Harry Potter: Zionist Conspiracy to Promote Witchcraft and Satanism???

Richard Metzger is Boing Boing's current guest blogger.

Richard Metzger blogs at Dangerous Minds. Follow him on Twitter.

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crenelle

If I understand the roots of this video correctly, MEMRI found this video, added English subtitles based on the original Persian, and posted the result. Is the English translation accurate? Does this video represent the opinion of the Iranian Supreme Leader? Perhaps the guy can’t be bothered to sponsor accurate research, or perhaps the video is merely anti-Zionist, mayhap part of a general campaign that is intended to bear fruit some day. The video’s presumption that we’re consumed by Zionism seems to help justify their own high interest in the consequences of Zionism.
Teriyaki

That just shows that religious fundamentalists are all the same. Fanatical US evangelists get on much better with Islamic fundamentalists than they ever did with liberals of their own country. Same sh***, different brand as they’d say. (It’s interesting how war criminals in prisons do pretty much the same with former enemies.. birds of the same flock, heh).

On a side note, parsi is a beautiful language, making watching the video quite distracting. :) What a shame… leave Iran alone and then they’ll be able to get their sh*** together so the whole world can enjoy their marvelous culture. The surest way to plunge a nation into conservativism and isolationism is to threaten it with annihilation…
MarkM

Well, these nonsensical conspiracy theories are
going to spring up when you have a nonsensical
foreign policy that directs you to invade a foreign
country (Iraq) on dishonest grounds (WMD? Terrorist
ties? Saddam tried to kill W’s Dad? W wanted to
“out-do” Dad? You tell me: I still dont know why
we invaded).

The “black helicopters” (that dont even exist)
cause militia-types in the US to spout their
conspiracy theories. Think what invading an entire
country on false grounds does for fomenting the
loon segment of the Middle East.
UncommonSense

@ #28 Great example from Star Wars. They should have used a letter instead, since every number has some significance to some nutter, somewhere (with apologies to Pythagoras, et al). As someone who studies “party time”, you may be aware the swastika was considered sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists and Mithraists. Maybe the Nazis appropriated it just cause it looked cool. My point is there are only so many numerals, and so many design components out there. Eventually someone will use one without any idea of its alternative symbology, or intent to further a sinister conspiracy.

Maybe you were just joking though.
Teriyaki

at 14.. sorry but Templars were exterminated as heretics in 1307. Among the many accusations against them there was witchcraft, and especially contamination with kabbalic and hashishin influences – essentially they were the first real “satanists” in popular culture. Whether they were “guilty” of anything is quite impossible to know since there was quite a lot of politics and money involved in their demise.
Anonymous

The clip might be insane but be aware that MEMRI, the organisation that supplied this heavily-edited clip, is an organisation created by an ex-Israeli intelligence officer and specialises in media clips showing the Arab world in a bad light. They could just as easily have trawled US cable TV to find something similar (and remember the US evangelists who claimed the Teletubbies were gay?)
Jugglepunk

As soon as someone mentions the Templars, I tend to write them off as an ‘Foucaults Pendulum’ style barmpot. It’s understandable in Western culture as we have been exposed to these fictions for years now and understand them as such (l, most of us do), but hearing an Iranian film critic trot out this hackneyed idea and pass it off as fact, well, it’s laughable really. Maybe the guy should read some books instead of watching the ‘devils lantern’ all day.
xiaomei

Both of MEMRI’s founders, Meyrav Wurmser and Yigal Carmon, are hardline pro-Israel ideologues aligned with Israel’s right wing Likud party and their equally rabid fascio Christian supporters in the US. Check it out.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1511.html
Antinous / Moderator

When Harry Potter first came out, the Vatican didn’t object to it because it features incantational magic rather than invocational (demon summoning) magic. Within a few years, some dude named Ratzinger from the Holy Office (formerly known as the Inquisition) condemned the books. I wonder what ever happened to that Ratzinger guy.
kuj0

Rome probably picked up some of the Chaldean intellectual traditions when they occupied Egypt.

it’s the secrecy thing that gets me. and by now, the secret’s probably stale and no good anymore but no one realizes that because they’re too busy keeping it secret.
Jack

You know what’s astonishing? If you look back at Iran in the early 1970s and even 1960s it was sooooooo…. Normal and reasonable….

And for anyone who says that’s racist, just imagine my hometown of Brooklyn being taken over by extreme brethren in the Hassidic community.

Sick and sad what the evangelistic need to control does.
kuj0

i love symbols and when people make a big deal about them. think of it; on the one hand you have evidence of a vast Illumanati conspiracy, on the other, triangles are really cool. very easy to spot and you can make one with your thumbs and forefingers.
mesrop

And this just goes to show you the reason why I am an atheist. Its no different then what the Christians were saying when the first movie came out and having there book burning events. Will every one that is religious please step into the air lock…
presterjohn

“What the thinker thinks, the prover proves” – R.A.W.
Teller

The magic in Harry Potter bores me because it’s like one deus ex machina after another. Lose the magic, great stories!
seyo

A lot of Catholics feel the same way about Harry Potter re: the witchcraft thing.
Malgwyn

Witchcraft comes from the Kabbalah? I do know that a large chunk of Ceremonial Magick and Astrology came from Arabic sources. THE PICATRIX- Ur grimiore of of medieval magic. There were these people called the Harranians from before the Hejira, that were into the Hermeticism of Hellenized Egypt. A big chunk of Kabbalah is beleived to have come from them. Early Kabbalah flourished under Moorish rule. Then there are all those Sufi mystical poets, Persia was rife with them. Iran doesn’t need to import “Ziono-Hollywoodist” wizardry, it has its own! Perhaps we should be complaining about all those Aladdin sequels, Thousand and One Nights, and Rubiat of Omar Khayyam at least one of them sits on about every shelf in America.
Takuan

well,yeah, but Catholicism actually DOES spread HIV.
dinobuddy

To be sure, MEMRI has an agenda. They want people to be aware of the stuff that’s being said in the (predominantly middle-eastern) media because, well, it’s shocking and it’s vital to understand popular sentiment over there a little better. But accusing them of “feeding you anti-muslim propaganda” is pretty silly.

The whole point is that they’re NOT giving any editorial whatsoever; they’re just giving straight translations of the news. The propaganda being spread is not that of MEMRI.

If you draw more conclusions about the messenger than the message itself, your priorities are a mess.
arkizzle

#28 GTTycoon

“Iran is just pointing out what is true.”

No. The six or seven scholars interviewed for the program (and the program itself, probably) are giving their opinion, which may be state sanctioned or not.
arkizzle

DinoBuddy

“The whole point is that they’re NOT giving any editorial whatsoever; they’re just giving straight translations of the news. The propaganda being spread is not that of MEMRI.”

I disagree completely. Selective coverage is every bit as editorial as having an overt agenda. MemriTV isn’t an open conduit, translating everything equally for the benefit of non-arabic-speakers. They choose what to cover and therein lies the bias.

“If you draw more conclusions about the messenger than the message itself, your priorities are a mess.”

Without wanting to invoke Godwin too soon in this thread: what if you watch Nazi propaganda films about the Jews and gypsies, with regard to only the message instead of the messenger..

Always question the source, and its intent. ALWAYS.
freeyourcrt

The mere notion that media controlled by a relative tiny minority is being used to promote some message or behavior beyond the most readily apparent to the target audience is preposterous. Those wacky Persians are at it again.
Brother Phil

@Dinobuddy,
A guy runs up to a woman, knocks her to the ground, and starts slapping her.
What a lowlife bstrd, huh?

How about if I add in the data that a spark had set her clothes alight, and that he got badly burned putting out the fire with his bare hands?

Selective reporting can make all the difference in the world.

(PS – that’s from an old pulp story, where a apparent “traitor” saves the earth – can anyone remember what it was?)
help i cant comfirm my username themelonbread

1:49- LOL evil demonic pixies!
randalll

How is this any crazier than Glenn Beck saying Obama is building concentration camps for republicans?

No need to look beyond our borders for crackpot theories.
Anonymous

Gosh, I thought all of those magic tricks in the movie were just special effects! I must be so dumb!
cory

Glenn Beck is a national treasure. He exists to remind swing voters of the gibbering, frothing incompetence they voted against.
Snig

Most egregious is the network broadcasting this without any hint of a spoiler alert about important plot developments in Harry Potter.

The books are available in Iran, so hopefully the kids will recognize the producers of this kind of “news” as just envious Muggles of the worst sort.

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=718495
Cpt. Tim

Um… why would jews promote satanism if they feel satan was an angel (not fallen angel, just the regular kind)?
Deidzoeb

You could change the words “Zionist” and “Jews” throughout this video to liberals or Hollywood and some Christians would agree with the rest of it. Then show them the original translation and see what their reactions are.

#22. “If you look back at Iran in the early 1970s and even 1960s it was sooooooo…. Normal and reasonable….”

If you look back at [the PR-manufactured image of Iran under the Shah] in the early 1970s and even 1960s [and you ignored/did not know about the Shah's human rights abuses or the US putting him in power] it was soooooo…. Normal and reasonable.
wilburevans

I love the tech, but tire of this sites religious slant.
Anonymous

This is funny and comparable to fundamentalist Christian reactions to Harry Potter.

But, I have a lot of issues with MEMRI and how it operates. It doesn’t seem to be “exploring the Middle East through the region’s media” so much as selecting the most ridiculous or inflammatory pieces of Islamic media.

I can never read/see/experience a MEMRI selected (and translated) piece of media without having the feeling I am being fed a piece of anti-Muslim propaganda.
Snig

“Glenn Beck is a national treasure.”

Next time there’s a visit between Canada and the US, I have an idea of which pundit we can give you guys as a present. He’s more special than the crappy DVD set most countries get. I’m sure we’d miss him when he was gone, but that’s a chance I’d be willing to take.
zawan

Yep, I have to agree. There is nothing but witchcraft in Harry potter. This is a simple observation.

I think NONE of the monotheistic religions enjoy their kids idolizing witchcraft.
apostrophe

unfortunately the implications of this sort of vilification is not limited to cinema proceeds, but deeply and dangerously impacts the lives of many people in Iran:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y4fqgEDAKA

many Iranian members of my family have been accused of zionism in that country and the consequences have been dire.
Anonymous

Please, look at the source transfering this kind of propaganda, even I can’t agree with this Iranian bullshit, MEMRI is the worst media covering middle east. According to them everybody is anti-semitic if not at least anti-zionist (what’s wrong with being anti-racist? everybody knows Theodor Herzl was a great humanist) and their coverage of the Gaza aggression made me puke, every living citizen of Gaza was a potential Hamas warrior and Tsahal the most moral army of the world… WTF?

I love Boing Boing for their progressive stand, as weird as the video was, I’d mention the stance of the source to make it clear.

Cheers.

Karim (oh yes, a potential one…)
MrFinch

Wow.

Now I’m confused. Is this an accurate representation of Iran, or is it a beat-up by an organisation bent on portraying Iran in the worst possible light? Or both?

Either way, it’s nice to see that not all of the batshit crazy religious folks out there are American… ;)

Oh, and Ziono-Hollywoodists would be a *kickass* name for a band.
Fred H

Jeebus, I didn’t think I could get more bummed out then when I turn on the tv and the History Channel is doing another one of their Nostradamus shindigs.
Good to know this video was basically just a crackpot editorial.
Baldhead

I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea that a staunchly Catholic order like the Knights Templar would pass down the witchcraft secrets of the Kaballa- a text that was likely on the Catholic “burn, please” list at the time.
debg

The speakers interviewed could write for The Onion.

I hadn’t realized that Zionists and Christians were in the conspiracy together, but what do I know?
Jenna

And I thought that Mallory chick from Georgia was a twit.
gtycoon

This is actually true. Star Wars is also based on mysticism and the occult. Example : Execute order 66 – 66 is a huge number in Jewish mysticism. The most played song of all time Stairway to Heaven is said to be from Aleister Crowley found in Jimmy Page’s castle which used to be Aleister’s. Obama’s logo is from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
There are images, symbols, and phrases everywhere on USA television, radio, and movies. Iran is just pointing out what is true. The White House is at the base of a pentagram if you look on Google maps.
List goes on and on. This is what I study party time.