[lbo-talk] Harry Potter, Metritocracy, and Reward

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Thu Aug 23 13:54:03 PDT 2007


While the thread has not actually been a discussion of Harry Potter books I can't help but wonder what the hell the Harry Potter books have to do with the topic of meritocracy? My SO read the first few Potter books and she reported to me they were elitist through and through. Ordinary people are apparently "muggles" and are depicted as scared, stupid, easily distracted small minded persons written about in a manner totally lacking in the range of personalities of those in the wizard world. One can only enter the wizard world if you have some blood relative who isn't a muggle. One must be born to the right sorts of people (even distant relatives can count apparently) if one wishes to attend a wizard school (prep school ?) and learn something beyond TV and pop culture. Where is the meritocracy in this system? This is just plain old British peerage nonsense for the modern age to my way of thinking. The riveting tales of the infighting among the elites complete with arguments over the dilution of status with the dilution of bloodlines.

John Thornton



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