I figured out why the right hates Harry Potter

[XemaSab]

If you read right-wing reveiws of Harry Potter, there's the sorcery angle, which is problematic for many fundamentalists, but there's also a lot of unease about rule breaking and lack of respect for authority. This causes many conservatives to say that the books are immoral.

The real problem for the conservatives is the lack of a "strict father" narrative. There's nobody in ultimate authority whose rules are absolute, and there are many examples of teachers, older relatives, and staff members in positions of authority who make arbitrary rules that are readily questioned or ignored. The primary examples of strict fathers in Harry's world are the Dursleys, Snape, Filch, and Dolores Umbridge, who are all portayed as cruel, and subsequently mocked, hated, and ignored.

When I look at the books I see a deeply moral universe, with a good part of the story concerned with right and wrong on many levels. I think that's in large part because Harry has many nurturant parents throughout the story, including Hagrid, Dumbledore, McGonagall, the Weasleys, Sirius, Lupin, Moody, the memory of his real parents, and even Hermione. These are the people who teach Harry right from wrong through gentle guidance and example. They want Harry to do the right thing, but when he breaks their rules, they're there to explain the rationalization for the rules instead of punish.