Yeah I realize now that my comment was a tad more aggressive than it was meant to be. I think there's some value in Day's stuff. He gives some interesting perspective and analysis on Tolkien. You just need to remember to take nothing of his as fact.
What's hilarious is conservatives absolutely hate Strongtowns too, and pretty much all their policy goals are the opposite of the goal of ST. Even though Chuck Morohn is deeply conservative, he can't really face that truth.
Honestly, with the way Mexicos leadership/politics and economy is heading, it's positioned to be a decent power, and potentially be a more desirable location to live than the US sometime in the next century. Big fan of AMLO and hope he is setting them on a good trend. It's probably only a matter of time before the US intervenes and makes sure they don't go too far left though, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.
Orwell paraded as a socialist which is why he knew who were true leftists and who weren't. Dude was a narc of the highest order, and a traitor to the cause any way you look at it.
Which is true in real life too so I don't see the issue. Think of climate activists and how they're treated in the US. Or those supporting socialist policies like right to housing or food. They are treated as an absolute joke, just for wanting to do the right thing at the expense of those in power.
If I had to pick a character who does the right thing more often than anyone, it's probably Hermione.
I feel like one of the messages I got out of HP is that chosen family means more than given family. Such as when Harry gets sweater from Mrs Weasley and nothing from Dursleys
Just because slavery exists in the story, doesn't mean it's treated positively. There's an entire revolutionary movement for them in one of the books and Hermione is active in it. And Hermione is often a pretty safe moral compass.
No defense of the Goblins, this one is pretty bad.
Again, just because this idea exists doesn't mean it's supported. In fact, the bad guys are the ones always supporting it so it's pretty clearly a villainous idea.
Your arguments remind me of the illiterate folk who claim that Lolita supports pedophilia when the opposite is true. Just because something is present in a story doesn't mean it's presented as a good thing, or something worth supporting.
For the record, I do not support JKR and kind of wish HP would fade into obscurity, even if it was a defining moment of my childhood/generation.
Haven't watched the video yet but I'm guessing the reasons are:
Zoning - mixed use zoning and medium density housing are notoriously missing in the US.
Setbacks/Clear zones - Time and time again, US city planners have widened roads, straightened roads, and removed trees and such, catering towns and cities for driving, rather than building them for humans.
Lovecraft is awesome if you want some short stories. Call of Cthulhu, Colour out of Space, and Rats in the Walls area my personal favorites.