Moore writes abut a group called the Harry Potter Alliance whose website is a sort of Potter fan message board where fans write about what they are doing with their ideas on Potter philosophy. But, it goes "beyond the personal," Moore approvingly says.
The Doctrine, however, goes beyond the personal, discussing how Dumbledore’s values can be translated onto the national and global stage into public policy that legalizes same sex marriage, indigenous people’s rights, the Employee Free Choice Act, and media reform while joining the HPA’s partner NGO’s in their stand against genocide, poverty, prison torture, and global warming.
And sure enough, a look at the website proves that subjects like "LGBT" (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender), anti-capitalism, and global warming abound. There is the rather silly "don't buy new stuff" section that encourages a fan base built on buying new books and movies not to buy "new stuff" in order to screw capitalist companies world wide. There's a race section and a section about "political prisoners" in which the only entry is one detailing how evil the USA is for its policies... and not a WORD is spoken about Russia, China, North Korea, or any number of Middle Eastern countries that kill their own people on a daily basis.
The site was created by a 29-year-old failed actor named Andrew Slack who claims himself a "social organizer and human rights activist." His "What Would Dumbledore Do" website offers a full plate of anti-U.S. and anti-western propaganda for Potter fans to get stirred up about. And it's because the world faces "dark and difficult times," you see? We are, the site's creators sonorously intone, faced with:
- Genocide, Poverty, AIDS, and Global Warming are ignored by our media and governments the way Voldemort's return is ignored by the Ministry and Daily Prophet.
- People are still discriminated against based on sexuality, race, class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and religion just as the Wizarding World continues to discriminate against Centaurs, Giants, House Elves, Half-Bloods, Muggle borns, Squibs, and Muggles
- Our governments continue to respond to terror by torturing prisoners (often without trial) just as Sirius Black was tortured by dementors with no trial
- A Muggle Mindset pervades over our culture-a mindset that values being "perfectly normal, thank you very much" over being interesting, original, loving, and creative
Slack and the girls that help him run the site want fans to get involved. In the "rock the vote" section, for instance, the site urges California's voters to support gay marriage. One of the commenters in "The Common Room" expressed her rage that the Dumbledore character never "came out of the closet" in the kid's books. And money is being raised for Slack's favorite causes from site visitors.
Anyway, what we have here is left-wing indoctrination hiding behind a kiddie book and movie series. Let's hope not too many kids get snared by this false front and get taken in by the propaganda. You know that some people have no lives when they take a movie and/or book and use it as a template for their lives. Too many Star Trek and Star Wars fans have been like that and now Harry Potter can claim the same sort of lonely, sad people, it appears.
It is great to be a huge fan of some bit of entertainment. Fun to go the movies, collect toys and books, go to conventions. But when you start trying to lead your life via the character's claimed ideas, then you have gone too far. Forsaking real, ages old philosophy and religion for some kitchy TV, movie, or book series is an act of foolishness. And it never seems to take too long until some propagandist like this Andrew Slack fellow tries to fit his left-wing ideology into the entertainment in order to lead others toward his own political ideas.
Sadly, the Orlando Sentinel sees no reason not to try to help Andrew Slack snare as many unsuspecting Harry Potter fans as possible.
(Image courtesy of Scholastic Books, American distributor of the Potter book series.)
