I still don't intend to dismiss Rowling's novels - I'm capable of separating the artist from their work. But I won't pretend that this was never something that didn't bother me the first time I read it.

In part I'm reminded so much of extremists: Hermione could just as easily be an academic leftist who argues what is best for the disenfranchised from a purely moral perspective without considering those affected as much as she could be an conservative extremist who thinks that the safety net is holding those who need it back. As someone who loathes both Hermione's attitude when it came to SPEW (and that's subtle) showed the way academic elitists on both sides, be it the Noam Chomsky or the Victor Davis Hanson's of the world (look them both up) that is based on their privelege rather than the people they claim to be helping. We could argue Rowling was trying to use both but given her politics I think its clear which it was.