More People Need(ed) to Read Harry Potter
Nov. 23rd, 2016 02:24 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
annoni-no.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslockI know, a provocative title in this community, but we have concrete evidence that reading Harry Potter leads to a small, but significant, increase in antipathy toward Donald Trump and his policies.
https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/new-study-shows-reading-harry-potter-lowers-americans%E2%80%99-opinions-donald-trump ; (Link through to the actual study in article.)
A while back I posted about a study that found that identifying with Harry Potter led to decreased bias toward stigmatized minorities. At the time, I wondered how reading the series led people to feel about how to deal with their enemies given the vindictiveness the series shows in a close reading. As it turns out, the more Harry Potter books someone has read, even controlling for "party identification, gender, education level, age, evangelical self-identification, and social dominance orientation," the more opposed they were to violence and punitive policies (like torturing their enemies as advocated by Trump) and authoritarianism. This is in addition to confirmation of the decreased bias against outgroups.
You don't have to like Harry Potter, and I completely agree that the books have a lot of problems. But let's not loose sight of the fact that the world is entering a dangerous, if not outright fascistic period. There's too much hatred and divisiveness driving our politics; hate crimes have risen by several hundred percent since Trump's election. If reading Harry Potter does help lead people to greater tolerance and mercy, we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/new-study-shows-reading-harry-potter-lowers-americans%E2%80%99-opinions-donald-trump ; (Link through to the actual study in article.)
A while back I posted about a study that found that identifying with Harry Potter led to decreased bias toward stigmatized minorities. At the time, I wondered how reading the series led people to feel about how to deal with their enemies given the vindictiveness the series shows in a close reading. As it turns out, the more Harry Potter books someone has read, even controlling for "party identification, gender, education level, age, evangelical self-identification, and social dominance orientation," the more opposed they were to violence and punitive policies (like torturing their enemies as advocated by Trump) and authoritarianism. This is in addition to confirmation of the decreased bias against outgroups.
You don't have to like Harry Potter, and I completely agree that the books have a lot of problems. But let's not loose sight of the fact that the world is entering a dangerous, if not outright fascistic period. There's too much hatred and divisiveness driving our politics; hate crimes have risen by several hundred percent since Trump's election. If reading Harry Potter does help lead people to greater tolerance and mercy, we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-11-27 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-27 06:55 am (UTC)You don't have to like Harry Potter, and I completely agree that THE BOOKS HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS.... If reading Harry Potter does help lead people to greater tolerance and mercy, we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
There, emphasized that for you.
I say right there that the books ARE NOT PERFECT. I've commented on problematic issues on this very community. My point is that, on balance, despite the problems in the books, they seem to do more to help people become better than they were rather than making them worse or having no effect at all.
Have I dumbed that down enough for you, or are there still too many polysyllabic words?