Stop Using My Childhood (and Harry Potter) to Push Authoritarianism

Summary

The Isabel Brown Show — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Stop Using My Childhood (and Harry Potter) to Push Authoritarianism
Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Isabel Brown (The Daily Wire)
Main Theme:
Isabel Brown fiercely critiques a recent op-ed that frames Harry Potter’s villains as analogous to contemporary right-wing and Trumpist figures. She argues that such interpretations are deliberate misreadings by left-wing academics and cultural elites—who, in Brown’s view, continually distort the themes of classic stories to further their own “authoritarian” political agenda. Brown places this trend in the broader context of ongoing culture wars over literature, media, gender identity, and the meaning of heroism.

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Episode Overview

• Isabel responds to a Free Press article by Harvard historian Tiya Miles linking the Harry Potter series to modern politics, specifically likening Donald Trump and ICE to Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
• Brown deconstructs what she sees as a willful misinterpretation of Harry Potter and other beloved classics (Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Hunger Games), contending these works fundamentally warn against big government and left-leaning authoritarianism.
• She critiques the academic trend of reinterpreting literature through a lens of race, gender, and intersectionality, arguing it leads to the weaponization and censorship of classic stories.
• The episode interweaves critiques of leftist academia, defense of J.K. Rowling against her critics, and a call to conservatives to reclaim narratives and keep classic stories alive for future generations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reaction to the Free Press Article (00:26-14:27)

• Isabel and co-host read and ridicule Tiya Miles' article, which:
  • Recounts Miles' family tradition with Harry Potter.
  • Criticizes the lack of nonwhite characters and supposed problematic depictions in the series (e.g., Goblins, house elves, J.K. Rowling on trans topics).
  • Equates Trump and right-wing politics with Harry Potter villains.
• Isabel objects, seeing this as a “gaslighting” misreading:

  “If you've ever read Harry Potter for like five seconds, you would know that this woman is literally needing a mirror because everything she just described is the exact opposite of the message of Harry Potter.” (13:18)

• She frames the classic “good vs. evil” trope as a warning against big government and sees left-wingers as unwittingly embodying “the establishment, …the Death Eaters, the Empire, the Hunger Games Capital.” (13:29)

2. The Allegory Wars: Who Are the Real ‘Bad Guys’? (14:27-20:02)

• Isabel claims leftist elites have inverted the message of these stories for their own ends—ironically painting themselves as the “Resistance” when they are the real establishment:

  “Lady, you are a professor of Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies at Harvard University. You are quite literally the Establishment. You are the Empire. You're not the Resistance.” (17:59)

• She suggests there is a deliberate campaign to reshape literature to fit left-wing intersectional ideology.

3. Academics, Gaslighting, and Intention in Storytelling (20:02-26:56)

• Isabel critiques the academic focus on intersectionality, race, and gender in interpreting literature.
• She defends J.K. Rowling’s rights as the creator—sharing Rowling’s sharp retorts to critics accusing her of being “Voldemort” due to her gender-critical views:
  • Rowling quote:

    “I am not the one who needs to reread her own books.” (24:57)

  • On totalitarianism:

    "A totalitarian movement infiltrates the establishment, persecutes all who oppose it, threatens rape and violence, strips rights from the vulnerable, and you decide those are the good guys and you applaud like a seal." (25:06)

• Isabel points out the danger of encouraging young people to abandon books and authors over identity politics.

4. The Roots of Classic Hero Stories (26:56-35:22)

• Isabel emphasizes that authors like C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and Suzanne Collins intended their works as warnings against authoritarianism, not as endorsements of it.
• She shares Lewis’ perspective:

  “Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows... I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.” (31:34)

• Similarly, Tolkien:

  “The most improper job of any man... is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.” (32:53)

• Cites Collins’ “anti-populist” President Snow as embodying the belief in absolute authority.

5. Twisting and Censoring Stories in Contemporary Culture (35:22-46:12)

• Isabel warns that labeling classic stories as “dangerous extremism” for young men is becoming government policy—as seen in the UK with the documentary “Adolescents.”
  • Clips played of UK Prime Minister and Keir Starmer discussing efforts to counter “toxic masculinity” and male radicalization (48:53-49:47).
• She sounds the alarm:

  “When it's not enough for these people to manipulate, pervert and twist the narrative to fit their own political agenda, it will not be long until all our favorite stories are banned, ironically, from the same people screaming in your face that right wingers are trying to ban books.” (50:32)

  • Predicts efforts to censor 1984, Animal Farm, Star Wars, Narnia, and Hunger Games.

6. Call to Action: Reclaiming Stories and Heroism (46:12-end)

• Urges listeners to keep reading, sharing, and defending classic works against ideological reinterpretation.

  “You are the hero in these heroes stories... keep reading them. Keep sharing these stories with yourself, with your family, your friends, your kids... Keep inspiring people... to embrace bold heroism in the face of totalitarian advocacy.” (51:26-54:19)

• Reminds audience that many classic stories contain biblical allegory, reinforcing values of virtue, resistance, and personal courage.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On leftist elites misreading stories:
  • “They are the establishment, they are the Death Eaters, the Empire, the Hunger Games Capital. Whatever story you love best, insert fictional universe here. They are the dark side, the enemy, the bad guy.” (13:29)
• On J.K. Rowling’s response to critics:
  • “I am not the one who needs to reread her own books.” – J.K. Rowling (24:57)
• On being labeled a fascist:
  • “They've been calling us that for a very long time with the specific aim of dividing our society further.” (39:42)
• Classics as biblical allegory:
  • “All of them are rooted in some capacity, in a level of biblical allegory... the story of Christ.” (46:12)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:26 — Isabel introduces the “insane” Free Press article and theme of the episode.
• 03:11-08:54 — Reading and critiquing the Tiya Miles article point-by-point.
• 13:18-14:27 — Isabel’s core thesis: The article misrepresents Harry Potter; left is the establishment.
• 17:59 — Isabel refutes the “Resistance” identity of academic elites.
• 24:57-26:56 — J.K. Rowling’s high-profile comebacks discussed.
• 31:34-32:53 — C.S. Lewis and Tolkien on power, democracy, and corruption.
• 35:22-46:12 — Contemporary efforts (notably in the UK) to police the impact of classic literature.
• 48:53-49:47 — UK leaders discuss the documentary “Adolescents” and its proposed use in countering male “radicalization.”
• 50:32-51:26 — Fears about the banning and censorship of classic stories.
• 51:26-54:19 — Call to action for families and listeners: keep reading, keep defending beloved stories.

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Takeaway

Isabel Brown’s episode is a rallying cry against what she sees as the weaponization of culture and literature by left-wing academics and politicians. She urges listeners to actively engage with, share, and defend classic stories like Harry Potter—not only for their entertainment value, but as beacons of wisdom warning against the dangers of authoritarianism, big government, and the loss of personal freedom. The episode blends culture war, literary criticism, and political analysis in Brown’s characteristic combative, irreverent style.

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For listeners seeking to understand the current cultural battleground over beloved stories, especially Harry Potter, this episode provides a passionate conservative perspective on why these stories matter, who controls their meaning, and what's at stake as they’re reinterpreted in today’s political climate.

Transcript

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[Isabel Brown]

Insane Harvard professor is going out of her way to try to gaslight you about the truth behind the Harry Potter series. And honestly, I am just sick and tired of these rabidly authoritarian leftists being so far up their own butts that they can't seem to understand the timeless storytelling of Harry Potter, of Star wars, of Lord of the Rings, of the Hunger Games, of every good story throughout history. That the left are the bad guys. They are the Ministry of Magic, they are the Empire, they are the Hunger Games capital. And and it is high time we start realizing it.

[Co-host/Guest]

Going on my nerd soapbox.

[Isabel Brown]

And I hope you will join me.

[Co-host/Guest]

For this Halloween week today on the Isabelle Brown Show. It's a Halloween week, truly.

[Isabel Brown]

You guys know, if you've been following me for longer than just this year, Halloween is one of my favorite weeks of the year. We take this holiday very seriously around here in our household, we always have, ever since I was a little girl. We love family themed costumes for Halloween. We love the entire history of Halloween.

[Co-host/Guest]

And by the way, it is indeed a Christian history. Maybe we'll get into that later in the week if we have any time.

[Isabel Brown]

And we'll do a fun costume reveal and all that jazz. We for a special Halloween episode on Friday. But in the vein of all things spooky season, there is a very spooky new article from the Free Press making the rounds this week unpacking Harry Potter and claiming that Donald Trump, of all.

[Co-host/Guest]

People, is basically Voldemort. In the Free Press, this article is called Things Worth Remembering the Wisdom of Harry Potter.

[Isabel Brown]

The series taught a generation that honor matters, and it seems honor is on the chopping block in American culture today. Reading through this article, which we'll do together, because Donald Trump and his band.

[Co-host/Guest]

Of Death Eaters, AKA Ice, are destroying American culture. So there's that.

[Isabel Brown]

I obviously could not let this slide without dissecting and decimating this horrifically inaccurate article with you here on the show.

[Co-host/Guest]

Because no one, mark my words, no.

[Isabel Brown]

One slanders the Potter verse and gets away with it on my watch.

[Co-host/Guest]

Okay?

[Isabel Brown]

I couldn't possibly sit with this insane garbage literature by myself alone.

[Co-host/Guest]

So let's read through it together.

[Isabel Brown]

From the Free Press this week, things Worth Remembering the Wisdom of Harry Potter by Tia Miles. Here we go. I became a fan of Harry Potter at the same time I became a mother. Just before Christmas 2003, after a harrowing pregnancy, I gave birth to twins with medical complications. She goes through unpacking how her twins lived in the NICU for many, many months. They had all these problems with a fear of RSV because of their kids medical history and therefore had to hide at home during the winter, fall and winter months of the bitter cold in Michigan. So her husband gave gave her the perfect gift to deal with all of this. A membership at an audio bookstore. And the very first thing that she decided to pick out for an audiobook is the audio book narrated by Jim Dale of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. She wanted a fun story. She knew the babies would want to be listening to a fun story too. And and she created this tradition in her family about how listening to Harry Potter became synonymous with being pregnant. Four years later, when she was pregnant with her son, she re listened to Harry Potter, this time on CDs of the audiobook. And then they fell in love with Harry Potter all over again. When our children were old enough, she writes for chapter books. At bedtime, they heard their father's voice relaying the same tales. My husband read Harry Potter aloud to them before progressing to his favorites from childhood.

[Co-host/Guest]

Interesting choices here. And we'll come back to this.

[Isabel Brown]

The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. lewis and the Lord of the Rings by J R Tolkien. All of these stories had in common a consequential conquest between the small and the large, the meek and the muscular, the marginalized and the powerful. They were David and Goliath tales, retold as bold adventures that encouraged the reader or the listener to identify with the underdog. Over time, these stories informed an unspoken family creed. For Tia Miles and her family, it is better to be honorable than to wield all the tainted power in the world. And in the end, goodness can win against evil, evil with the help of a hidden source of strength in C.S. lewis's Narnia that sources the deeper magic. In Tolkien's Middle Earth, the source is ancient nobility together with innocent and light, innocence and light rather. And at J.K. rowling's Hogwarts, that source is a mother's love, a family's care and friendship. Up to this point, you have me totally agree. Good beats evil. That power means nothing if you are not honorable that goodness matters in our society. That these stories are so gripping and they have such a powerful hold on multiple generations because they express timeless truths. Yes, you've got me.

[Co-host/Guest]

And then here's where they lose me. As our children grew, we went all.

[Isabel Brown]

In for Harry, Ron and Hermione and the series seemingly lighthearted lessons about how.

[Co-host/Guest]

To live in darkening times. She talks about taking her kids on vacation to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. And then she quickly loses anyone and everyone who's ever really paid attention to.

[Isabel Brown]

The underlying themes of the Harry Potter universe.

[Co-host/Guest]

A love affair with a book series is not blind. No story or author is without its complications.

[Isabel Brown]

The kids kids are now grown in their teenage years. The kids in their tweens and teens. Walk me through what the heck this.

[Co-host/Guest]

Is even supposed to mean.

[Isabel Brown]

Criticized the posity of the non white main characters. Pointing out that the goblins who staffed Gringott's wizarding bank had suspiciously exaggerated hook noses and obsessed with over the slavish behavior and callous mistreatment of Dobby the house elf because he's a literal slave. Like what? I don't.

[Co-host/Guest]

What else do you. That's literally the point of the house elves.

[Isabel Brown]

They joined many of their age peers. Ah yes, of course. In castigating J.K. rowling for her statements about trans people. They turned their backs on the author, but they could not fully let go of Potter. The tales we hear in childhood form an understory in the mind. These characters were a part of who they had grown up to be. So I was not completely surprised when our teen announced this summer he wants to revisit the wizarding world of Harry Potter. This time in California to replace his broken wand.

[Co-host/Guest]

Here we go. It's about to get really good people. I love this. Amid the political havoc and social turmoil that tinged the this golden summer red. Oh no. Because America is red. Our young adult kids are reaching again.

[Isabel Brown]

For the familiar stability of Harry Potter because it's the only thing that will.

[Co-host/Guest]

Get you through living in Donald Trump's America, apparently.

[Isabel Brown]

And she says so was I. As the summer began to fade I found myself re listening to Harry Potter and falling back in love with the whimsy and majesty of of Hogwarts, of the Forbidden forest of Platform 91 3/4 and Diagon Alley and the shifting lenses between childish pranks and mature matters. She keeps writing. Elements of Rowling's series seem eerily like things we see in present day American life.

[Co-host/Guest]

Walk through this one with me. Chief among these, chief amongst among these is the narcissist's urge to wield power.

[Isabel Brown]

To the detriment of many and betterment.

[Co-host/Guest]

Of a chosen few. Here we go. Here we go. Donald Trump is basically Voldemort, according to this lady.

[Isabel Brown]

The Harry Potter stories chart a would.

[Co-host/Guest]

Be dictator's fall, rise and attempted takeover of an imperfect yet free society. He who must not be named terrorizes the wizarding world the same way, of.

[Isabel Brown]

Course, that Donald Trump terrorizes America, demanding servile fealty. As followers and foes alike become convinced.

[Co-host/Guest]

Of his godlike powers, Death Eaters with cloaked faces kidnap people off the streets and lock them behind bars. Is this supposed to be ice? Like, what are you doing? Talking about Ministry of Magic official Dolores.

[Isabel Brown]

Umbridge and her ultra feminine pink suits.

[Co-host/Guest]

And kitty loving guys commandeers control of Hogwarts, a top school of magic, with the intention of imposing Lord Voldemort's dark vision. Is that supposed to be some sort of allegory to closing the Department of Education?

[Isabel Brown]

Or the many feminine but incredibly strong.

[Co-host/Guest]

And completely badass women in the Trump administration?

[Isabel Brown]

So now we're just women attacking women? I guess it's not just that. In book one, she writes Professor Quirrell.

[Co-host/Guest]

Who eagerly does the bidding of his master, guarantee you she was channeling. Talking about Stephen Miller.

[Isabel Brown]

Here, Professor Quirrell, who eagerly does the bidding of his master, articulates Voldemort's theory of power. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it. A little later, Professor Albus Dumbledore, the wise, fatherly figure who oversees Hogwarts, explains the depth of Voldemort's treachery to Harry. He shows just as little mercy to.

[Co-host/Guest]

His followers as his enemies. At the center of Rowling's son series are two questions. First, will the cruel, once deposed, nearly dead wizard succeed in his quest to cast out minorities, uplift pure bloods, imprison and kill resisters, and rule over all? Or will a small group of awkward.

[Isabel Brown]

Earnest young people with their personalities and skills, style still in development, fight against this darkness while discovering what they are capable of? These are the stories my children heard, then read, then watched with hundreds of thousands, even millions of millennials also growing up with them.

[Co-host/Guest]

When I feel myself despairing at what the future holds for my kids, I remind myself that they had a potent training program. They know what what authoritarianism looks like. The sorts of bewitching costumes it wears.

[Isabel Brown]

And the kinds of false promises it.

[Co-host/Guest]

Whispers into open ears. They have spent ample time in a place Hogwarts where evil threatened peace and.

[Isabel Brown]

Freedom and they have journeyed with fictional.

[Co-host/Guest]

Friends who discovered a life saving secret.

[Isabel Brown]

Honor, valor, smarts, love and a touch.

[Co-host/Guest]

Of magic can be strong enough to beat the darkness back. This is like the fourth time I've read this at this point. And it gets better with every passing read.

[Isabel Brown]

Because seriously, seriously, they're not even having to say what they're trying to say, which is that Donald Trump is He who Must Not Be Named, AKA Lord Voldemort, that the Death Eaters are like.

[Co-host/Guest]

Modern, symbolically tied to ICE agents who are kidnapping people off the streets and locking them up.

[Isabel Brown]

That Donald Trump is trying to create a race of pure blood ethnic majority while casting aside minority races and getting rid of them from society.

[Co-host/Guest]

I hmm.

[Isabel Brown]

If you've ever read Harry Potter for like five seconds, you would know that this woman is literally needing a mirror because everything she just described is the.

[Co-host/Guest]

Exact opposite of the message of Harry.

[Isabel Brown]

Potter, which easily was my favorite series growing up. But I guess these people are just that stupid. Like no matter how many stories like this they read, they don't ever come to the actual real realization that they are the bad guys. They are the establishment, they are the Death Eaters, the Empire, the Hunger Games, Capital, whatever story you love best, insert fictional universe here. They are the dark side, the enemy, the bad guy. And yet they just can't seem to get it through their thick skulls because they are so far up their own butt that they just want to, I don't know, bloviate their moral superiority at you by twisting and turning the greatest pieces of literature and fiction writing the world has ever seen so that it can fit their pathetic, ridiculous amount authoritarian agenda and then gaslight you into thinking.

[Co-host/Guest]

That you are the one pushing for authoritarianism.

[Isabel Brown]

I can't.

[Co-host/Guest]

I Like, I'm so glad I have this venue to unpack this with you.

[Isabel Brown]

Today, because I feel like every few months I'm going on the exact same rant to people as chief resident nerd of the conservative movement. Every great story throughout history is telling the exact same story. Warning you against big government, warning you against authoritarianism and totalitarian socialist policies, warning you about left wing dictatorships that we've seen throughout history time and time and time again. And then the media tries to tell you that it's the exact opposite of what the story is actually about. We've done this with every single Star wars project over the Past few years, we've done this now with Harry Potter, we're doing this with Lord of the Rings, we're doing this with George Orwell and every single piece of literature he ever wrote. Like, I'm just tired of the so called intellectuals in our society gaslighting you into reading these iconic timeless stories with timeless themes based in warning people about what happens when authoritarianism gets too strong by trying to tell you that the same people fighting authoritarianism are the bad guys. They are. They're lying to you. Tia Miles, who I've never heard of until today, no exception, this lady in particular is genuinely insane. And that's honestly the larger point of why this matters. Because yes, I could crusade on behalf.

[Co-host/Guest]

Of all of my favorite fictional universes.

[Isabel Brown]

For Narnia over and over and over again, but this does matter in the real world. And all of the so called supposed intellectuals and and media talking heads and politicians trying to twist these timeless pieces of literature to fit their agenda does change society at large. Tia Miles is not just a rando crazy lady. This is a professor at Harvard University and an award winning bestselling author. This lady teaches at Harvard University. She is a part of the History department.

[Co-host/Guest]

Hmm, shocking information.

[Isabel Brown]

She is a professor of history, specifically about the intersection between African American, Native American and women's histories in the context of place, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. And she has won several awards over and over and over again for being a best selling author, unpacking the intersection between race and everything else. Because intersectionality is the only thing that matters to these people. She is not uneducated. She went to Harvard, got a degree in African American History, then got her master's degree, I believe, in Women's History from Emory University. Women's Studies, rather. Master's degree in Women's Studies from Emory University and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. She's been a professor for decades.

[Co-host/Guest]

And you would think someone this educated would be able to look into the.

[Isabel Brown]

Greatest stories of all time and realize who the Resistance and who the Empire are. But no. She even posted this on her Instagram for International Women's Day last year.

[Co-host/Guest]

A picture of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia on International Women's Day. We must remember this red heart emoji.

[Isabel Brown]

We are the Resistance. Lady, you are a professor of Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies at Harvard University. You are quite literally the Establishment. You are the Empire. You're not the Resistance.

[Co-host/Guest]

What the hell are you talking about?

[Isabel Brown]

But since we seem to have forgotten English literature class from High school.

[Co-host/Guest]

Let's just talk about irony here for a minute.

[Isabel Brown]

Because the irony is these people don't seem to care at all what the original intention of any piece of literature actually is. They are just desperately trying to. To get it to fit their own agenda, to take a square peg and ram it into a round hole, to make sure that their definition of authoritarianism, which ironically is good people fighting against actual authoritarianism, is what you take away from these stories. And this has been a particular problem for Harry Potter as of late in the era of let's attack J.K. rowling for literally anything and everything and discredit the entire series because we don't like that she has to say that women are women and men are men and men cannot become woman. Now all of a sudden the entire Harry Potter franchise is just invalid. Our favorite stories that we loved and that actually taught us really valuable lessons about the difference between good and evil, about how good can fight back against evil. About how a young, ragtag, uneducated, unprepared, ill equipped group of kids can defeat those older than them in power if they have the courage and the bravery to keep showing up. These are timeless themes. And even the idea of defeating authoritarianism and a corrupt government that has been taken over from the inside out by someone wishing to wield all the power in the world and evil being instituted through the government, the Ministry of Magic. And these themes matter.

[Co-host/Guest]

And to Tia Miles's limited credit, she.

[Isabel Brown]

Does get it that an entire generation grew up in love with these stories. What she doesn't seem to get and what all of Those people attacking J.K. rowling for saying something objectively true, that men cannot become women. What they don't seem to get is that the actual punchline of the story resonated with us. There is a reason that Generation Z is overwhelmingly based because Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings and Star wars and the Hunger Games and every single one of our favorite trilogies or series or fantasy universes that we grew up absolutely immersed in with our imagination, those things translate to our actual society. And even though she doesn't like how we're doing it, she's realizing young people can recognize authoritarianism. For when we see it, when we're watching the left be incredibly honest to say that they want to institute socialism, they want to outlaw freedom of speech, they want to freeze prices on everything and have the government control all of the means of production, just as we see in my favorite stories in Harry Potter, people taking back power from the institutions that be and doing it themselves. It can be so overwhelming to enter into that world as an entrepreneur for the first time. It's confusing. There's way too much paperwork and information and I think for young people feels like there are 8 million roadblocks to becoming an entrepreneur. So we just convince ourselves we should never get started in the first place. But thankfully, that is exactly where today's sponsor Shopify comes in. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide and handles 10% of of all US E commerce, supporting everyone from major household names to entrepreneurs just starting out. Even if you have no idea what you're doing and you can't even design a website, you are covered right from the beginning with their beautiful, ready to use templates that can match your brand's unique style if you need some extra help along the way. Their AI tools are specifically built for commerce and can assist with everyday tasks like changing your product images, writing compelling product descriptions, or even generating discount codes. If you're worried that people haven't heard about your brand yet, Shopify makes it incredibly simple to find your customers through easy to run email and social media campaigns to help get your name out there. And if you ever get stuck or you ever have any questions, you are never alone. Their award winning customer Support team is available 24. 7 to share advice and to guide you through any challenges that you might face. You can turn your big business idea into With Shopify on your side, sign up for their $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com Isabelle Go to shopify.com Isabelle One more time. That is shopify.com Isabelle There is a 95% chance that the next guy to be the mayor of New York City, which we'll talk about next week for his election Day, is going to be the mayor. And he's espousing all of these things on the campaign trail. They're being incredibly honest with us about what they want to accomplish. How many times did Kamala Harris and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton say they want to lock people in prison for spreading misinformation on social media. Misinformation that, lo and behold, ended up later becoming true. It just wasn't the state sponsored propaganda that they wanted to shove down your throat. Through legacy media outlets, we can recognize authoritarianism when we see it with our own two eyes, and we learned that largely at very young ages thanks to heroic people with amazing imaginations like J.K. rowling. But the second you walk away from the lockstep authoritarian radical left, everything you've ever done has to be Disowned. Which is why they're attacking Harry Potter now, even though it's a beautiful story with timeless values. There are countless tweets that J.K. rowling has had to respond to in the.

[Co-host/Guest]

Last several months about her own books. Because now people are lecturing this woman on the theme of the book and the universe and the movies that she created, like none of this would have existed if it wasn't for her own.

[Isabel Brown]

Imagination and her own brain. But she's reminding people that she's not the one who needs to reread her own books when it comes to understanding the real themes of Harry Potter. This guy Tim wrote earlier this year.

[Co-host/Guest]

After writing such a beautiful series about acceptance and love, you've become a Voldemort in real life. Brownie face. Time for a reread of your own books.

[Isabel Brown]

How original, Tim.

[Co-host/Guest]

I'm sure no one ever in history has thought about calling J.K. rowling Voldemort.

[Isabel Brown]

God, these people are just such NPCs.

[Co-host/Guest]

I can't.

[Isabel Brown]

And her response was so beautifully stated in April of this year. I am not the one who needs.

[Co-host/Guest]

To reread her own books.

[Isabel Brown]

Muppet.

[Co-host/Guest]

Go off Queen.

[Isabel Brown]

A totalitarian movement infiltrates the establishment, persecutes all who oppose it, threatens rape and violence, strips rights from the vulnerable, and you decide those are the good guys and you applaud like a seal.

[Co-host/Guest]

Can we make this woman in charge of the UK like yesterday? You guys need her. Please wake up.

[Isabel Brown]

Across the pod, someone like this is exactly who you need, as you are applauding like seals. Not you, necessarily. Those of you who watch the show are incredibly based, but your society is applauding like seals when George Orwell's 1984 is coming to life. And this isn't the only time J.K. rowling has responded to all of these insane allegations that she doesn't even know.

[Co-host/Guest]

What her own book is about. Here's one from earlier this year. I don't even recognize you anymore. I can't reconcile the person who wrote such a wonderful book series about love and tolerance, about being an outsider, to.

[Isabel Brown]

Who you are now. The best possible response from Joe. You appear to have skipped the bits where a narcissistic villain and his acolytes, all of whom had an innate advantage over those they were persecuting, tried to.

[Co-host/Guest]

Create a totalitarian state with themselves as.

[Isabel Brown]

The leaders, all while claiming they were the truly oppressed ones.

[Co-host/Guest]

God, I love this woman.

[Isabel Brown]

I want to petition every single author.

[Co-host/Guest]

And movie director and everyone to keep making statements like this because they're making.

[Isabel Brown]

It pretty obvious for us. You missed the whole point about who the real heroes were in all of these stories. JK has something to say about that as well. Who the real heroes of Harry Potter were.

[Co-host/Guest]

I'm sorry, she says to everyone. This was in July that you didn't understand the books.

[Isabel Brown]

FYI, the masked men screaming that they were oppressed while infiltrating all power structures and threatening violence, torture and murder on those weaker than themselves weren't the heroes, in case you need it spelled out even more plainly and obviously for you. Let's just look through the lens of history not even that far back for the last five years in the United States and around Western civilization. Ask yourself honestly, who are the people who are taking over political structures to demand that anyone who disagrees with them be silenced by any means necessary? What is the side that is violently assassinating people on college campuses for encouraging honest conversation, political disagreement and diversity of thought in our academic institutions? Who is the president that disappeared every single day at 12 o' clock to not answer for what his agenda was when he seemingly wasn't even running his own White House, but instead was a walking around blubbering idiot reading the approved talking points from all of the shadow figures actually operating the government for the last several years? Hmm. All worth thinking about when it comes to asking yourself where is totalitarian authoritarianism actually manifesting in society today? And for those of you who live in the uk, I hope, I hope and I pray that reading this garbage analysis of Harry Potter and the free press enrages you. Because you in the UK should know better than anyone on the face of the planet in the last several months what authoritarian policies look like. You guys can't even comment something on Facebook or retweet something on X without potentially being locked up in federal prison for hate crimes for stating objectively true things while actual violent criminals are are being let out of prison, presumably to create more chaos in your city streets to give the government more of an excuse to seize more power. So yeah, I just don't really have tolerance for this type of insanity spewed by the left in prestigious positions of influence. Like, I don't know, being an award winning author slash Harvard professor of history anymore. Because if you think this is limited to just people being enraged by J.K. rowling saying men cannot be women, think again. These people are doing everything they can to rewrite actual history and to attack the most impactful timeless authors of all time and the timeless classic themes of Western civilization that they were based in to justify whatever political agenda they are trying to shove down your throat every five minutes. I mentioned earlier we were going to come back to this, I don't find it coincidental that the other authors specifically mentioned in this Garbage Free Press article are CS Lewis and J R R Tolkien that she says her husband's favorite stories growing up were the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. lewis, an allegory for the story of Jesus Christ, and J.R.R. tolkien's the Lord of the Rings, which Tolkien himself said repeatedly during his lifetime.

[Co-host/Guest]

And is also an allegory to the.

[Isabel Brown]

Story of Jesus Christ, is a Catholic work of literature. Period. Full stop. I'm not saying that I'm not applying my own lens to Tolkien's work. Tolkien said that the Lord of the Rings are Catholic pieces of literature that he wrote himself. So just like you should take J.K. rowling's words for it about what the themes of Harry Potter actually are and who the real totalitarian people in society actually are that she was creating an allegory for, I think it's important that we look at the life and the mission of people like CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien taking their sphere of influence to try to warn the world about radical left wing authoritarianism. During his lifetime, C.S. lewis was quoted for saying the real reason for democracy is really just the reverse. I love how he says this. It's so powerful, mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him, but I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters. Oh God, they don't make them like CS Lewis anymore, do they? The one of the greats. Truly one of the greats. Throughout all of human history, men are corrupt. Sin is real. Sin and evil are constantly swirling around us. And if you want to see a perfect sign of corrupt men in action, look at the opposite of a democratic society, an authoritarian one. And even though these same people take to the streets every three months for their new no Kings Day protest against authoritarianism, again, I ask you positionally, from a policy perspective, as we actually see these things play out in real time, which side of the political aisle is pushing to silence dissidents against them? Which side of the political aisle is threatening to throw people in prison for hate speech and misinformation? Or in other countries already is doing that. God help me, the next time I.

[Co-host/Guest]

Walk into the uk, the more I think about this, I'm scheduled to be there in a few months. I hope I don't get detained at Heathrow Airport. That would be wildly unfortunate.

[Isabel Brown]

Which side is obsessed with pushing a singular narrative in our education system, in the legacy media, and everywhere else that we have a supposedly free exchange of ideas? It's the left. There is only one side of the political aisle pushing for authoritarianism today, so heed the warning, because it is largely rooted in evil, that no men are fit to be masters over other men. I think that is so beautifully stated. Tolkien said many of the same philosophies. In fact, Tolkien and Lewis were best friends at one point in time, he said the most improper job of any man, even the saints, who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on, is bossing other men. The most improper role for any man is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity. Hmm. Let's look at even a more recent example. Suzanne Collins, the author of the Hunger Games, truly one of my other favorite SU series of all times, in a recent interview about the new prequel book, not the new new book with Haymitch, but the one that came out a couple of years ago, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was about the life of President Coriolanus Snow, way, way, way in history before he ever became the president for the very first ever annual Hunger Games, she said in an interview, talking about her character development for President Snow. The anti populist position would be the key character traitor to carry over to this book. Young Coriolanus's sense of superiority to the district citizens of Panem is absolute. He believes them to be almost subhuman, barbaric, and goes to great lengths to separate Lucy Gray from them when he begins to fall for her. Exposure to the districts only reinforces his position, and while he recognizes their advantages, he doesn't have a particularly high opinion of his neighbors in the capital either. Ultimately, he embraces a Hobbesian worldview that humanity needs an absolute authority to rule at the expense of personal freedom.

[Co-host/Guest]

Oh God, that's so good. These authors are amazing people.

[Isabel Brown]

Truly. Do you get it? Hello? How many times in the last few years, during the height of COVID especially, did you hear? Yeah, but it's all necessary. It's really necessary for us to give up a tiny bit of personal freedom to protect the safety and security of the masses. If you live in Washington D.C. like I do, how often do you hear the entrenched establishment political powers have the most disgusting sense of moral superiority as these coastal elites and disdain for people who live in real America every single day in this city. I mean, for God's sake, how many times did they call President Trump's original supporters, like blue collar workers, military members, agriculture employees throughout the entire middle section of America deplorable? They called you stupid because you wanted to support someone who was trying to bring a sense of governance back to its original intention of the people, by the people, for the people. And make no mistake about it, there is a reason that we don't know the political affiliation of Suzanne Collins, that she's never endorsed any political candidate. She's never said anything publicly. If you've been paying attention at all in the past decade of American politics, that can only mean one thing. So whether it's Harry Potter or Star wars or the Hunger Games or the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings, it is literally always, always the same script. Harry Potter and so many others are the timeless stories that bonded my family together growing up. Just like having our family dinner around the dinner table did as well. And those are traditions that I am so excited to bring forward into my daughter's childhood as she continues growing up, which we are starting right now in our household. This fall, our friends at Good Ranchers challenged all of us to get back to the table for for one family dinner night per week. And honestly, for us it has changed everything. It changes what day we make it.

[Co-host/Guest]

Work because we are just that busy.

[Isabel Brown]

But once a week we are making it happen. No phones, no work emails, just connecting the three of us as a family over a real meal. Here's what makes it possible for us. Good ranchers delivers 100% American high quality meat right to our front door. Everything comes pre portioned and triple trimmed so that even on my craziest busiest days I I can have dinner ready in just a few minutes instead of spending an hour plus prepping. And get this, Good Ranchers is giving away free holiday hams every week just for joining their Back to the Table challenge like my family did. All you have to do is share a photo of your once a week family night dinner on your Instagram stories and hashtag back to the table and tag at Good Ranchers. This has been such a special time for my family to be reconnecting. My husband has a crazy job working like 12 hour days. I am always on airplanes and constantly prepping for this show and every time we blink our baby looks like a.

[Co-host/Guest]

New human being and we are incredibly sad. It's actually bittersweet but incredibly sad about.

[Isabel Brown]

How quick she is growing. So savoring every single moment that we can get together and recapping our crazy weeks around the family dinner table has been so extra Special thanks to Good Ranchers. You guys can visit Good Ranchers.com and use my code ISABEL for $40 off plus free meat for life when you subscribe. That's ISABEL for $40 off and free meat for life. Head to GoodRanchers.com let's all get back to the table and this ridiculous twisting and turning to try to fit all of these classic, beloved stories that people are naturally drawn to that we fall in love with for a reason because they represent timeless virtuous values and the struggle between good and evil, between the actually oppressed people and authoritarian empires. This ability to try to gaslight you into taking home the wrong message from these stories is not isolated to just Harry Potter. Back in 2016, Medium ran a story about Star wars why Fascists Hate Star Wars.

[Co-host/Guest]

I actually not realized until reading this article preparing for the episode today that.

[Isabel Brown]

They were calling people fascists for this long. I had thought the fascist label was a pretty new one. Certainly they called conservatives like Hitler supporters and Hitler Youth and the new generation of Nazis back in 2016 when President Trump was first elected. But I hadn't remembered people calling us fascists. So there you go. They've been calling us that for a very long time with the specific aim of dividing our society further. Matthew Galt on Medium why Fascists Hate.

[Co-host/Guest]

Star Wars Saying it wouldn't be the.

[Isabel Brown]

Holidays without Internet nutjobs stirring up pointless controversy. Thus we have alt right trolls organizing a boycott of Rogue One, A Star Wars Story, the first Star wars movie about regular people fighting the Empire. Um, by the way, if you've paid attention for like longer than five seconds, you would know that anyone right, center or left who claims to be interested at all in Star wars would tell you that the only good Star wars.

[Co-host/Guest]

Movie of the past decade is Rogue One. So I have no idea what the hell this person is talking about.

[Isabel Brown]

Everything else was truly terrible, but everyone I know, right, left and center, loved Rogue One. So who's the one generating artificial controversy to try to push a political agenda? In 2020, public media list published this.

[Co-host/Guest]

Dear Tolkien Fans, Black People Exist by.

[Isabel Brown]

Christina Warmbrun to talk about race, racism and the Middle Ages. This of course takes me immediately back to the article we talked about last week on the show in the Telegraph about how clearly, clearly J R R Tolkien invented the orcs as symbolically black people in his society because they're all about ethnic minorities and how it's this crazy white supremacy angle that Tolkien is trying to take in order to get you to believe that black people are evil. Black and brown people are the bad.

[Co-host/Guest]

Guys and they need to be cast out from society.

[Isabel Brown]

Also being taught at a university campus in the United Kingdom, and these ideas become so powerful on university campuses that people start writing their thesis papers, their dissertations on these insane ideas that become revisionist history and are constantly twisting what we know is objectively true. About Our Favorite fiction stories Dr. Nikki Brennett @ the University of Mary Washington back in 2014 wrote her thesis In Defense of Women, exposing the sexist portrayals of women in C.S. lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Listen to this for a moment. Upon reading the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a child, I thought all was well and wonderful in the Land of Narnia. However, as I've read the entirety of the Chronicles as an adult, I am angered by the extremely inaccurate and unfair portrayals oh, this is highlighting in a weird spot, gang. Sorry, I don't know why it's doing that. I am angered by the extremely inaccurate and unfair portrayals of strong female characters throughout the series. While the female characters in the Chronicles vary from heroines to evil temptresses, young to old, magical beings to humans, they are all bound to some outdated gender specific role, and the females are often represented as inferior to males. Lewis's oppressive portrayal of female characters is falsely misleading about the lives of women.

[Co-host/Guest]

And only serves to further perpetuate negative stereotypes of females. We look at the stories of Lucy.

[Isabel Brown]

Susan and Jadis the White Witch to demonstrate Louis's sexism and blatant mistreatment of female characters in Narnia.

[Co-host/Guest]

I'm sorry, what are these people smoking?

[Isabel Brown]

Honestly, do we really just live in that much of a separated reality, truncated reality from one another? Has anyone ever in their right mind read or watched the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and thought Lucy and Susan or the White Witch were oppressed to the patriarchy? Are you kidding me?

[Co-host/Guest]

This is a series about women fighting on the front lines of battle. Like, way ahead of its time by.

[Isabel Brown]

The way, but I guess this is how poisoned academia has become. And we've allowed these horrifying ideas, these insane perversions of our favorite stories to become so powerful under the surface by not appropriately dragging them out and attacking them for how blatantly stupid they actually are that now it's starting to matter in real life. And this is the takeaway that I want you to take from today's episode. Yes, I am deeply passionate about my favorite nerdy stories. I will defend the Potter verse until the day that I die because I grew up with Harry Potter like was written actually from a sadly mistaken point of view of this horrible Free Press article. I and our entire generation grew up with our noses between the pages of Harry Potter books. Every year we counted down the seconds until the movies were released. We are obsessed with these stories. And similarly I am as well for Tolkien And Lewis and J.J. abrams and all of the great stories of good versus evil, of the little guy fighting the big guy, this modern David and Goliath story, because believe it or not, and maybe we'll get into this for another episode, all of them are rooted in some capacity, in a level of biblical allegory of fulfilling prophecy of the chosen individual who was supposed to be fulfilling decades and decades and decades of oppression to lead to people's freedom and salvation. That is the story of Christ. Every single one of these stories has some sort of allegory to the story of Jesus. But the more we've watched my favorite stories and hopefully yours, because I hope.

[Co-host/Guest]

That we are all nerdy around here, maybe not to the level that I.

[Isabel Brown]

Am, but you should be a little bit more of a nerd in your own life. These stories that we all love being attacked for the last several years now we're watching that Translate to Good vs Evil be attacked in the real world. Our favorite fiction stories remind us and inspire us to act accordingly in the real world. To be the little guy, the truly oppressed, who acts against the oppressor just like our founding fathers did in fighting the American Revolution. To be someone who's willing to speak the truth even when it's incredibly dangerous to do that like we see in George Orwell's 1984 to be the individual, the young person willing to fight and put your life on the line to free an entire country from oppressive left wing socialistic authoritarianism like Katniss Everdeen did in the Hunger Games. And as we watch these stories inspire us to act. Everything that they represent is now being attacked by by these insane woke nutjobs who are doing everything they can to bring authoritarianism to the real world too. 1984, an animal farm from George Orwell have probably done more to protect society against totalitarianism than perhaps any other pieces of literature in modern history. Brave New World, the Giver. Countless other examples have warned us against totalitarian communistic style societies. And yes, Harry Potter and Star wars and Lord of the Rings and the Hunger Games. But when they start labeling this stuff extremism and try to twist the meaning of all of these stories, we see true authoritarianism come into play. And I can't tell you how many times I have started to see, just in the last few months, the timeless hero's story be attacked as radical masculinity. In particular, that these stories are dangerous extremism for young men in particular, and we have got to do everything we can to curb it. There is a Netflix documentary dedicated to this very topic called adolescence that the entire UK Parliament is now pushing for mandatory screenings of to counter the dangerous extremism being presented to young men from timeless stories that we love, like all the ones that we talked about today. And they're openly advocating for this from within the halls of Parliament. Here's Keir Starmer advocating for just that.

[Keir Starmer]

Everyone is talking about Adolescents, the series by Knowsley's own Stephen Graham and Christine Tamarco. It highlights online male radicalisation and violence against girls. The creators of the show are calling for screenings in Parliament and schools to spark change. So will the Prime Minister back this campaign to counter toxic misogyny early and give young men the role models they deserve?

[UK Prime Minister]

PRIME MINISTER yes. And at home we are watching adolescents with our children. I've got a 16 year old boy, a 14 year old girl. It's a very, very good documentary to watch or drama she this violence carried out by young men influenced by what they see online is a real problem. It's abhorrent and we have to tackle it.

[Isabel Brown]

I love how this is about violent and misogynistic content. Mark my words. Mark my words. When it's not enough, when it's not successful enough to convince you that these stories actually mean the opposite of what they were written to be, that that Donald Trump is actually Voldemort instead of the left, that Republicans in Congress are basically the Ministry of Magic instead of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and everyone who's been there for longer than twice the time that I've been alive. When it's not enough to convince you that ICE are the death eaters rounding.

[Co-host/Guest]

People up off the streets and putting them in cages instead of, I don't.

[Isabel Brown]

Know, the drug cartels. When it's not enough for these people to manipulate, pervert and twist the narrative to fit their own political agenda, it will not be long until all of our favorite stories are banned, ironically, from the same people screaming in your face.

[Co-host/Guest]

That right wingers are trying to ban books.

[Isabel Brown]

Hmm, interesting. I will not be surprised when I see this concerted effort from the left to silence and censor 1984 and animal farm, which already has been discussed by the way, in the last several years, transcend to censor Star wars and the Lord of the Rings and Narnia, which they're already trying to change anyway with Meryl Streep being cast as Aslan gag Greta Gerwig.

[Co-host/Guest]

Narnia is making me very very nervous in the next couple of years that.

[Isabel Brown]

Maybe they'll try to get rid of the Hunger Games as a literal warning for America about what happens when you let our society fall apart and a totalitarian dictatorship that controls all the means of production, AKA socialistic communism, come to power in a dystopian future. I will not be surprised if they try to censor and silence the stories of Harry Potter because how dare we tell young people who are uneducated, ill equipped and lacking institutional authority and power that they have the means to fight evil with good. Listen to the people trying to twist these stories to you. They are the elites. They are the educated. They're the Harvard professors and the Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and best selling New York Times authors of the world. They are the left wing politicians, the prime ministers of entire countries. They are people who run the entire Internet social media platforms who own legacy media outlets. They are the establishment, the empire, the capital, the Ministry of Magic, Sauron. They are all of the above. Do not gaslight them or do not let them gaslight you rather into believing that you are the bad guy because you're not. You are the hero in these heroes stories. So what do we do about this ridiculous propaganda threatening to destroy our favorite stories? Number one, keep reading. Keep reading them. Keep sharing these stories with yourself, with your family, your friends, your kids. I cannot wait until Isla is old enough for us to read the Harry Potter series aloud to her. Because truly reading those books was my favorite part of childhood, among other favorite fictional stories as well. Keep investing in beloved stories. Watch these movies, buy the books, go out of your way to make sure that these stories stay alive and are timeless throughout history. Keep inspiring people, whether it's through sharing these stories or in real life, to embrace bold heroism in the face of totalitarian advocacy. People wanting to institute literal socialism. And I guess that all really boils down to keep nerding out people because the world needs more nerds. It's us that keeps these timeless values alive and creative and imaginative and fun ways and I hope you can think about that especially as you are getting ready for Halloween later this week. Don't forget to subscribe to the Isabel Brown show here or wherever you are watching and go find us on podcast platforms so that you can give us a five star review and download the latest episode. As we continue growing, our family of.

[Co-host/Guest]

Truth seekers cannot wait for you guys to see the Halloween costume we have.

[Isabel Brown]

Planned with our beautiful baby girl this year and hope you have a fun one up your sleeve too. See you tomorrow.

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[Isabel Brown]

Uh Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

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