Literary World View
Something I read over at Chrenkoff this morning has me aching to post and clear up a few things. Chrenkoff draws a parallel between Gareth Evans' comments about unilateralism and calling Bush "you know whom" and says this equates to Bush equally Lord Voldemort.
Let's be clear here, I have read the Harry Potter novels so many times I could teach a course, but I don't really think the story applies to every aspect of life. Having said that, I will now contradict myself and draw the aforementioned and ridiculous parallel.
In the world of Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort is a hateful, despised creature. He actively advocates a cleansing of the magical world, enjoys tormenting, torturing, and killing non-magical folk (muggles), and suggests that mixed heritage folk (non-magical parents, 1 magical and 1 non-magical, etc) or "mudbloods" are equally abhorent. He feeds on hatred and sees love as weakness. He has a loyal band of murderers at his beck and call whom he calls "Death Eaters." The Death Eaters do his heavy lifting for him...they are the ones that kill, torture, and generally run amok. In this world, people have lived in fear of where Lord Voldemort and his minions will strike next. Simply put, Lord Voldemort is the ultimate evil...preying on the weak, the innocent, the defenseless, and of course children too.
If one takes this to reality, the only parallel that fits is that Osama bin Laden is Lord Voldemort. He is the one advocating the destruction of the innocent for no other reason than their existence. It is his minions - Al Qaeda and their affiliates like Saddam Hussein- who do the wet work. In Beslan they murdered children. In Sudan they are working on the "cleansing." On September 11th, they fired their big guns into the heart of this country, attacking the innocent for no reason other than hatred.
Now, the other characters in the series also have parallels. Professor Dumbledore is the flighty and quirky professor who knows more than he lets on but is unwavering in his determination to keep the innocent safe and not only check the rampage of Lord Voldemort, but also to put it to an end. Who else fits the bill for this but President Bush? He is a bit of a bumbler, but at least we know which side he is on and that nothing bad will happen so long as we are united.
Dumbledore is assisted in his efforts by a loyal band known as "The Order of the Phoenix." These brave witches and wizards stick their necks out daily in the business of stopping Lord Voldemort's rise to power and his reign of terror. In the real world, this amounts to the Coalition and partners in the global war on terror and the troops out there on the front lines on a daily basis.
Dumbledore is twarted in his efforts by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge simply doesn't believe the truth about Voldemort and his renewed threat. On one hand, this is a head-in-the-sand, can't-be-true way for him to remain living in his happy place. On the other hand, Fudge knows that he isn't the right man to lead the magical world through a new reign of terror, and so works to destabilize Dumbledore in an effort to hold on to his own power. This analogy just leaps off of the page. Cornelius Fudge is the UN: corrupt, embittered, turning a blind eye to the proof of genocide in the Sudan, terrorism in Russia, Gaza, New York, DC, Italy, Spain, Australia, etc. They do not see the vipers they hug to their chest - Fudge clings to donor Lucius Malfoy who is a Death Eater and is using his connections to wreak havoc - while the UN lets Sudan be responsible for Human Rights and enables the destruction and torment of the Iraqi people through their graft and the UN oil-for-food scam.
Fudge is assisted in his efforts to twart Dumbledore by his unctuous and vile assistant Delores Umbridge. She works tirelessly to muzzle Dumbledore and Harry Potter, to disastrous and tortuous ends. Today's Umbridge is none other than John Kerry. He is not evil, nor are Umbridge, Fudge, or the UN. The problem is he can't see the real truth of terrorism and believes it can be kept in check via diplomacy, better international relations, and law enforcement. He isn’t the enemy…but he isn’t helping solve the problem either.
The biggest character of the novels is, of course, their namesake Harry Potter. Harry is the hero. He is caught off guard by the reality of Lord Voldemort and his campaign of hate. He is unaware until the age of 11 that someone wants desperately for Harry to die. He is both hero and victim. His beliefs and love for others is what drives him to the fight. In parallel, Harry is the American People and the victims of terror worldwide. We came awake on September 11, 2001 to the realization that we were at war, that someone out there wanted us dead. We are the hope of the world in ending the scourge of terrorism as Harry Potter is the only one who has the power to destroy Lord Voldemort.
Harry’s best friends are Ron and Hermione. Ron is steadfastly loyal, even when certain members of his family (Percy) urge him to distance himself. He is willing and able to assist in the fight in any way that he can. Hermione is the voice of reason, the planner, the intelligence of the group. She is equally allied to Harry and also willing to put her life on the line to stand beside him. Ron is paralleled by Tony Blair and the UK. We have no better ally, as Harry knows the first guy he can go to is Ron. They don’t always get along, but they always are on the same side. Hermione is easily the support of the endeavor. She is the FBI, CIA, and the Condi Rice and Pentagon of today’s world. They are out there getting information to help us fight back smarter and more efficiently and gaining the upper hand through intelligence gathering.
Harry is ever mindful of how he got into this position. He knows that his parents fought a similar war against Voldemort in their time. His father, “Prongs” or James Potter, his father’s bestfriend Sirius Black or “Padfoot”, his father’s other close friend Remus Lupin “Moony”, and the last of the four friends Peter Pettigrew, aka “Wormtail” were all members of the original Order of Phoenix. In my mind, James Potter’s equivalent is Ronald Reagan, chief leader of the last big fight, the Cold War, and leader of the free world when Terrorism was making its baby steps. Sirius is our close friend, and because he dies giving his life to the cause, he is our troops who have fallen in our attempts to secure our freedom. Moony is more of the Coalition and Hermione characters, while Peter Pettigrew is the turncoat. He betrayed the Order and gave Voldemort the information he needed. If there is an equivalent to this in reality, my mind instantly thinks of the French, Germans, and possibly Russia. They were tied to the bad guys in Iraq and helped Saddam promote his terror network and the crushing of the Iraqi people.
This makes more sense than Bush equally Voldemort to anybody who has read the books.
Labels: Harry Potter, John Kerry
