A photo of J.K. Rowling.‘The Attempt to Curse J.K. Rowling’ by Brian Yapko The Society January 26, 2022 Culture, Poetry 46 Comments . The Attempt to Curse J.K. Rowling Once upon a time the stars aligned To strike a writer bound for King’s Cross Station As if by magic with this happy thought: Suppose a boy to his surprise should find He was in truth a wizard? Inspiration! And thus was Harry Potter’s story wrought! Jo Rowling raised a castle out of air And brought to life the magic that she dreamed: A school where moral courage was upheld Through war twixt wizards foul and wizards fair. Though few things in her world were as they seemed, Good triumphed whilst the evil foe was felled. But now it’s J.K. Rowling who is cursed By villains who despise her since she’s dared To state that men are men and women women. She shatters lies in which fools stay immersed And boldly leaves their fictions fully bared. Decrying patent falsehood is her one sin. Jo Rowling’s foes are Those That We Must Name: Disreputable leftists who spew hate And will not hesitate to smear a soul. They live to cancel, denigrate, defame, Condemn, destroy, discredit and berate! They conjure facts while spitting truth out whole. Including those who profit from her story! The studio, its agents, each rich actor, Would leave her reputation torn asunder. Denouncing her as some transphobic Tory, They eagerly betray their benefactor— Though Harry Potter stock stays ripe for plunder. But Rowling, bless her, will not bend to slander Nor cower from the malice at its core. That leftists hate her now is scarcely tragic. It’s plain no spell can make a goose a gander. So curse her though they try, she’ll win this war By speaking Truth—by far the stronger magic. . . Brian Yapko is a lawyer who also writes poetry. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 46 Responses David Whippman January 26, 2022 Well crafted. I like the combination of classical-sounding verse and bang up to date subject matter. Reply Brian Yapko January 26, 2022 Thank you, David. Reply Patricia Renfrow January 26, 2022 Thank you for sharing this……Fav line.. It’s plain no spell can make a goose a gander Great one, Brian. Reply Brian Yapko January 26, 2022 Thank you, Patricia. Reply Margaret Coats January 26, 2022 Clever story with touches of wizardry, and the important point that truth is stronger magic. As you do not name any of Those That We Must Name, I suppose they are rightfully denied any renown. Interesting way to berate them! Reply Brian Yapko January 26, 2022 Thank you, Margaret. I frankly would have loved to name names but this is a novel situation for me (no pun intended) in which many relevant players are overly enthusiastic defenders of copyright, trademark and tort interests such as would make explicit references an unnecessary risk. I think I make my point anyway. One need simply google Ms. Rowling’s name along with “transgender” and one can see readily how her perfectly normal views are suddenly considered “controversial” and “transphobic” by those who have most benefited financially from her writing. I have patience for neither hypocrisy nor ingratitude. Reply C.B. Anderson January 27, 2022 What are you doing telling the truth? Don’t you know that this can get you in trouble? Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Thanks, C.B. I believe the relevant legal term would be “chutzpah,” which is something I aspire to. These days having a non-herd opinion can get you in trouble, but what’s the point of being a lemming? Reply C.B. Anderson January 27, 2022 The point of being a lemming is that you get view some magnificent cliffs. And by the way, the final stanza is brilliant, both for how it wraps things up and for the toothsome rhymes by which the wrapping-up is accomplished. Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 As for myself, I could do without the romantic cliff views. Thank you, C.B., for your kind words about the final stanza. The adjective “toothsome” is deeply satisfying! Reply James Sale January 27, 2022 A great and necessary defence Brian. Well done. It’s nauseating enough having Hollywood chip in, but even that pales besides the treachery of the three talentless lead actors who owe everything to her. Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Thank you, James. These were the very things that made me want to defend her. The lead actors in particular revolt me because a celebrity spotlight none of them deserve has imbued them with the arrogance to believe every fragment of woke nonsense that they think. And “treachery” is exactly the right word. Reply Jeff Eardley January 27, 2022 Brian, you have managed to say what we have all been thinking for a long time. This is a magnificent piece of writing that deserves a much wider audience. I hope J K gets to read it. Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Thank you very much, Jeff! I’m glad to know that she has many defenders. I’m a big fan of hers so I hope she does read it! Reply Joseph S. Salemi January 27, 2022 One thing to keep in mind about Rowling — she is a very wealthy woman, and therefore she need not fear the firestorm of abuse she’s getting from the usual wokesters, trannies, freaks, and perverts. They can’t touch her, except by verbal fulminations, and that kind of chin-music doesn’t affect one’s bank account. Look at the photo that illustrates this poem. Does she look scared? Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Joseph, you are exactly right. She’s a very powerful woman who is in a position to say exactly what she thinks without having to pander to the woke mob. I appreciate her because it would have been so easy for her to cater to these leftists — but she didn’t despite pressure and (probably) enticements from powerful interests. She has boundaries and a willingness to think for herself. Does she look scared? Hell, no! She knows she’s right and that’s enough. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant January 27, 2022 Brian, “The Attempt to Curse J.K. Rowling” packs a powerful poetic punch. It needed to be said, and what better medium to get a potent point across. I just love; “They conjure facts while spitting truth out whole.” In fact, the whole of stanza 4 steams along like a Hogwarts-bound train hurtling from platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station. It knows exactly where it’s going and gets there with grit and gusto. Another favorite is; “It’s plain no spell can make a goose a gander.”… another in-your-face fact to be spat out whole by those who find the truth distasteful. The closing couplet is a triumphant shout out to all those who dare to pull honesty out of the hat as the magic wand casts its spell of deceit. Margaret Atwood has also fallen foul of progressives by tweeting “Why can’t we say ‘woman’ anymore?” – what a scandalous question! Brian, thank you for championing integrity in a poem that shines a magic beacon of light on the dark art of dishonesty. Very well done, indeed! Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Sorry, Susan. Once again I’ve failed to comment as a reply to yours. Please see below. And thank you! Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Susan, thank you so much for your delightful comment! You’ve made my afternoon. I rather thought our feelings would be aligned on this issue. Yes, my poem is a bit “in your face” but considering the powerful interests invested in promulgating irresponsible lies — especially much of the media — I think it’s necessary. I’m especially pleased that you understood what I was aiming for in stanza 4 — the locomotive which chugs out of control fueled as it is with despicable leftist-related verbs. I would very much have liked to be explicit about the name of the train — as well as to mention other specific character names. Alas, these names are trademarked by a certain unbrotherly movie studio which my poem does not treat charitably. Fortunately, there is an exception for my mention of the title “Harry Potter” itself under trademark law as “nominative fair use.” As for the idea of Margaret Atwood falling afoul of progressives… boy, they do love to cannibalize their own, don’t they? Another good subject for a poem? Leftists are so busy creating ideological purity tests that no sane, sober person could possibly pass that they will eventually run out of supporters. Soon, I hope. Thank you again, Susan. As always, so glad we’re on the same team! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant January 27, 2022 Brian, you are most welcome. Your marvelous poem has heartened me on a miserable afternoon. I am glad people are rising up to challenge dishonesty. I have done so over a period of months at the church I worked for. Like J.K. Rowling, I “will not bend to slander/Nor cower from the malice at its core.” I have spoken up several times and today I walked away. I cannot work in an environment of lies and malice any longer. I wish I were as financially secure as J.K. Rowling, but integrity had to come before money… especially at the local church. It’s poems like yours that let people with a conscience know they’re not alone in a wicked world that’s getting weirder and wilder by the day. Reply Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Susan, I am glad this poem was able to give you a lift when you needed it. Enough is enough! Congratulations on making the decision to rise up and challenge dishonesty. Your bravery and integrity are truly inspiring! Paul Freeman January 28, 2022 She’s survived Bible Belt bashings and bannings (the latest by Nashville Catholics) and the goblin controversy, so I’m sure she’ll get past this further furore. The important thing is that JK got kids (and adults) reading again. Thanks for the read, Brian. Reply Paul Freeman January 28, 2022 Funnily enough the banning of Harry Potter at St. Edward’s School in Nashville (fear of conjuring up evil spirits) a year back, has been followed up by a Tennessee school district banning Maus in the last couple of days. Reply Brian Yapko January 28, 2022 Thank you for reading my work, Paul. Yeah, Rowling’s a survivor and she got me reading Harry Potter in my 40s. She really did find magic — it certainly hooked me! (And I’m careful to distinguish between the books which I love and the movies which I most certainly do not.) As for the Tennessee schoolboard banning Maus — I’m not only sorry to hear it, I’m outraged. A decision like this coming on Holocaust Remembrance Day? Have they lost their minds? I am sick and tired of supposedly well-intentioned people foisting their screwed up decisions on others because they feel like they have to protect people from themselves — especially when it comes to children. It’s arrogant, it’s dangerous, its tyrannical. Reply Joseph S. Salemi January 28, 2022 Tennessee is the place where you were legally forbidden to teach evolution, even if it was taught as a theory only. Back then it was the Bible-thumpers. Today schoolboards are largely controlled by left-wing wokesters and anti-white racists spouting Critical Race Theory and the joys of transgenderism. Mike Bryant January 28, 2022 Joe, as a thought experiment only… of the two, wokesters vs thumpers, which group contains the most anti-semites? Brian Yapko January 28, 2022 Mike, I can’t seem to reply to your comment and I would like to hear what Dr. Salemi has to say on this issue of right versus left antisemitism, but I would like to offer my own quick response. You may not know but although my mother was Lutheran, my father was Jewish and although I am a Christian much of my family is Jewish, so I keep a close eye on where antisemitism rears its head. I don’t really compute the question as far as people on the right. Churches which are actually churches support Israel and the Jewish people. Israel has had no better friend than Donald Trump. Jews and Christians who are devout seem to understand this. In my experience, antisemitism is much worse on the left. For reasons which involve an irrational hatred of religion and CRT bigotry rather than facts, atheist-woke-leftists despise Israel. That their agenda is antisemitism rather anti-Israel is made obvious that they attack praying Jews, synagogues, kosher delis rather than the Israeli consulate and embassy. Their hypocrisy runs deep in that there are far worse human rights abusers who they give a pass to. Where else do you see this type of corporate responsibility foisted on an ethnic group? On this site we have a common nemesis in the current Chinese government. But you don’t see people smashing in the windows of your local Chinese restaurant and you don’t see Buddhist temples having to hire security guards to protect worshippers from terror attacks. As you can guess, I feel warmly on the subject. Mike Bryant January 28, 2022 Brian, I think you must have a better grasp of what’s really going on than most. It IS the left authoritarians that are aligned with the radical authoritarian Muslims that are aligned with the CCP that are anti-Semite, anti-freedom, anti- God, guns and apple pie. The authoritarians have done a fine job over the last hundred years convincing the gullible that they are the good guys. Paul Freeman January 29, 2022 None of this seems to explain those guys on the torchlit procession in Charlottesville who were chanting about not being replaced by those of the Jewish faith. Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 The chants “Jews will not replace us” and “blood and soil” were led by Richard Spencer and David Duke. Richard Spencer endorsed Joe Biden for President and David Duke was a former Grand Wizard of the KKK, a notorious Democrat organization. Anyone who believes either of those two idiots has anything to do with right-thinking, God-fearing Conservatives is as clueless as the few numbskulls that follow them. That is precisely what I meant when I said that the Democrat authoritarians have done an amazing job of leading the ill-informed astray. Isn’t it rather odd that Richard Spencer posts regularly on Twitter? Do you still think that the former leader of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NAZI Party) was anything but a Socialist? Is there any difference between the CCP today and the pre-WWII NAZI Party? There isn’t much difference between the American government today and the CCP or NAZIs. We used to have a government that would break up monopolies like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Pfizer. Now our representatives have stock in those companies. Their wives, husbands, children and relatives work for those companies. And our laws are written to protect those monopolies to the impoverishment of the unconnected. Orwell had it pretty well figured out a long time ago, but somehow we can’t see past next week. Paul Freeman January 29, 2022 In 2016, didn’t David Duke endorse former President Trump, who called the Charlottesville torchbearers ‘fine people’? As for that Spenser chap, maybe he’s a ‘DINO’ for want of a better word. Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 In 2015, David Duke endorsed Donald Trump for President. Duke knew what President Trump thought about him because Trump had been denouncing David Duke’s bigotry since the year 2000. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mBYbxxafOdE Why has the mainstream media been trying to convince people that Trump is aligned with Duke? More to the point, why have so many fallen for this narrative? Why would you still trust the bought and paid for media? What MSNBC said in 2015 about the David Duke endorsement: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-i-dont-want-david-dukes-endorsement-msna669706 As for Richard Spencer, the Dinesh D’Souza interview laid all the lies to rest: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I0nQttz11dY Anyone that does not realize that the mainstream media is the propaganda arm of the authoritarian socialists is misinformed, stupid, or part of the socialist movement. Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 Nathaniel Grigsby, an Indiana man who passed away at the age of 78 on April 16, 1890, served in the Civil War as a cavalry officer. When he died, he decided to leave a warning on his tombstone against the evils of the Democratic Party. The tombstone reads: “Through this inscription, I wish to enter my dying protest against what is called the Democratic party. I have watched it closely since the days of Jackson and know that all the misfortunes of our nation has come to it through this so-called party. Therefore, beware of this party of treason.” http://sharesplosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anti-Democrat-tombstone.jpg Brian Yapko January 29, 2022 Paul, I don’t have the specific knowledge that Mike does about the chanters that you reference. What I can tell you is that — yes — there is unquestionably antisemitism on the right as well as on the left. It is the “old” antisemitism, as it were — the “Gentleman’s Agreement”/Not in My Neighborhood/Henry Ford/Charles Lindbergh/Mel Gibson kind of antisemisitim — and it’s never gone away. But in my experience, it is the antisemitism on the left that has grown exponentially and violently in the last 20 years or so for all of the reasons described by Dr. Salemi. It is shocking, in part, because Jews in America have historically supported the left — sometimes radically — and it now feels as if they (WE, since I am half-Jewish) are being eaten by their own. It is especially shocking that everyone gets on the BLM bandwagon but nobody has bothered to see how antisemitic and anti-Israel they are. Their pro-Hamas support is in their manifesto. Support for terrorists. What do we hear? Crickets. Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 Brian, in my mind the most helpful dividing line between ideologies is whether one believes that all human rights come from God to be guaranteed by government, OR one believes that human rights are given by government. Of course the devil is in the details, literally. Today, too many believe the latter and look to government to divide us along the lines of righteous and unrighteous according to the current sellable differences. Before WWII, eugenics was all the rage. Today, the unbelievers are still killed, maimed and cancelled all over the world, with the same levels of civilized support that eugenics enjoyed before the war when eugenics was pushed and supported by four Supreme Court justices, most of Hollywood, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Of course all that has been swept under the rug in the same way The CCP’s genocide and organ harvesting is being rationalized and condoned by the usual suspects… those who believe our rights are granted and can be completely killed by authoritarian government. Joseph S. Salemi January 28, 2022 To answer Mike’s earlier question, most evangelical Protestant churches are extremely pro-Israel and philo-Semitic for doctrinal reasons. The anti-Semitism of the left (which many leftists are not even bothering to hide these days) is neither religious nor racial, but purely political. It is a reflex of the profoundly anti-Israeli sentiment that now dominates all “progressive” thinking, even among many persons who are ethnically Jewish. Let me explain. The driving force of modern left-liberal ideology is a complex mix of the following five emotional drives: 1) anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. 2) anti-racism, but only against racism that targets non-whites and non-Westerners. (In other words, hatred of white Europeans is acceptable and defensible.) 3) programmatic Marxism, but now basically understood as collectivism, massive bureaucracy, and confiscatory taxation. 4) hatred of males and masculinity, and of heterosexual normality. 5) an absolute DREAD and LOATHING of any attempt by Western and white peoples to act decisively and forcefully in their own ethnic interests. Here’s where the leftist anti-Semitism comes in. Israel, like every normal nation that has ever existed in history, acts in its own interests and does not make tearful moral apologies for doing so. It protects its own citizens and kills its enemies. Its military forces are still overwhelmingly masculine, and not corrupted by the politically correct garbage that is force-fed to Western military personnel today. In addition, Israel is occupying land that it has won by fighting against what leftists call “the oppressed brown victims,” and they have held onto that land and increased it despite several wars. In addition, they have turned the land of Palestine into a first-class nation, unlike the Levantine backwaters that surround them. Further, Israel has pretty much given up the absurdly idealistic socialism that originally dominated in that state. Kibbutzes are just jokes today, and Israeli industry and technology are quite as advanced as in the West. Put all of these facts together, and you can see why left-liberals go into apoplectic fits of hatred when Israel is mentioned. But Israel is a Jewish state. (That’s why it was founded, no?) So those who have this overwhelming hatred of Israel tend to slip very easily into pure anti-Semitism. Jeremy Corbyn and many of his Labourite supporters are a laboratory specimen of the process. Israel is, for leftists and liberals, an open rebuke to every political pipedream that they hold dear. It is a white state with an explicitly ethnic and religious identity (Ashkenazic European Jews), it has beaten its brown enemies in every war it has fought, it does not apologize for its existence, and it has no intention of disappearing. If all Western nations were to become like Israel, it would be a political Renaissance. That drives leftists insane with rage — even Jewish leftists, whose real religion is left-liberalism, and whose ethnicity is a matter of mere chance. Israel is showing the West what we could do, if we actually had the guts. Reply Brian Yapko January 28, 2022 Joseph, this is a brilliant, brilliant answer to the question of leftist hatred of Israel and their attendant indiscriminate antisemitism. You nail it and I agree with you fully. You describe leftist sentiments and reasoning with frightening accuracy — including but not limited to the infuriating phenomenon of “Jewish leftists whose real religion is left liberalism.” What is concerning is leftist unwillingness to let facts get in the way of their hate. Leftists cherry-pick facts — and fabricate even more — to get the results they want. If there was any point in arguing with them the only two additional points is one not just of conquest but of legal and moral entitlement. Archaeology doesn’t lie. Jews have a long and, in some cases, unbroken connection to the Holy Land (the Jews of Pequiin in the Galilee, for example, never participated in the Diaspora because they never left.) The second point I’d make is that although Israeli Jews are perceived as Ashkenazi, Sephardic Jews and Mizrahi Jews (the latter being just as brown as the Arabs) make up about 40% of the population. And no one seems to ever consider a relatively large population of Ethiopian Jews who are as black as any African. Leftists prefer to ignore any fact — or population of human beings — which interferes with their ideology. Reply Brian Yapko February 24, 2022 If anyone is interested, I came across this editorial today which spells out the insanity of leftists trying to cancel Rowling — an attempt apparently spearheaded by the New York Times. (I don’t know anything about this publication that it was printed in so I’m taking a leap of faith here in reposting.) https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/24/the-erasure-of-jk-rowling/ Reply Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 One of the best articles I’ve read in ages. I’ve never heard of Simon Evans, but what a well-considered and admirably expressed essay… not just artful, but real art. Reply Brian Yapko February 24, 2022 I fully agree, Mike. I was especially struck by his point that “Rowling stands accused of having opinions that the vast majority of people regard as so self-evidently correct that they can’t quite believe they need defending.” But I was also interested in so much else in this article — about how invested the New York Times and other leftist mouthpieces are in separating the artist from the creation. That sounds very Orwellian to me. Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 Imagine the New York Times without the advocacy journalism. That line got me too, Brian. I can almost remember when women were at the pinnacle of the victim hierarchy. How they have fallen, and how cleverly have powerful men been refashioned as the misunderstood minority and retaken their place at the top. Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 When narcissists play these games, it’s called “crazy-making.” Brian February 24, 2022 True, true. I think of it as gaslighting but the same thing. Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 Brian, the victim hierarchy has been reshuffled so many times. Of course, transgenders are the top victims at the moment. I wonder which group will be next. Perhaps we should have a contest… a poem about the next top victim group. Do you think Evan would run it? Brian Yapko February 24, 2022 Agreed. The victim hierarchy is a black hole of entitlement and dysfunction. Are you serious about a contest? If your idea isn’t tongue in cheek, you should consult with Evan. As for me, I can’t think of a less satisfying subject for a contest. Everybody’s annoyed by somebody. It could devolve into a hate-fest pretty quickly.. But as a stand-alone poem it could be a great subject. Consider Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I’ve Got a Little List.” Write it, Mike! Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 Brian, I was only joking… besides I’n mot very good at predicting the future… maybe retired plumbers??? Classical poets? Lawyers? Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
David Whippman January 26, 2022 Well crafted. I like the combination of classical-sounding verse and bang up to date subject matter. Reply
Patricia Renfrow January 26, 2022 Thank you for sharing this……Fav line.. It’s plain no spell can make a goose a gander Great one, Brian. Reply
Margaret Coats January 26, 2022 Clever story with touches of wizardry, and the important point that truth is stronger magic. As you do not name any of Those That We Must Name, I suppose they are rightfully denied any renown. Interesting way to berate them! Reply
Brian Yapko January 26, 2022 Thank you, Margaret. I frankly would have loved to name names but this is a novel situation for me (no pun intended) in which many relevant players are overly enthusiastic defenders of copyright, trademark and tort interests such as would make explicit references an unnecessary risk. I think I make my point anyway. One need simply google Ms. Rowling’s name along with “transgender” and one can see readily how her perfectly normal views are suddenly considered “controversial” and “transphobic” by those who have most benefited financially from her writing. I have patience for neither hypocrisy nor ingratitude. Reply
C.B. Anderson January 27, 2022 What are you doing telling the truth? Don’t you know that this can get you in trouble? Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Thanks, C.B. I believe the relevant legal term would be “chutzpah,” which is something I aspire to. These days having a non-herd opinion can get you in trouble, but what’s the point of being a lemming? Reply
C.B. Anderson January 27, 2022 The point of being a lemming is that you get view some magnificent cliffs. And by the way, the final stanza is brilliant, both for how it wraps things up and for the toothsome rhymes by which the wrapping-up is accomplished.
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 As for myself, I could do without the romantic cliff views. Thank you, C.B., for your kind words about the final stanza. The adjective “toothsome” is deeply satisfying! Reply
James Sale January 27, 2022 A great and necessary defence Brian. Well done. It’s nauseating enough having Hollywood chip in, but even that pales besides the treachery of the three talentless lead actors who owe everything to her. Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Thank you, James. These were the very things that made me want to defend her. The lead actors in particular revolt me because a celebrity spotlight none of them deserve has imbued them with the arrogance to believe every fragment of woke nonsense that they think. And “treachery” is exactly the right word. Reply
Jeff Eardley January 27, 2022 Brian, you have managed to say what we have all been thinking for a long time. This is a magnificent piece of writing that deserves a much wider audience. I hope J K gets to read it. Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Thank you very much, Jeff! I’m glad to know that she has many defenders. I’m a big fan of hers so I hope she does read it! Reply
Joseph S. Salemi January 27, 2022 One thing to keep in mind about Rowling — she is a very wealthy woman, and therefore she need not fear the firestorm of abuse she’s getting from the usual wokesters, trannies, freaks, and perverts. They can’t touch her, except by verbal fulminations, and that kind of chin-music doesn’t affect one’s bank account. Look at the photo that illustrates this poem. Does she look scared? Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Joseph, you are exactly right. She’s a very powerful woman who is in a position to say exactly what she thinks without having to pander to the woke mob. I appreciate her because it would have been so easy for her to cater to these leftists — but she didn’t despite pressure and (probably) enticements from powerful interests. She has boundaries and a willingness to think for herself. Does she look scared? Hell, no! She knows she’s right and that’s enough. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant January 27, 2022 Brian, “The Attempt to Curse J.K. Rowling” packs a powerful poetic punch. It needed to be said, and what better medium to get a potent point across. I just love; “They conjure facts while spitting truth out whole.” In fact, the whole of stanza 4 steams along like a Hogwarts-bound train hurtling from platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station. It knows exactly where it’s going and gets there with grit and gusto. Another favorite is; “It’s plain no spell can make a goose a gander.”… another in-your-face fact to be spat out whole by those who find the truth distasteful. The closing couplet is a triumphant shout out to all those who dare to pull honesty out of the hat as the magic wand casts its spell of deceit. Margaret Atwood has also fallen foul of progressives by tweeting “Why can’t we say ‘woman’ anymore?” – what a scandalous question! Brian, thank you for championing integrity in a poem that shines a magic beacon of light on the dark art of dishonesty. Very well done, indeed! Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Sorry, Susan. Once again I’ve failed to comment as a reply to yours. Please see below. And thank you! Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Susan, thank you so much for your delightful comment! You’ve made my afternoon. I rather thought our feelings would be aligned on this issue. Yes, my poem is a bit “in your face” but considering the powerful interests invested in promulgating irresponsible lies — especially much of the media — I think it’s necessary. I’m especially pleased that you understood what I was aiming for in stanza 4 — the locomotive which chugs out of control fueled as it is with despicable leftist-related verbs. I would very much have liked to be explicit about the name of the train — as well as to mention other specific character names. Alas, these names are trademarked by a certain unbrotherly movie studio which my poem does not treat charitably. Fortunately, there is an exception for my mention of the title “Harry Potter” itself under trademark law as “nominative fair use.” As for the idea of Margaret Atwood falling afoul of progressives… boy, they do love to cannibalize their own, don’t they? Another good subject for a poem? Leftists are so busy creating ideological purity tests that no sane, sober person could possibly pass that they will eventually run out of supporters. Soon, I hope. Thank you again, Susan. As always, so glad we’re on the same team! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant January 27, 2022 Brian, you are most welcome. Your marvelous poem has heartened me on a miserable afternoon. I am glad people are rising up to challenge dishonesty. I have done so over a period of months at the church I worked for. Like J.K. Rowling, I “will not bend to slander/Nor cower from the malice at its core.” I have spoken up several times and today I walked away. I cannot work in an environment of lies and malice any longer. I wish I were as financially secure as J.K. Rowling, but integrity had to come before money… especially at the local church. It’s poems like yours that let people with a conscience know they’re not alone in a wicked world that’s getting weirder and wilder by the day. Reply
Brian Yapko January 27, 2022 Susan, I am glad this poem was able to give you a lift when you needed it. Enough is enough! Congratulations on making the decision to rise up and challenge dishonesty. Your bravery and integrity are truly inspiring!
Paul Freeman January 28, 2022 She’s survived Bible Belt bashings and bannings (the latest by Nashville Catholics) and the goblin controversy, so I’m sure she’ll get past this further furore. The important thing is that JK got kids (and adults) reading again. Thanks for the read, Brian. Reply
Paul Freeman January 28, 2022 Funnily enough the banning of Harry Potter at St. Edward’s School in Nashville (fear of conjuring up evil spirits) a year back, has been followed up by a Tennessee school district banning Maus in the last couple of days. Reply
Brian Yapko January 28, 2022 Thank you for reading my work, Paul. Yeah, Rowling’s a survivor and she got me reading Harry Potter in my 40s. She really did find magic — it certainly hooked me! (And I’m careful to distinguish between the books which I love and the movies which I most certainly do not.) As for the Tennessee schoolboard banning Maus — I’m not only sorry to hear it, I’m outraged. A decision like this coming on Holocaust Remembrance Day? Have they lost their minds? I am sick and tired of supposedly well-intentioned people foisting their screwed up decisions on others because they feel like they have to protect people from themselves — especially when it comes to children. It’s arrogant, it’s dangerous, its tyrannical. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi January 28, 2022 Tennessee is the place where you were legally forbidden to teach evolution, even if it was taught as a theory only. Back then it was the Bible-thumpers. Today schoolboards are largely controlled by left-wing wokesters and anti-white racists spouting Critical Race Theory and the joys of transgenderism.
Mike Bryant January 28, 2022 Joe, as a thought experiment only… of the two, wokesters vs thumpers, which group contains the most anti-semites?
Brian Yapko January 28, 2022 Mike, I can’t seem to reply to your comment and I would like to hear what Dr. Salemi has to say on this issue of right versus left antisemitism, but I would like to offer my own quick response. You may not know but although my mother was Lutheran, my father was Jewish and although I am a Christian much of my family is Jewish, so I keep a close eye on where antisemitism rears its head. I don’t really compute the question as far as people on the right. Churches which are actually churches support Israel and the Jewish people. Israel has had no better friend than Donald Trump. Jews and Christians who are devout seem to understand this. In my experience, antisemitism is much worse on the left. For reasons which involve an irrational hatred of religion and CRT bigotry rather than facts, atheist-woke-leftists despise Israel. That their agenda is antisemitism rather anti-Israel is made obvious that they attack praying Jews, synagogues, kosher delis rather than the Israeli consulate and embassy. Their hypocrisy runs deep in that there are far worse human rights abusers who they give a pass to. Where else do you see this type of corporate responsibility foisted on an ethnic group? On this site we have a common nemesis in the current Chinese government. But you don’t see people smashing in the windows of your local Chinese restaurant and you don’t see Buddhist temples having to hire security guards to protect worshippers from terror attacks. As you can guess, I feel warmly on the subject.
Mike Bryant January 28, 2022 Brian, I think you must have a better grasp of what’s really going on than most. It IS the left authoritarians that are aligned with the radical authoritarian Muslims that are aligned with the CCP that are anti-Semite, anti-freedom, anti- God, guns and apple pie. The authoritarians have done a fine job over the last hundred years convincing the gullible that they are the good guys.
Paul Freeman January 29, 2022 None of this seems to explain those guys on the torchlit procession in Charlottesville who were chanting about not being replaced by those of the Jewish faith.
Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 The chants “Jews will not replace us” and “blood and soil” were led by Richard Spencer and David Duke. Richard Spencer endorsed Joe Biden for President and David Duke was a former Grand Wizard of the KKK, a notorious Democrat organization. Anyone who believes either of those two idiots has anything to do with right-thinking, God-fearing Conservatives is as clueless as the few numbskulls that follow them. That is precisely what I meant when I said that the Democrat authoritarians have done an amazing job of leading the ill-informed astray. Isn’t it rather odd that Richard Spencer posts regularly on Twitter? Do you still think that the former leader of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NAZI Party) was anything but a Socialist? Is there any difference between the CCP today and the pre-WWII NAZI Party? There isn’t much difference between the American government today and the CCP or NAZIs. We used to have a government that would break up monopolies like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Pfizer. Now our representatives have stock in those companies. Their wives, husbands, children and relatives work for those companies. And our laws are written to protect those monopolies to the impoverishment of the unconnected. Orwell had it pretty well figured out a long time ago, but somehow we can’t see past next week.
Paul Freeman January 29, 2022 In 2016, didn’t David Duke endorse former President Trump, who called the Charlottesville torchbearers ‘fine people’? As for that Spenser chap, maybe he’s a ‘DINO’ for want of a better word.
Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 In 2015, David Duke endorsed Donald Trump for President. Duke knew what President Trump thought about him because Trump had been denouncing David Duke’s bigotry since the year 2000. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mBYbxxafOdE Why has the mainstream media been trying to convince people that Trump is aligned with Duke? More to the point, why have so many fallen for this narrative? Why would you still trust the bought and paid for media? What MSNBC said in 2015 about the David Duke endorsement: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-i-dont-want-david-dukes-endorsement-msna669706 As for Richard Spencer, the Dinesh D’Souza interview laid all the lies to rest: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I0nQttz11dY Anyone that does not realize that the mainstream media is the propaganda arm of the authoritarian socialists is misinformed, stupid, or part of the socialist movement.
Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 Nathaniel Grigsby, an Indiana man who passed away at the age of 78 on April 16, 1890, served in the Civil War as a cavalry officer. When he died, he decided to leave a warning on his tombstone against the evils of the Democratic Party. The tombstone reads: “Through this inscription, I wish to enter my dying protest against what is called the Democratic party. I have watched it closely since the days of Jackson and know that all the misfortunes of our nation has come to it through this so-called party. Therefore, beware of this party of treason.” http://sharesplosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anti-Democrat-tombstone.jpg
Brian Yapko January 29, 2022 Paul, I don’t have the specific knowledge that Mike does about the chanters that you reference. What I can tell you is that — yes — there is unquestionably antisemitism on the right as well as on the left. It is the “old” antisemitism, as it were — the “Gentleman’s Agreement”/Not in My Neighborhood/Henry Ford/Charles Lindbergh/Mel Gibson kind of antisemisitim — and it’s never gone away. But in my experience, it is the antisemitism on the left that has grown exponentially and violently in the last 20 years or so for all of the reasons described by Dr. Salemi. It is shocking, in part, because Jews in America have historically supported the left — sometimes radically — and it now feels as if they (WE, since I am half-Jewish) are being eaten by their own. It is especially shocking that everyone gets on the BLM bandwagon but nobody has bothered to see how antisemitic and anti-Israel they are. Their pro-Hamas support is in their manifesto. Support for terrorists. What do we hear? Crickets.
Mike Bryant January 29, 2022 Brian, in my mind the most helpful dividing line between ideologies is whether one believes that all human rights come from God to be guaranteed by government, OR one believes that human rights are given by government. Of course the devil is in the details, literally. Today, too many believe the latter and look to government to divide us along the lines of righteous and unrighteous according to the current sellable differences. Before WWII, eugenics was all the rage. Today, the unbelievers are still killed, maimed and cancelled all over the world, with the same levels of civilized support that eugenics enjoyed before the war when eugenics was pushed and supported by four Supreme Court justices, most of Hollywood, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Of course all that has been swept under the rug in the same way The CCP’s genocide and organ harvesting is being rationalized and condoned by the usual suspects… those who believe our rights are granted and can be completely killed by authoritarian government.
Joseph S. Salemi January 28, 2022 To answer Mike’s earlier question, most evangelical Protestant churches are extremely pro-Israel and philo-Semitic for doctrinal reasons. The anti-Semitism of the left (which many leftists are not even bothering to hide these days) is neither religious nor racial, but purely political. It is a reflex of the profoundly anti-Israeli sentiment that now dominates all “progressive” thinking, even among many persons who are ethnically Jewish. Let me explain. The driving force of modern left-liberal ideology is a complex mix of the following five emotional drives: 1) anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. 2) anti-racism, but only against racism that targets non-whites and non-Westerners. (In other words, hatred of white Europeans is acceptable and defensible.) 3) programmatic Marxism, but now basically understood as collectivism, massive bureaucracy, and confiscatory taxation. 4) hatred of males and masculinity, and of heterosexual normality. 5) an absolute DREAD and LOATHING of any attempt by Western and white peoples to act decisively and forcefully in their own ethnic interests. Here’s where the leftist anti-Semitism comes in. Israel, like every normal nation that has ever existed in history, acts in its own interests and does not make tearful moral apologies for doing so. It protects its own citizens and kills its enemies. Its military forces are still overwhelmingly masculine, and not corrupted by the politically correct garbage that is force-fed to Western military personnel today. In addition, Israel is occupying land that it has won by fighting against what leftists call “the oppressed brown victims,” and they have held onto that land and increased it despite several wars. In addition, they have turned the land of Palestine into a first-class nation, unlike the Levantine backwaters that surround them. Further, Israel has pretty much given up the absurdly idealistic socialism that originally dominated in that state. Kibbutzes are just jokes today, and Israeli industry and technology are quite as advanced as in the West. Put all of these facts together, and you can see why left-liberals go into apoplectic fits of hatred when Israel is mentioned. But Israel is a Jewish state. (That’s why it was founded, no?) So those who have this overwhelming hatred of Israel tend to slip very easily into pure anti-Semitism. Jeremy Corbyn and many of his Labourite supporters are a laboratory specimen of the process. Israel is, for leftists and liberals, an open rebuke to every political pipedream that they hold dear. It is a white state with an explicitly ethnic and religious identity (Ashkenazic European Jews), it has beaten its brown enemies in every war it has fought, it does not apologize for its existence, and it has no intention of disappearing. If all Western nations were to become like Israel, it would be a political Renaissance. That drives leftists insane with rage — even Jewish leftists, whose real religion is left-liberalism, and whose ethnicity is a matter of mere chance. Israel is showing the West what we could do, if we actually had the guts. Reply
Brian Yapko January 28, 2022 Joseph, this is a brilliant, brilliant answer to the question of leftist hatred of Israel and their attendant indiscriminate antisemitism. You nail it and I agree with you fully. You describe leftist sentiments and reasoning with frightening accuracy — including but not limited to the infuriating phenomenon of “Jewish leftists whose real religion is left liberalism.” What is concerning is leftist unwillingness to let facts get in the way of their hate. Leftists cherry-pick facts — and fabricate even more — to get the results they want. If there was any point in arguing with them the only two additional points is one not just of conquest but of legal and moral entitlement. Archaeology doesn’t lie. Jews have a long and, in some cases, unbroken connection to the Holy Land (the Jews of Pequiin in the Galilee, for example, never participated in the Diaspora because they never left.) The second point I’d make is that although Israeli Jews are perceived as Ashkenazi, Sephardic Jews and Mizrahi Jews (the latter being just as brown as the Arabs) make up about 40% of the population. And no one seems to ever consider a relatively large population of Ethiopian Jews who are as black as any African. Leftists prefer to ignore any fact — or population of human beings — which interferes with their ideology. Reply
Brian Yapko February 24, 2022 If anyone is interested, I came across this editorial today which spells out the insanity of leftists trying to cancel Rowling — an attempt apparently spearheaded by the New York Times. (I don’t know anything about this publication that it was printed in so I’m taking a leap of faith here in reposting.) https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/24/the-erasure-of-jk-rowling/ Reply
Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 One of the best articles I’ve read in ages. I’ve never heard of Simon Evans, but what a well-considered and admirably expressed essay… not just artful, but real art. Reply
Brian Yapko February 24, 2022 I fully agree, Mike. I was especially struck by his point that “Rowling stands accused of having opinions that the vast majority of people regard as so self-evidently correct that they can’t quite believe they need defending.” But I was also interested in so much else in this article — about how invested the New York Times and other leftist mouthpieces are in separating the artist from the creation. That sounds very Orwellian to me.
Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 Imagine the New York Times without the advocacy journalism. That line got me too, Brian. I can almost remember when women were at the pinnacle of the victim hierarchy. How they have fallen, and how cleverly have powerful men been refashioned as the misunderstood minority and retaken their place at the top.
Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 Brian, the victim hierarchy has been reshuffled so many times. Of course, transgenders are the top victims at the moment. I wonder which group will be next. Perhaps we should have a contest… a poem about the next top victim group. Do you think Evan would run it?
Brian Yapko February 24, 2022 Agreed. The victim hierarchy is a black hole of entitlement and dysfunction. Are you serious about a contest? If your idea isn’t tongue in cheek, you should consult with Evan. As for me, I can’t think of a less satisfying subject for a contest. Everybody’s annoyed by somebody. It could devolve into a hate-fest pretty quickly.. But as a stand-alone poem it could be a great subject. Consider Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I’ve Got a Little List.” Write it, Mike!
Mike Bryant February 24, 2022 Brian, I was only joking… besides I’n mot very good at predicting the future… maybe retired plumbers??? Classical poets? Lawyers?
