Obama Promotes Left-Wing Socialist J.K. Rowling as Someone Children Should Look Up To

Socialist Party Australia ^ | Unknown | Unknown

[DoctorBulldog]

In Obama's fascist speech to your schoolchildren, he promotes J.K. Rowling as someone to admire. Of course, she is a self-admitted "Left-Wing" Socialist who teaches kids bad morals and Socialism via her fictional characters. Gee, imagine that...

Just so you know that I'm not making this stuff up, I have copied the text from the Socialist Party of Australia:

Potty about Harry Potter

With over 325 million copies of all seven books sold worldwide, the last four books have also been, consecutively, the fastest selling in history. They have been translated into over 65 languages and author JK Rowling has amassed over $1 Billion (US). In short Harry Potter is a worldwide phenomenon.

Suzanne Beishon from the Socialist Party asks why?

They are not stunning literary creations, the writing is average at best, and yet they have set alight the imaginations of children and adults across the world.

The key is the huge attention to detail. Treading that fine line between convincing and far-fetched that so many fantasies fail in, it comes out on top. The last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, does not disappoint.

The sixth book built up to a stunning finale and while, when I picked up the final book I thought ‘this is too thin to be able to tie up all the loose ends’ it achieves it magically (excuse the pun!).

So, with the close of Harry Potter (although there are still two more films to come), we can ask what relevance does Harry Potter have for socialists?

JK Rowling has called herself ‘left-wing’ and has also said that within the books there is a certain amount of “political stuff”.

Of this there is evidence throughout, such as the three ‘unforgivable curses’ being killing, torture and enslavement.

There are comments on slavery with the oppression of the house-elves whose cause is taken up by Hermione who sets up the Society for the Protection of Elvish Welfare.

There are also comments on the education system, testing, the curriculum and the virtues of the Baccalaureate over A-Levels or in Hogwarts’ case, O.W.L.S.

Racism and discrimination are a theme throughout. The fight for a multicultural society is borne out in the battle against Lord Voldemort’s dream of a world dominated by the ’superior’ pure-blood wizards.

In the story all the mainstream media is used by the state to discredit the anti-Voldemort movement. It is only the small independent press and pirate radio that is able to put the truth out to the wizarding world.

Why does Harry Potter deserve to be reviewed by socialists? Not only does it have positive political comments throughout and has been so incredibly successful, it has also achieved where many governments have failed for years, in getting hundreds of thousands of children that do not normally read, reading.

[DoctorBulldog]

Be sure to archive the Socialist Party's webpage before they scrub it once all the hits start coming in from here.

Also, be sure to check out her Socialist verbiage here:

PhilanthropyUK

In particular, pay attention to:

"Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1m to aid women and children and to combat poverty and social inequality."

That is more commie-speak!

[bjc]

I am dead set against those who believe that a larger government will be beneficial to our fundamental rights. Your position on JK Rowling, however, is an over-reach. The HP storyline is so open you can read any kind of political philosophy into it, with the possible exception of race-based systems. The fact that the Australian Socialist Party is leveraging it - so what. If Ms Rowling wants to give money to various charities, so be it. If you want to charge her with being a socialist then please provide more substance.

[Dianna]

Funny, I’ve read the books and find them to be quite conservative. Rowling is free to support any causes she wishes personally.

[OpeEdMunkey]

The woman wrote herself off of the dole. That’s something to be admired.

[jdub]

addressing inequality with your own money is communist? It would appear to me that Obama used the reference to Rowling's rejections as she is an author that kids are familiar with. I doubt a reference to Ayn Rand would have resonated quite so well.

As i've said before, I seriously doubt this speech is the one he intended to give. But i have no problem with the one I've read.

[Buck W.]

JKR has encouraged an entire generation of kids to read by writing an entertaining series of challenging novels. Claiming that she is a socialist simply makes conservatives look silly in a very public way.

[listenhillary]

Give the 5.1m away, it still won’t fix poverty. The only way to fix poverty is to make us all poor, and then who will we look to?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The woman wrote herself off of the dole.

A caller to the Rush show mentioned (during the Sotomayer debate) that nobody has ever credited a government program for helping them succeed. They did it all through hard work and responsibility.

[stripes1776]

I am dead set against those who believe that a larger government will be beneficial to our fundamental rights. Your position on JK Rowling, however, is an over-reach. The HP storyline is so open you can read any kind of political philosophy into it, with the possible exception of race-based systems. The fact that the Australian Socialist Party is leveraging it - so what. If Ms Rowling wants to give money to various charities, so be it. If you want to charge her with being a socialist then please provide more substance.

I also think this article is a bit of over-reach. Rowling writes mythology, not allegory. Therefore her stories are open to many interpretations, from socialist to conservative. The reader will read into the story what the readers likes best, whatever Rowlings personal politics may be.

Now I don't want to equate Rowling with Charles Dickens. Dickens is a much better writer. And he didn't write mythology but simply great fiction about working-class people. (OK, some of the romantic stuff deals with ghosts.) He certainly was not a Tory. He was pro-Labor. But his stories are great reading, some of the best in the English language. And you have to ask yourself why the Brits are such good story-tellers? I don't have an answer, but they simply are.

[DoctorBulldog]

Okay. You believe what you want. I'm not here to argue with your beliefs.

However, when someone claims to be "Left-Wing" it might be a good idea to take note of that.

And, as in the case of Obama, it might also be a good idea to find out who are the most influential people in J.K. Rowling's life. Who does she idolize? Well, take a look:

Excerpt from the book "J.K. Rowling" By William Compson, pg 20-21:

"[...] Rowling became very interested in politics when her aunt gaver her a copy of Jessica Mitford's Daughters and Rebels when she was fourteen years old. J.K. Rowling says that Jessica Mitford is the writer who was most influential on her career. In fact, Rowling even named her daughter after her. Mitford was a courageous human rights activist who also had a wonderful sense of humor. She was fiercely independent as well as being a passionate socialist who rebelled against her wealthy family [...]"

Cheers

[Dianna]

However, when someone claims to be "Left-Wing" it might be a good idea to take note of that.

I am aware of her politics. I don't particularly care about them as she is not trying to use them to influence my children.

To each their own.

[DoctorBulldog]

Not trying to be abrasive here, but I couldn’t help but wonder that if you are aware of her politics, then don’t you find it interesting that Obama chose her, a Left Wing Socialist, as an example for children to follow? Or, are you of the opinion that Obama is just stupid and doesn’t know anything about her Left-wing politics?

Just curious.

Cheers

[Chode]

who'd ya expect... Ayn Rand???

[DoctorBulldog]

LOL! Believe it or not, Mrs. Bulldog is sitting in her chair reading “Atlas Shrugged” as I write this!

P.S. - Love the Chode!

[greyfoxx39]

Rowling is free to support any causes she wishes personally.

I haven't read the books, but have seen all the movies...I don't recall seeing any of the Hogwarts kids who have two mommies.

There are a lot worse real-life examples that are harmful to our kids than the Potter stories IMO.

[bjc]

It looks like you are correct - certainly Jessica Mitford, Rowling’s childhood heroine and alter ego, was a Communist (and a spoilt brat). If you have direct quotations from Rowling on an expanded role for Government that would help.

[camp_steveo]

Well, her plan didn’t work. My 15 year old son has read every HP book a dozen times each and watches the movies over and over again, but he has a very good grasp of the attributes of a free society. He is definitely not a socialist.

[Dianna]

Not trying to be abrasive here, but I couldn’t help but wonder that if you are aware of her politics, then don’t you find it interesting that Obama chose her, a Left Wing Socialist, as an example for children to follow? Or, are you of the opinion that Obama is just stupid and doesn’t know anything about her Left-wing politics?

Up until now, I have made no comment on this part of the speech.

Interesting, I suppose. The fact that many, many more children are aware of her as an author of books they like rather than a person who supports left-wing causes makes whatever point Obama may have been trying to make irrelevant.

[gman992]

The woman went from being on welfare to one of the most successful authors in the world. Is it just me or does the writer of this article have too much time on his hands?

[DoctorBulldog]

J.K. Rowling: "The Wizard Behind Harry Potter" by Marc Shapiro, page 178:

"Long a supporter of single parent rights and funding, Joanne's [J.K. Rowling's] voice was often raised in protest against the government's plans to cut funding for single parent services."

And, here is her statement as she gives the Labour Party 1 million pound:

"I believe that poor and vulnerable families will fare much better under the Labour Party than they would under a Cameron-led Conservative Party. Gordon Brown has consistently prioritised and introduced measures that will save as many children as possible from a life lacking in opportunity or choice. The Labour government has reversed the long-term trend in child poverty, and is one of the leading EU countries in combating child poverty. David Cameron's promise of tax perks for the married, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the Conservative government I experienced as a lone parent. It sends the message that the Conservatives still believe a childless, dual-income, but married couple is more deserving of a financial pat on the head than those struggling, as I once was, to keep their families afloat in difficult times."

Here she is on what it means to be British:

"It means a welfare state of which we should be fiercely proud and a tradition of tolerance and free speech we should defend to our last collective breath.

It means a health service to which much of the rest of the world aspires, [NOTE: she's talking about socialized health care] the richest and most diverse language, and the best curries outside India."

Of course, her longest job was at the Leftist organization, Amnesty International.

From her website:

"After leaving university I worked in London; my longest job was with Amnesty International, the organisation that campaigns against human rights abuses all over the world."

She derides the U.S., but thinks Obama and Clinton are the bomb [this is in a Spanish interview, but you can CLICK HERE and read the automatically translated version]:

"the international political stance of the United States has been wrong in previous years, for its own and for my country… I want a Democrat in the White House. It’s sad Obama and Clinton are rivals because they are both great.”

I have many more, but I'm a slow typist, and I wanted to get this comment posted before you got distracted. Cheers