liberal. Common sense would tell us that anything that came out of her pen would be liberal. But as you said, "Harry Potter" has these "ring-wing subtexts" that may fool people into thinking that it's somehow conservative.
It's not the only one. I remembered years ago reading comments in a conservative website about how "The Hunger Games" is conservative because it portrayed the government negatively (perhaps somewhat of an oversimplification, but that's how I remembered it). Ridiculous, I know. But people see what they want to see. They just look at the text (so to speak) without thinking of who wrote that text. It's insane, to be honest.
You can reject the banalities of modern working-class existence without being on the right. Much of the leftist critiques of capitalism focus on this. The Dudleys use their excess wealth to become fat and stupid rather than using their surplus time/capital to ascend their values, aesthetics, and knowledge of narratives and history. You can also be in an elevated class without crassly demeaning your lessers. A gentleman should be above faux pas and know not to call the rabble "filthy muggles" even if he would not let them into his home.
There is absolutely a critique of parts of the elevated class in the case of the Malfoy family. They are essentially landed gentry who maintain power through the exploitation of slaves and are depicted negatively because of it.
I enjoyed this and there are definitely more right-wing points you could have brought up: house elves and Dumbledore's decision to keep them, the fickleness of Hermione's "House liberation front" etc.
There has been a movement on the left to reframe every narrative as leftist. We see this with "The Song of Achilles" which turned the illiad into a gay romcom etc. Some have gone as far as to pretend that "Fight Club" as another piece of anti-straight-male propaganda.
"When people call you a “snowflake” just remember they’re quoting Fight Club. A satire written by a gay man about how male fragility causes men to destroy themselves, resent society, and become radicalized"
I don't know you, your age, income, etc. but the idea of raising children in the West, as a 24-year-old who is currently childless, seems increasingly unfeasible, even for those of us who have a lot of money. Unless you intend to raise your kid in some alt community or in a homestead away from all of the shit I think your child reading Potter should be the least of your concerns. I recently hooked up with a second-grade teacher who told me her kids beg for indoor recess so they can play video games on their school-administered iPads. Make a tiktok account, set your age as 13, consume for 15 minutes, and see what they feed you. Feminist wizard book about friendship ain't that bad.
Jun 9, 2023·edited Jun 9, 2023Liked by Johann Kurtz
As an actually English conservative who grew up with Harry Potter, I have to say that I do not buy this spin at all.
However, interesting angle. I see how you could make that argument, (which, ironically, is the one that the Woke and trans-activists have been making against JK Rowling since she started sticking up for the rights of women and girls.)
But surely the treatment of Grindalwald in the Fantastic Beasts films (which are canon) clearly demonstrates the desire is to show that elitism and class based superiority is not virtuous or noble and does not lead to good things.
Only worth showing the book to your child if he's smart enough to discriminate between the two. Even then, it could encourage him looking for other Harry Potter fans who will likely be woke.
I do not know anything about Yellowstone, but the idea that anything tolerable coming from Hollywood is just a joke, unless its some kids movie or purely action movie (even then have to be very careful). Normie conservatives are still way too attached to the parasites that feed from their souls. Only ever make the most simple sacrifices that are more like trading one vice for a slightly lesser one.
There's enough good hobbies, books, and generally other things to do with your life that will be more fulfilling than consuming anything remotely woke. It is frustrating that people will still even consider entertaining and funding woke media and entertainment. That's the easiest thing to remove yourself from.
Great essay Mr Kurtz! I agree with you entirely as I was a kid myself who throughly enjoyed the HP Books but was never that interested in the films.
This is also the inspiration of for an idea of mine: Based Editing. Scrape off all the rubbish leftist denotation and apply a nice RW one to go with the setting.
Never a fan of Harry as a child, and you pinpoint some of the reasons why quite brilliantly. Prose aside, I always felt like it was preaching something at me that it was also unintentionally contradicting. I love Classic Fantasy novels but the only reason I find the wizard with the lightening scar interesting is because he is a good example of a left-wing woman's unconscious yearning for conservative values, in a society where the great feminist juggernaut has reduced a lot of social rules that used to be taken for granted to dust. Feminists who are borderline religious about politics will never admit straightforwardly that this made a lot of things feel vague and uncertain for women as well as men. But I think it sometimes pops up subconsciously in their media. For an extra example, a while back I noticed that many of the men that she portrays negatively as conservative all have undertones of a good spouse; Snape is a one-woman man and dies a hero, Mr. Dursley takes care of his wife's nephew however reluctantly and also lets her stay at home as a housewife. I heard that in a sequel no one watched it is revealed that her strawman racist nursed his wife while she was terminally ill. Keeping in mind that Rowling is a leftist lady this seems like a very odd choice; I wonder if deep inside she associates conservative families with stability.
I enjoyed Harry Potter, but agree with this. My biggest issue with the books--as you hint at, is how obsessed adults are with them. I view this as symbolic of our culture as a whole, a lack of struggle or real enemy (or religion) resulting in obsessing over fairy tales that hint at any form of morality.
Interesting. I've long noticed the leftist strategy, one of their most insidious, which is really saying something, of hijacking traditional ideas, archetypes, motifs, etc. for their own perverted ends. Or selectively and tactically deploying right-wing tropes and subtexts (like honour, manliness, physical strength or patriotism) that they denounce and screech against in all other contexts. It's like the old overgrown statue of the king in the Return of the King where the whole thing is intact, except the head has been knocked off and replaced with a hideous orc carving. The deepest possible mockery, defilement and desecration, under the guise of faux-sincerity. Like the corporate commie ghouls who never cease proclaiming what huge "fans" they are of and how much "love" they have for whatever great Western fairy tale or fantasy property (and fantasy has always been innately reactionary and right-wing) they're ripping to shreds and smearing with black and brown and rainbow faeces. It never fails to make me incandescent with rage. It's just so blindingly, unbelievably shameless and dishonest.
It was not the books that did that, but the ideological/tribal landscape. By polarizing those books, the Right made a huge mistake. Nothing argues more strongly against doctrine than its falsification, esp. when that truth is discovered in early adulthood.
The problem is that we've been psyopped into thinking we can separate the artist from the art. You can't, it's impossible.
We know that JK Rowling is a liberal. Common sense would tell us that anything that came out of her pen would be liberal. But as you said, "Harry Potter" has these "ring-wing subtexts" that may fool people into thinking that it's somehow conservative.
It's not the only one. I remembered years ago reading comments in a conservative website about how "The Hunger Games" is conservative because it portrayed the government negatively (perhaps somewhat of an oversimplification, but that's how I remembered it). Ridiculous, I know. But people see what they want to see. They just look at the text (so to speak) without thinking of who wrote that text. It's insane, to be honest.
I enjoyed this post but a few critiques:
You can reject the banalities of modern working-class existence without being on the right. Much of the leftist critiques of capitalism focus on this. The Dudleys use their excess wealth to become fat and stupid rather than using their surplus time/capital to ascend their values, aesthetics, and knowledge of narratives and history. You can also be in an elevated class without crassly demeaning your lessers. A gentleman should be above faux pas and know not to call the rabble "filthy muggles" even if he would not let them into his home.
There is absolutely a critique of parts of the elevated class in the case of the Malfoy family. They are essentially landed gentry who maintain power through the exploitation of slaves and are depicted negatively because of it.
I enjoyed this and there are definitely more right-wing points you could have brought up: house elves and Dumbledore's decision to keep them, the fickleness of Hermione's "House liberation front" etc.
There has been a movement on the left to reframe every narrative as leftist. We see this with "The Song of Achilles" which turned the illiad into a gay romcom etc. Some have gone as far as to pretend that "Fight Club" as another piece of anti-straight-male propaganda.
"When people call you a “snowflake” just remember they’re quoting Fight Club. A satire written by a gay man about how male fragility causes men to destroy themselves, resent society, and become radicalized"
https://twitter.com/oldman_logan/status/1572383731826192385
I worry you're essentially doing this.
I don't know you, your age, income, etc. but the idea of raising children in the West, as a 24-year-old who is currently childless, seems increasingly unfeasible, even for those of us who have a lot of money. Unless you intend to raise your kid in some alt community or in a homestead away from all of the shit I think your child reading Potter should be the least of your concerns. I recently hooked up with a second-grade teacher who told me her kids beg for indoor recess so they can play video games on their school-administered iPads. Make a tiktok account, set your age as 13, consume for 15 minutes, and see what they feed you. Feminist wizard book about friendship ain't that bad.
As an actually English conservative who grew up with Harry Potter, I have to say that I do not buy this spin at all.
However, interesting angle. I see how you could make that argument, (which, ironically, is the one that the Woke and trans-activists have been making against JK Rowling since she started sticking up for the rights of women and girls.)
But surely the treatment of Grindalwald in the Fantastic Beasts films (which are canon) clearly demonstrates the desire is to show that elitism and class based superiority is not virtuous or noble and does not lead to good things.
Now I’m thinking about what entertainment I’ve consumed lately that packages it’s stuff this same way. First on my list - Ted Lasso.
Outstanding. See "The Last of Us".