OOP: A satire on real events?

[joywitch_m_curmudgeon]

No: HPFGUIDX 63666

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dan Feeney" <dark30 at v...> 
wrote:
> 
> 
> The irritating thing for some on reading OOP is that it is 
(certainly to me) a pretty fair satire of the response of the large 
media and certain
> governments around the world to George Bush and his so-called war on
> terrorism. 

Yes, I definitely thing that OOP falls in the realm of political 
commentary, if not satire.   I think that OoP is about how bigotry, 
lies, distortion and cowardice are the means by which discord and 
enmity are spread, and about how the politicization of that process 
leads, eventually, to fascism.

A lot of people have called Umbridge a Nazi, which is certainly an 
apt description.  However, while the Nazis are clearly the most 
visible and inarguable bunch of fascists you can point to, there are 
(unfortunately) more modern examples.  Sometimes governments, in 
response to a real or perceived external threat, have changed laws,   
manipulated its citizens, and used the media to create a climate of 
fear.  As Dan argues, there are parallels here in the U.S. today, and 
I'm sure we can find many other parallels in the U.S. and in many 
other countries in the past 50 years.

Magic or no magic, humans are humans, and they are not very good at 
being nice to each other, to say the least.  And, as Dumbledore says:

"...the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely 
those things that are worst for them."  (PS/SS 17)

--Joywitch