Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

A complete defense of a just war; or real art is always honest

I just finished reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, [see sidebar] which is a wonderful book that demonstrates Rowling's ever-more assured mastery of her subject. The book also held a huge surprise, and I'm not talking about a plot twist, so don't worry that I'm giving away anything. (Of course, if you want to be completely pure of mind when you read the book for the first time, without any information about the book's contents, please stop reading immediately.) Let me step back a minute and say that I suspect that Ms. Rowling, if pressed, would demonstrate all the prejudices of her class and country. That is, without any actual information on which to base my suspicions, I think there is a reasonable chance that Ms. Rowling is pro-Palestinian and, at least insofar as Iraq goes, politically anti-American. If I'm wrong, please correct me. The thing is, though, as I said in the title of this post, real art is always honest. And that honesty comes shining through in Chapter 23. Chapter 23 says that, when an evil force singles you out as its nemesis, and when your motives are to defend yourself and to protect those you love, your belligerent actions are just and justified. Read or re-read this chapter and tell me if I'm right. My take on the matter is that, to the extent the Islamists have been waging increasingly bloody war against us since 1979, based upon their own declaration that we're their enemy, and to the extent that we are trying to contain them and protect ourselves, and to the extent that we are trying to bring the Democracy (which I do believe is the best political system), this is a just war. So, the next time you hear one of those inane anti-war protestors announcing that he or she is "against all war," just direct that person to Chapter 23 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.