How do you convince an entire region that consciously uncoupling from their global marriage to the European Union is a not-so-great idea, while also getting the rest of the world to care? For starters, be J.K. Rowling. Then pen an entire essay about the potential Brexit framed around villains, monsters, and Donald Trump. In the weeks leading up to the U.K.’s crucial referendum on leaving the EU, Rowling has sided with the Remainers (a.k.a those who vote to stay). But if all her tweets about staying in the EU flew over your head, hey, here’s an essay that name-drops Voldemort. Posted Monday morning to her site (because Pottermore would’ve been too shameless), she writes, “I’m not an expert on much, but I do know how to create a monster.†That monster, of course, being Voldy and now the villainous Leave supporters, who wish to separate from the EU and are “benefiting from our widespread cynicism.†Rowling writes: “The tales we have been told during this referendum have been uglier than any I can remember in my lifetime. If anyone has enjoyed this referendum, it can only be those hoping for greater personal power at the end of it.â€
Although Rowling sides with the Remainers and their “grim prognostications,†she’s not on the side of those making sweeping generalizations about Leavers, either. “It is dishonorable to suggest, as many have, that Leavers are all racists and bigots: they aren’t and it is shameful to suggest that they are. Nevertheless, it is equally nonsensical to pretend that racists and bigots aren’t flocking to the ‘Leave’ cause, or that they aren’t, in some instances, directing it,†she notes.
But trust Rowling to work in a diss to the greatest global villain of them all, who just so happens to back the Leavers:
Look towards the Republican Party in America and shudder. “Make America Great Again!†cries a man who is fascist in all but name. His stubby fingers are currently within horrifyingly close reach of America’s nuclear codes. He achieved this preeminence by proposing crude, unworkable solutions to complex threats. Terrorism?â€Ban all Muslims!†Immigration? “Build a wall!†He has the temperament of an unstable nightclub bouncer, jeers at violence when it breaks out at his rallies and wears his disdain for women and minorities with pride. God help America. God help us all.
Now make like Hermione and vote!