Harry Potter discussion
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The Progressive Element
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I think these have a more political feel rather than good vs evil dueling it out. But some of the things they think! How could anyone think that?! Though if I were there, I'd probably listen but not really believe...
I think it's good. Bit different perhaps but there's nothing wrong with that. And after I got into the story, I started to forget Rowling didn't write it. So yeah, it's worthy of her. She tosses politics into her books all the time, mostly through the ministry of magic. Would make sense that wizarding kids would pick up what their parents talk about at home (both for and against the ministry, etc.)
Yeah, the politcs are more at the Ministry but it's sorta different that it's now at Hogwarts and they're actually debating about it.
I think it's an interesting angle to take. It's almost like today. Politics are being discussed more and more at school. My friends and I talk about them a lot.
It had a more collegiate feel to me. At least, when I was in college anyway. There was always a group protesting something or attempting to rewrite history. Granted, I haven't been in high school in quite a while but I thought it was slightly too advanced for teenagers.
Teenagers get into stuff like this more today than they did a generation ago. More 18 year olds than ever are voting now. It didn't seem out of place to me, the way it was done. I don't particularly care for the name they choose though. lol
Yeah, I suppose. It's better than "Taking over the world and rewriting history so it looks like we came out and won Group."
Progressive Element makes me think of PE.... short for Physical Education in school. Not my favorite subject. lol
Haha true! I'm glad it's not required after freshman year...
Oh that sucks. I'm glad I don't have it anymore. We used to just play games that would build team spirit (yeah right...) but now that we've got a working cardio/workout room, they're focused more on doing actual stuff like working out...
We have do do tons of stuff, and then we run and then we play games like flag football (ugh) or Polo (surprisingly fun)
Water Polo? We play games you've never heard of...
no, you run around in the gym and hit a playground ball into a soccer goal. with these rubber bat things. You can hit people too! We also play these random games that our teacher made up
That sounds fun! We play with these rubber things that look like Saturn and you have to pass it to your teammates three times or something before you can score, by bouncing the ball into this basket thing. It's complicated and not much fun if you have the most competitve boys in class and only pass between themselves so they can score and win...
That's what flag football is for us, last year 2 boys got in a yelling fight over where out of bounds was
Uh, boys... There's this dodgeball game too. It's called ghost ball. There's a ghost on each team. The goal is to get everyone out. The bounderies are a small rectangle inside a larger one, so it creates a border around the playing field. The playing field is for the normal players and you try to get people out. However, the ghost prowls on the outside to get people out as well. Once you're out, you have to join your ghost on the opposite side. You can't get anyone out but you can hand balls to the ghost if one comes your way. Only the other ghost can get the other ghost out. It's sorta hard to explain but if you play it, it makes more sense.
And there's another dodgeball game but it's more of a free-for-all. Except when you get out, you sit down and the only way back in is to get someone out. You can make alliances with someone too. Like, some person wants to get this other person out, who's right next to you. Person #1 can toss you the ball and you can get Person #2 out. My advice: Don't accidently get the best dodgeball player's girlfriend out, especially if he's tied around her finger...
It sounds fun. We play this game called Crazy ball and it's like indoor base ball. It's set up like baseball, and you use a playground ball instead of a baseball. You can hit home runs and when you pitch the ball it has to bounce.
Hmm that sounds cool. There's this baseball game we play. It's set up like regular baseball but it's smaller because you have two diamonds next to each other. To score, the batter must run in a zig-zag formation without being tagged out. Both outfielding teams can get you out. Only two people can be on base but they must be going opposite ways. To switch sides, you have to have five outs.
That sounds really fun! We also play this really intense 3 on 3 basketball game. It's a lot of fun
Yeah. We played basketball only with the Saturn rubber ball. It was really hard to score!
The muggle studies class should play one of these games!
they should! That would be so funny to read about!
I could just see their frustrated faces now *evil grin*
I would add new rules to make it more complicated but I'm evil XD
I'd make up rules on the spot every time they did something, just to confuse them. Especially the Slytherins!
Haha that sounds good. But remember, they're supposed to support inter-House unity or something and I'm guessing that wouldn't speed the process along.
It was an interesting story, but it wasn't worthy of Rowling. It is worth reading if you do not take it very seriously, either as a fan of Harry Potter or regarding the overt political message that it contains. It breaks continuity far too often, but the thing that bothered me the most is that the entrance of politics into Hogwarts is not an examination of wizarding politics-- it is an ill-informed commentary on real politics. It seriously implies that all Progressives are either the masterminds of a racist conspiracy or that they are nothing short of stupid. It implies that they only hold their beliefs because they are out of touch with reality. It further claims that progressives want nothing more than to govern in favor of the wealthy and powerful, while claiming the opposite. This, of course, is an absurd claim. Progressives have a history of trust-busting, fighting for equal rights for women, and regulations to make workplaces and products safer. All of these things benefit the poor and the powerless at the expense of those who have power. They fought for and instituted the progressive income tax, in which wealthier individuals pay a higher tax rate than the poor-- which results in higher government revenue that can be utilized in programs that assist the poor. Again, this is a policy that cannot possibly be construed to benefit the rich and harm the poor. Having Benjamin Franklin as a character who opposes the Progressive Element is an incredibly cheap attempt to make the comment that the founding fathers would be opposed to Progressivism, regardless of the fact that the federalist Democratic Republic that they established was radically progressive by the standard of the late 1700s. On top of being a completely inaccurate portrayal of progressive politics, the very pretense of their existence does not make sense. In Lippert’s world, in less than two decades, mainstream thought in Slytherin shifted from the idea that muggles are so lowly that if a person with the ability to do magic is muggle-born, they still should not be allowed to become a wizard to the concept that wizards should admire and look up to muggles. This is simply unrealistic. A previous post said that the reader forgot that Rowling didn't write the story as she got into it. I, on the other hand, did not share this experience. I alternated from being annoyed at the alterations made in the magical world by Lippert (such as placing all of the Gryffindor boys in the same dormitory, regardless of year and allowing for the-admittedly intermittent-use of muggle electronics at Hogwarts), being annoyed that the 11 year old boys all speak like college graduates, and being annoyed at the intrusion of Glenn Beck-like politics into the magical world every other chapter.
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It is awesome!!
I think it's good that the story has developed in terms of political thinking with the Harry readers. I like the name, it sounds very Potterish.
So, what do you think about it?
Do you think this plot is worthy of a Harry Potter story?
Does it feel like a plot that could be created by Rowling, or not?
What would you say about it is the same or what is different then a the original Harry Potter series?