The Secret Power Of J.K. Rowling

A new podcast explores the magic

“Greatness is not fame or achievement.”

Once upon a time, a right wing mob wanted to burn J.K. Rowling as a witch for writing fantasy novels about children learning magic spells. However, in a plot twist no one saw coming during the 1990s, when Harry Potter panic was at its peak, today the witch hunters believe human beings can change sex with magic words and potions, cancelling anyone who knows better.

When the world’s most beloved fantasy author told alleged adults to grow up and stop their magical thinking about evolved human biology, they went crazy. Suddenly it was no longer the religious right burning books, but a cult-like phenomenon that has emerged on the political left, purging dissent and wrongthink from every kind of institution, with publishers being among their first targets of their Long March.

Magical thinking dies hard in people. It is also too easy for the young to believe in magic. “I think it speaks to something in human nature,” Rowling tells Megan Phelps-Roper in a…