Harry Potter became the best-selling book series of all time by spinning up a world where children belonged, developed skills useful in collaboration with and/or against adults, often knew better than superiors & weren't afraid to try. IMO this subgenre remains largely untapped

— Mason 💦👏 + 😷 + 🏃‍♂️✂️ (@webdevMason) May 16, 2020

I agree, and I think this largely explains the current “progressive” pushback to the series, not any supposed lack of diversity. That’s just an excuse. What they really hate is its anti-authoritarianism and actual (instead of the current pretend) meritocracy. When I was a kid, I certainly knew better than most of the adults around me. Most of them were actively or passively harming me.

So I know these kids exist because I was one of them. Right now, we keep — well, used to keep — kids in what are essentially prisons, where they do nothing useful, are mostly tortured, learn little of note (or little at all), and contribute nothing to society.

Many people — including most progressives — want it to be this way. Harry Potter pushed back against that. That’s why kids loved it, even if they couldn’t fully articulate the appeal.