"It Does not do to Dwell on Dreams and Forget to Live"

Day Three
Today we started off class by discussing the asymmetry of authority and how it applies to Harry Potter. Her first point was about the institution versus the individual. Institutions have resources that individuals could not possibly have therefore institutions can gather information and crush individuals if they so choose. An example of this applied to Harry Potter would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry is on trial by the Ministry for violating the Decree of Underage Wizardry. They chose to do the research and use it to crush Harry and get him expelled from Hogwarts. But thankful Dumbledore comes to Harry’s rescue and this does not happen. Thus it can also be concluded that the bigger the institution the more power the institution will have over the individual. Also, an institution could feasibly last forever and individuals have a finite lifespan which restricts the power they can have. There are many examples of this asymmetry in the Harry Potter books especially in regard to Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
The second main point in class today was how education is the transmission of knowledge. Therefore, those who have the knowledge have the power. Harry finds out several times in the books that the professors, especially the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, don’t always know the subject they are teaching and therefore Harry knows that they don’t hold the power in the situation. Harry can use this information to undermine the professors which he very often does throughout the series. This power in the classrooms leads to problems within Hogwarts just like the school systems in the United States. If Obama had given his speech that he gave today at Hogwarts it would have received the same amount of criticism as it did here because parents are afraid of the agenda of those in power. The Hogwarts education revolves around the Defense Against the Dark Arts training, as opposed to Durmstrang which revolves around teaching the Dark Arts. This shows a vital stand on the education that Hogwarts wants to provide.
After this discussion we watched the second half of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My final thought for this post will be about a topic we touched upon in class. There is a difference between misinformation and disinformation. Disinformation is actively promoting incorrect information where as misinformation is unknowingly spreading incorrect information. An example of disinformation would be Rita Skeeter as a journalist who knowingly publishes the wrong information for self gain. As opposed to an example of misinformation where people were saying that Harry was the Slytherin heir and opening the Chamber of Secrets. So what if the Ministry of Magic had published the truth about Voldemort being on the rise again as opposed to oppressing the truth? Would it have made a difference? Did their use of Misinformation lead people to their death instead of protection?