From Today's Trib. . .

 

 

When Harry met Satan

 

Published October 9, 2006

 

All this time we thought the Harry Potter books were about coming of age, triumphing over adversity and eating jelly beans that taste like earwax and vomit. It turns out we have not been paying close attention. There are people out there, lots of people, who think Harry, Hermione and Ron are recruiters for Satan's army.

 

Last week, a suburban Atlanta mother of four made news by asking the board of education to banish Harry and the Hogwarts gang from school libraries. She says the books are an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate kids into the Wicca religion, and foster the kind of culture that leads to atrocities like the Columbine school shootings.

 

Plenty of other parents, clergy and teachers worry that the J.K. Rowling series promotes an unhealthy interest in witchcraft. The books have been removed, restricted, banned and burned so many times that they rank first on the American Library Association's list of "challenged" books from 2000-2005.

 

The Harry-and-Satan theory picked up steam several years ago when the satirical tabloid The Onion ran a story headlined "Harry Potter Books Spark Rise In Satanism Among Children." (The article reported that since 1995, applicants to Satan worship had increased from 100,000 to 14 million children and young adults.) The story was excerpted in e-mail chain letters forwarded by folks who didn't get the joke--and the next thing you knew the Internet was loaded with rebuttals by angry Wiccans, Harry Potter fans and truth-squad Web sites like snopes.com.

 

Naturally, this has not hurt Harry's popularity. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week, the ALA asked readers to vote for their favorite banned titles. The Harry Potter series finished first in all three age categories--preteen, teen and adult.

 

Other frequently "challenged" books include literary standards such as "Huckleberry Finn" and "To Kill a Mockingbird"; provocative titles such as "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "What's Happening to My Body?"; the entire Captain Underpants series; just about anything by Judy Blume and, astonishingly, "Where's Waldo?" (Forget Waldo. Can you find the dog sniffing a child's behind?)

 

The list proves once again that one reader's classic is another's ticket to the dark side.

 

We're not here to say what anyone's children should read. Parents who worry that Harry will deliver their kids to the devil or encourage them to experiment with earwax and other gateway drugs are free to ban the books from their homes. Just leave them in the library for the rest of us.

All books that do not worship the one true messiah should be burned.

When I was living down in Tennessee a few years back, The Christian Brothers (who run a high school in Memphis) forbade the students to see or read the HP books or the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit books. They said it promoted witchcraft.

 

I love how these books and movies, which shine through all the garbage and violence out there today in showing children (or their analogs) doing good for the world, are evil. But its OK to play "Doom" on your playstation and kill a bunch of people.

Its funny how some people believe that items such as a book, or a video game, or a movie are going to turn someone into a satan loving murderer. Anyone who is this weak minded that a simple suggestion turns them to a dark path was meant to be on that path anyways.

I'm always so shocked that To Kill a Mockingbird is on those lists. I think that's just one of the best American novels I've read.

I'm always so shocked that To Kill a Mockingbird is on those lists. I think that's just one of the best American novels I've read.

It promotes the damnable idea that we shouldn't lynch blacks for being black. Of course it should be burnt. We have to protect the children!

Edited October 9, 200619 yr by Balta1701

I just find it amusing because usually people who want to ban books have never read the material they want banned. A novel concept, I know.

I just find it amusing because usually people who want to ban books have never read the material they want banned. A novel concept, I know.

 

 

I laughed simply because of the unintended pun.

 

boo banning books!

 

Hooray puns!!

I think they might have a point... Isn't Harry coming out of the closet too...

I laughed simply because of the unintended pun.

 

boo banning books!

 

Hooray puns!!

 

God is it good to see you again...

God is it good to see you again...

 

 

what can I say. I'd use a metaphor about PA being a bottle of fine wine that gets better with age or being an acquired taste...but then I couldn't live with the thought of any of you with their mouths on my spout.

Its funny how some people believe that items such as a book, or a video game, or a movie are going to turn someone into a satan loving murderer. Anyone who is this weak minded that a simple suggestion turns them to a dark path was meant to be on that path anyways.

 

I'm not saying that the books should be banished or even that I would not allow my kids to read them, but I do think that what you read/watch/listen does affect the way that you perceive reality. Think about how you can become desensitized to different things so easily. As an example, how horrified are you when you hear of people being blown up in Iraq? As the deaths mount, does it still have the same affect on you as when you first heard of it?

 

Because of that, I would be careful with exposing my kids to different things at too young of an age. It is not about being weak-minded as you say, it is not having lived long enough to understand what is going on. Sometimes, you cannot even explain enough to a kid because they just can not understand it at the age they are at.

what can I say. I'd use a metaphor about PA being a bottle of fine wine that gets better with age or being an acquired taste...but then I couldn't live with the thought of any of you with their mouths on my spout.

 

I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth. Just like when I read most of your posts!

 

Welcome back PA.

First off, I'll admit my bias. I think the Potter books are great.

 

I think the overall message of an unlikely/reluctant hero standing up to evil is entirely positive. I read them to my kids – and this from a father who doesn't allow toy guns or gun video games in the house so it's not for lack of being protective of my children.

 

Relative to the Potter books specifically, a great many of the religious conservatives who have condemned them have not read them. My 80-year old mother-in-law had it in her head that the books were recruiting manuals for Satan. Then she actually read the books (all of them) and loved them and told her busybody family values friends to stop talking out of their arses about something they are clueless about.

 

I didn't know the "uproar" over the books actually began as an Onion story and some folks not getting the joke. But if that is the case, that tells you how manufactured the outrage actually is.

 

The single most important thing about the Potter books is they are single-handedly responsible for getting a generation of kids excited about reading. Reading!! Girls and even Boys! They eat up the Potter books. Then they check out the Lemony Snicket books or something else. Then they read something else, and on and on hopefully into adulthood. All because a fantastically entertaining and engaging series of books written by a former welfare mother from England jump-started their imaginations.

 

That will be the enduring legacy of the Harry Potter books.

Good post Jim. Of all the things you should be worried about keeping out of kids hands, the Harry Potter series might be the stupidest.

Good post Jim. Of all the things you should be worried about keeping out of kids hands, the Harry Potter series might be the stupidest.

I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth. Just like when I read most of your posts!

 

Welcome back PA.

 

 

This is my late season push for funniest poster. It's good to be back. Let's just see if this warm and fuzzy feeling lasts...lol, I'm sure we're only one religion thread away from ruining this.

I think the "Harry Potter" books should be banned because he is an evildoer.

 

Signed,

Dubya

This is my late season push for funniest poster. It's good to be back. Let's just see if this warm and fuzzy feeling lasts...lol, I'm sure we're only one religion thread away from ruining this.

 

I just wanna win the best liberal poster award. I finish second so often, I feel like a Democrat!

I just wanna win the best liberal poster award. I finish second so often, I feel like a Democrat!

Then stop taking posting advice from Bob Shrum .

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Shrum

Edited October 10, 200619 yr by GaelicSoxFan