OK, WHAT HAD SHE DONE NOW?

Part 2

The name of that edifying chapter was "J.K. Rowling, Dirty Harry Potter, and the Gobletygook of Gold". That alone basically tells us the gist of the story. Huberman starts by flirtatiously demurring: 'They said I was mad. Attack the Harry Potter books..?" Then he continues: "Why am I growling at Rowling? For starters, the sheer scale of her success is unforgivable.." Thanks for making it clear for us, dude.

Then he goes on to profess the desire to read a book, and not be "a part in a cult phenom", and "further confesses" the prejudice against "fantasy/sword-and-sorcery genres", compounding it by calling the Lord of the Rings "basically a comic book." For the record, oh educated genius, Bush-bashing is "a part of cult phenom" of the "educated" left, and the dude who wrote "basically a comic book" was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon literature at Oxford, never mind the fact that the descriptions of the battle scenes came from his personal experiences as a solder (but why bother with facts).

Then he boldly goes on to inform us exactly where J.K. got her ideas for Harry. The list ranges from Japanese comic book, loops to "Moses, Oedipus, and Hamlet but also Spiderman, Batman, and Superman", and somehow ends up with Star Wars. I think his (Huberman's that is) parents refused to buy him comics, and he developed an unnatural hate of comic heroes; plus, some hard-core Star Wars fans had probably beat him up but good one time: "Both Georges, Lucas and Bush, must be stopped!" Such sane guy! Of course, the best sentence is this: "Who here hasn't had it with Forces of fucking Good and Evil?" Sorry for the profanity; just wanted to give the direct quote.

He continues with some more murky analogies, then goes on to ask "how badly, really, do kids still need lessons in the toleration of diversity - the Potter books' principle claim to moral and social value?" Kids are stuffed with lessons of diversity ad nauseum, so that they definitely do not need; but that is by far not the principle lesson of these books.

Then Huberman goes on to accuse the books of being "packed with morals, character, and, if you scrape a bit, political lessons on which George Dumbledore Bush would gladly stamp his great seal of presidential approval"; then goes the whole discussion about Harry and his friends disregarding authority and fighting the Ministry of Magic that somehow translates into free enterprise initiative and Newt Gingrich. "In short", goes a wise conclusion, "if kids really need more role models for contempt toward rules and regs - and by extension, toward government, the Constitution, and international law - can't we just direct their attention to the Bush administration?" How is it that the story of a fifteen year old orphan courageously standing up to the corrupt and cowardly government, often at the big expense to himself, is not morally appropriate for the children? Never mind that that pronouncement is made by a talentless, green with jealousy writer, whose only claim to fame is speaking up against the government in the freest country of the world. How about he moves to China or North Korea and then starts moralizing and protecting human rights there?

Then Mr. Huberidiot goes on to pontificate that kids grow up "deeply literate" in mythologies", but ignorant of history, geography, science. Well, re-writing of history and teaching deliberate historical lies has been one of the main mission statements of his left "intellectual" friends. As for teaching of science, and not just Darwinism, that was attempted by the Kansas State Board of Education, which this hypocrite also included in this volume of America's "screwers".

Then he progresses to compare the world of Harry Potter with popular TV, lists all the movies and popular TV shows dealing with magic and supernatural, which he hates for whatever reason. Then goes the quote belonging to "TV critic Lee Siegel" : "So, ...thanks a lot, Al Qaeda...We now share with Islamic fanatics an all-consuming desire to escape into fantastical imaginings of the Beyond". On behalf of my fellow Americans, thanks a heap, guys! What Islamic "warriors" have is not fantastical imaginings, it is "absurdly childish masturbatory fantasy" about 72 virgins (Yashiko Sagamori, 2004, "De Profundis"). For that fantasy they are willing to kill themselves any time, providing they will take with them as many infidels (and possibly infidel structures) as they can. Nice parallels between these fanatical murderers and Americans addicted to fantasy in movies and on TV.

Finally, he mentions a 2004 Gallup poll, according to which, 78 percent of Americans believe in angels (oh horror!). "Only 40 percent, another poll found , believed in evolution..." Thanks for being clear on this, bud, because believe is what it is, since Darwin's theory was never proven.

"'Narr' is German for "fool." Well, welcome to Narrnia.'" Of course, my German is pretty rusty, but I believe German for fool is another word entirely; but never mind that. On the other hand, accusing people of being idiots because they enjoy fantasy books is in itself idiotic.

Finally, here comes this masterpiece of a conclusion: "All I'm suggesting is a fifty-to-seventy-five-year moratorium...on ghosts, angels, hobbits, witches, wizards... Eventually, we may even be able to distinguish political fact from fiction again." Wow!!!! Moratorium on people's imagination! Not only is he mortally jealous of a single mother on welfare who became a billionaires due to her imagination and talent, he is basically proposing a form of though police!

Congratulations, Comrade Huberman! Comrades Lenin, Stalin, and Brezhnev, along with Parteigenosse Goebbels salute you from their graves!