Politics and Swearing in HP

[Dicentra spectabilis]

No: HPFGUIDX 84768

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nibleswik" <nibleswik at y...> 
wrote:

> I may have been seeing politics where there was just storytelling, 
> but to me (and many of my friends, and, I'm sure, many on this 
> list), the Grand Inquisitorial Decrees just reeked of the Patriot 
> Act. 

<snip>

> I was positively maniacal in my giggles as 
> the MoM appeared to act more and more like the Bush administration. 
> Now, a large part of this (who knows? maybe all of it) may have 
> been that I was allowing my political views to get the better of me 
> and falling into the common trap of, "See? This brilliant author 
> agrees with me!" I didn't think I was doing so, but it's definitely 
> possible. 

Given that JKR devised the plot of the entire 7-book series before 
1997, I think it's safe to say that she's not parodying the Bush 
administration or any part thereof in Book 5.  Furthermore, as a 
British author, I don't think that commenting on U.S. politics is 
uppermost in her mind.  The HP series deals with The Big Issues Of 
Life, and therefore tends to address general principles rather than 
particulars.

Her depiction of the MoM, the Educational Decrees, and Umbridge 
encompass a particular pattern of human behavior that crops up from 
time to time in every civilization.  The MoM is in denial mode; 
therefore, you will likely associate any RL organization that you 
perceive to be in denial with the MoM.  

That doesn't mean that your evaluation of the RL organization is 
accurate or inaccurate (it's all a matter of perception, anyway) nor 
that the author is drawing specific parallels.  I did not associate 
the MoM with any particular RL organization, for example, but I did 
recognize the behavior as something that is likely to occur in human 
societies.

> I'm occasionally irked by the almost complete absence of swearing, 
> though, as it seems unrealistic to me. I know one (one!) teenager 
> who swears as infrequently and mildly as the Harry Potter kids. 

Though she usually avoids the actual expletives, she does mention 
that people swear.  For example, "Ron swore," or "Ron said something 
that made Hermione say, 'Ron!'"  Personally, I prefer this method: if 
you dig expletives, you can fill in the blank yourself, or if you 
don't, you won't be offended by the strong language.  It accommodates 
more people that way.

--Dicentra, in whose corner of the woods swearing is less common than 
in the general society


::dons her Elf identity::

Please remember that although it is permissable to discuss whether 
JKR is advancing political ideas and which ones they might be, it's 
probably not a good idea to comment on current political events such 
as the Bush administration.  If a flame war erupts over political 
issues (and we fervently hope that it won't), the Elves will have to 
extinguish it with a steady stream of pumpkin juice and couple of 
well-placed Howlers.

--Dicey Elf