A mystery novel author explained how J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” series, had been on the “side of people who tell the truth” and why a large portion of young progressives are angry with her.
In a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, Daniel Friedman explained how many young people had grown up reading the books and thought they were characters like Harry or Hermione when in fact they turned out to be less-liked characters, such as Percy Weasley or Dolores Umbridge.
“The reason a lot of young progressives are so mad at JK Rowling is that they read the books as kids, and they thought they were Harry or Hermione,” Friedman explained. “But they grew up into people like Percy or Dolores Umbridge or Cornelius Fudge or Rita Skeeter. And they know it.”
Friedman explained in his thread that he is currently “reading the fifth book” with his niece and points out Rowling “is on the same side now that she was when she wrote it. Which is the side of people who tell the truth, against people who suppress and deny the truth in service of their ideology.”
The reason a lot of young progressives are so mad at JK Rowling is that they read the books as kids, and they thought they were Harry or Hermione. But they grew up into people like Percy or Dolores Umbridge or Cornelius Fudge or Rita Skeeter. And they know it. And on some level,…
— Daniel Friedman (@DanFriedman81) November 4, 2023
Over the past several years Rowling has received backlash regarding her vocal opinions on sex and gender issues and single-sex spaces. In June 2020, Rowling received criticism after she responded to an op-ed about “people who menstruate.”
“‘People who menstruate,'” Rowling wrote in a post on X. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Friedman continued to explain how when Voldemort returns, Cornelius Fudge, who is the minister of magic at the time, and the Ministry of Magic were “unprepared to deal with the turn of Voldemort, so Fudge simply decides it isn’t happening and endeavors to silence anyone who says otherwise.”
Cornelius Fudge and the Ministry of Magic are unprepared to deal with the return of Voldemort, so Fudge simply decides it isn’t happening and endeavors to silence anyone who says otherwise, which sets him in conflict with Dumbledore.
— Daniel Friedman (@DanFriedman81) November 4, 2023
“Harry is attacked by dementors while he’s staying with his aunt and uncle, and he uses magic to defend himself,” Friedman continued. “He’s put on trial for using magic outside the school, and his defense is that he was protecting himself from the dementors.”
Fudge still refused to believe that dementors were away from the wizarding prison in the books called Azkaban because if “they’re not in Azkaban when they’re supposed to be,” that means the Ministry of Magic has “lost control of them.”
Harry is attacked by dementors while he’s staying with his aunt and uncle, and he uses magic to defend himself. He’s put on trial for using magic outside the school, and his defense is that he was protecting himself from the dementors. But Fudge refuses to believe the…
— Daniel Friedman (@DanFriedman81) November 4, 2023
Friedman continued to point to Umbridge, Fudge’s assistant who was sent to Hogwarts as a professor to “curtail Dumbledore’s authority.”
While at Hogwarts, Umbridge told the students they don’t need to learn magical defense lessons because “nobody is going to attack them.”
“Every time Harry protests, Umbridge punishes him sadistically,” Friedman wrote. “She refuses to tolerate any evidence of truth that conflicts with her ideology, and zealously prosecutes heretics who speak against her beliefs.”
Friedman ended by pointing out how “twenty years ago, Umbridge, who zealously believes in the righteousness of her ideology, and, in the face of increasing evidence to the contrary,” probably came across as a “right-wing figure” when people read the books.
“But today, she’s the perfect model of a woke bureaucrat,” Friedman added.
