Which do you see: Howard Dean or Karl Rove?
Posted on 07/15/2005 10:25:17 PM PDT by Williams
Well the new Harry Potter book has arrived and I can report the first page of the first chapter contains an obvious jab at our president. The book begins with the British Prime Minister awaiting a phone call from the "President" of an unnamed distant country, and wondering when the "wretched man" would call.
As a fan of the books and for that matter of Rowling's personal story and success, I'm saddened that liberal madness had to invade this children's classic. The first chapter was otherwise perfectly enjoyable.
I'm not saying anything else in the chapter was intentionally connected to current events, but I had to draw the comparison with what has ended up in British headlines at the same time as the book release. In the book, the Prime Minister is dealing with unexplained events, at least some of which could be terrorist like. Indeed, they are the work of sinister forces. Whereas I'm sure in this book series, ultimate help will come from the wizarding world, in reality Britain needs the support of the leader J.K. Rowling refers to as that "wretched man." How sadly misguided.
It's not THAT bad. I'm a teenager and have read moby dick, War and peace, Tolkien, Chronicles of NArnia, etc. I LOVE the books.
And to all who say Harry Potter is liberal propaganda. The whole point of book 5 is the stupidity to ignore threats(like our day terrorism) and how extreme some educators and governments control schools. It is EXTREMELY like Churchill and Chamberlain in WWII.
P.S.-If you judge something, please actually read it.
I agree...what a vague sentence.
In 10 years...in 20 years...in 50 years...the PM will still be awaiting word from a "wretched" man of an unnamed country.
Let's hope that "wretched" man or woman is STILL a Republican. :o)
And, BTW, if I was in a hurry i'd call anyone wretched. I don't know the circumstances(I don't have the book yet) but likely it was VERY important. If I REALLY needed to have an answer from my favorite person in the world and they took a while i'd call them wretched.
Everything on the face of the earth does not OFFEND unless, of course, you're looking to be offended.
Frankly, I'm amazed at some of the things people get torqued off about around here. *Sigh*
Which do you see: Howard Dean or Karl Rove?
The PM might be waiting for a call from the president of France - he is a wretched man.
Half blood isn't that some kind of racial perjoritive?
Oh, this is for liberals, never mind.
So you are against the Oz books? Or only the HP marketing machine?
a bunny!
I still think you are reading WAY too much into it. And honestly, who cares what she thinks? She writes interesting fiction. I wouldn't give this a second thought. It will eat away at you if you live like that.
Bush and Blair are very close, so I don't see how you can reach this conclusion.
Maybe it's referring to wretched men such as Chirac or Putin.
I told my 13 year old that people thought these books encouraged occult and satanism and he about spit out his milk. And I quote, "But it's FICTION!"
Too bad adults can't get that. I devoured the entire Oz series as a kid and never even considered trying to be a witch or create spells. They are just as filled with potions and witchcraft as HP. Why didn't kids in that era (1910's) turn to the occult?
That's ridiculous, her book takes place in 1996, and that comment needs to be taken in the content of the story's time line, not the date of publication of the book.
This author has been following a seemingly very structured time line in her series, and I truly doubt that she would deliberately destroy it to take a vague potshot at George W. Bush, by having a fictitious character make a somewhat lame comment about the president of a distant land completely out of context to anything else happening in the book.
This is about as silly a premise for a thread as I have ever seen in this forum.
Beauseant!
Assuming that no one else here has read the book..... the leader is Cornelius Fudge, Ministry of Magic, NOT the president of the US, France, or any other country.....
The only time context worthy of note here, is the series's time line, and this book takes place in 1996.
There's nothing more to this than perhaps your overactive imagination.
And even if she was thinking of the present American President, then the man calling him "wretched" would be the current Prime Minister, and that would be Tony Blair...not a chance.
Beauseant!
uhh ok.?
I would never have thought America...far distant country sounds like something half way around the world. By the end of the chapter, we know Voldemort is back and he and his followers have been wreaking havoc on the muggle world. Okay, following your reasoning...JK Rowling is clairvoyant and "knew" there would be terrorist events in Britain just before the book was published.
Sheesh...
Now, this makes more sense.
The comment then was an obvious swipe at Condoleeza Rice, who the author expects to be a President of the United States sometime in the future.
The "C" in Cornelius stands for Condoleeza, and Fudge IS black...
Beauseant!
Considering the asinine behavoir of Chirac towards the British, I'd say that it is probably France. The word 'distant' could very likely mean any country that is Ireland, Scotland or England. There is the possibility that it means Bush also, but I think that a liklier candidate is France.
"Its summer time they should be outside playing... Why didnt she release this in the winter?"
Outside is fine, but certainly not ALL day. At least here in the southwest, a mid-day break from the heat is almost a necessity.
As for winter, kids have school and homework to do. Summer's a great time for a good book and to keep reading skills sharp.
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