Does your country encourage reading?

I am in the United States, so yes and no. We encourage reading I suppose, but not reading good books or reading comprehension. I will be honest, I think Harry Potter has done more harm than good in that it discourages all but the most basic level of media/narrative literacy. Most people are incapable of discussing the choices the writers make, and only what characters do within a story or in-universe. Children are worst off for reading Harry Potter.

@PeripheralVision
I mean I always thought that Harry Potter is a bit stupid even as a kid so I read only one (I think?) but I dont see anything wrong with it being a first book for a kid. The first step should be learning how to read and the second how to read fast and understand whats going on. I think its pretty ok for the second step

@Commit_Crime

So in Book 2 Dobby is a prominent character who is a house elf, beings who are commonly enslaved by Wizards. His owner, Lucius Malfoy, is physically abusive or threatens Dobby with physical abuse if he does not show compliance. Harry eventually frees him at the end of the book by giving him a sock (Giving clothing to a house elf frees them)

In Book 5 (I Believe) Hermione sought to free all house elves by creating the organization SPEW. However, everyone makes fun of Hermione including her friend Ron, who insists that house elves like being slaves while Harry is just apathetic to the whole affair until Hermione gives up and nothing happens. In fact, Hermione is portrayed as wrong here.

When house slaves die, some families even cut off their heads to mount them on the walls.

This was obviously never adapted into the movies, but holy shit. In general, Wizarding society is intentionally framed as prejudiced against non-Wizards but Rowling does not think it is that bad or worth changing.

@PeripheralVision
Oh if you meant kids shouldnt read it for political reasons, then thats something else, I dont remember anything about Harry Potter except that it was a young adult book with English kids going around casting spells.
I obviously sympathize with the house elves if what you said is true, seems awfully similar to what the Anglo did to the Irish.

@Commit_Crime

https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Society_for_the_Promotion_of_Elfish_Welfare

It's not even that, fans of Harry Potter have made the argument "well, it is because house elves do like this", which is true, but that is such a braindead way to discuss literature. The writer is God; they can write any scenario that they please. Why don't I just write a fantasy book set during the American Civil War where black people are singing about how happy and gracious they are for the white man?

When you are trying to put forth a message about the world, you probably should make the world you created at least resemble that aspect you want to scrutinize. Magic can exist, but that does not mean your characters cannot act like people, with their own fears and goals and histories and prejudices. Rowling wrote Dobby's enslavement to be bad, but then did takesies-backsies and retroactively justified the system she originally criticized.

Relying on in-universe explanations to justify things in stories can be stupid in cases like this, because it avoids the question of "why would Rowling write a story where slavery was justified?, and more generally "why did the author write it this way" or "why did the author choose for this to happen"?

This is such a basic level for media literacy, but a ton of Harry Potter fans don't even reach that level, and it fucking saddens me. "But house elves like slavery", yeah, because Rowling wrote it that way, you fucking dumbasses.

Why does it matter, when we get NTHE soon enough? And what exactly do they "teach" people in schools? Let me guess, how to be obedient slaves for the system to exploit?