Strong reaction to Harry Potter ban proposal

[UM-Bot]

A Gwinnett County mother’s push to get Harry Potter books banned from elementary school bookshelves has made it to the state board of education. Laura Mallory is the mother of three who's fighting against those books.

Tuesday morning she pleaded her case to a hearing officer who will make a recommendation to the state board.

View: Full Article | Source: 11 Alive

[Bella-Angelique]

I know a fundementalist Baptist family in Gwinnett. They think she and the others like her are nut cases. That does not mean that there are not a lot like her. Unfortuantely there are, but most of them home school their children and are pretty much ignored by the rest of the fundementalists when they make their various demands in telling the others what they should do.

Anyone who lives here in what is called the Bible Belt finds out after awhile that a lot of the different fundementalists do not particularly care about the opinions each other has. After all of the church leader scandals of the 1990s, they are slightly suspicious of one another.

I would guess one of the biggest splits among them is over female preachers. There are quite a few Charismatic female preachers that are quite popular and their followers get quite upset when they told they are going against the teachings of the bible by other groups.

The spectrum of the different types of Christians in this state is very vast. We have every kind from Laura Mallory, featured in the main article, to this woman:

"Since becoming a Christian, and in my quest to find my spiritual "home" (i.e. church), I have become increasingly cognizant of the lack of equality and respect that women receive within the Church, particularly the Catholic church. In the Catholic church, there is a significant lack of authoritative roles for women. Women are not given nearly as many opportunities as men are to actively participate in their faith.

Throughout history, women have been oppressed, degraded, and regarded as the inferior sex. But over the past century women have made strides in the ongoing struggle to be treated as equals with men. We have gained equal educational opportunities, the right to vote, equal legal standings, and in most cases equal job opportunities with equal pay. The Church is one of the areas that continues to restrict women's career opportunities. People who oppose allowing women to enter into the priesthood remark that, historically, women have never been allowed to be priests and have never been recognized as such by the Church, so why change now? Why not change now?! People who say that, "We've always done it this way and that's why we won't change it" are the same people who opposed granting women the right to vote and opposed giving women the right to have a voice about what happens to our own bodies." -- Jane Fonda source

[Never_Hit_Nirvana]

I support a ban on all Harry Potter material.

But not for religious reasons.

Anything written that poorly and with that small amount of imagination -- what does Rowling do, just throw old classic fantasy series, and a couple medieval books on witchcraft in a blender and sell the pap? -- has to lessen the intelligence of the reader.

And yes, I have actually read part of the books.

I burst into uncontrollable laughter.

So yes, ban these pieces of feces, and if the little meatballs want something to read give 'em 'The Lord of The Rings', the 'Shannara' books -- is it just me or has Terry Brooks forgotten that adults read fantasy too? --, Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" or any number of quality novels that can be read and enjoyed by all ages.

Let's not lower our standards to accept Hairy Pothead as something worth the paper it is printed on.

(It is the adults that love this stuff that reaaaaaaaaaaaaaallly frighten me.)

And as far as people wanting to ban them for religious reasons.

OK, big announcement to Christians. Keeping your children from something is not the way to keep them for getting to it.

They have friends, they will find a way.

Instead, why not try shaping their tastes? Get them interested in other things.

Oh wait, that would mean being involved.

It takes so much less time away from contemplating your own holiness to just say "No!" or get the books banned, than to actually be involved in what your child is doing.

Some days, I wish there were more than one way off this planet.

[Samael]

You can have an opinion, but you shouldn't bash people who have different opinions to you.

I, personally, think that people just do things like this to get the faces in the paper/on the TV. It's just ridiculous. Has anyone tried to have this site shut down because we discuss more occcult matters than you've had hot dinners? Probably, so don't answer that.

Although The Half-Blood Prince wasn't as good as the others...

[Frostea]

Give me a frikin break

some people need to find better things to do with there free time

[the Shadamaun]

Are there really people so afraid that their religion is on such a tenuous footing that a poorly written series of childrens books will topple generations of brainwashing? Dont let your kids learn to think because they might want to form an opinion of their own.

Oh, dont let your kids have pets because they might want to let their hair grow long and poop in the yard.

Please.

Religion has been around for a LOOONG time. Harry Potter aint gonna be the guy to replace Jesus Christ.

[Never_Hit_Nirvana]

You can have an opinion, but you shouldn't bash people who have different opinions to you.

Thanks, Mum. Although I can't see where I bashed anyone.

If you would like me to I could sit down, vomit bag in hand, and go through a Harry Potter novel and point out the unoriginality of the entire series.

In other words, I can back my view up. Most Pot-heads cannot bring anything other than "I like it" to the table.

[ThickasaBrick]

Thanks, Mum. Although I can't see where I bashed anyone.

If you would like me to I could sit down, vomit bag in hand, and go through a Harry Potter novel and point out the unoriginality of the entire series.

In other words, I can back my view up. Most Pot-heads cannot bring anything other than "I like it" to the table.

Get real. Show me one series of books in this genre which is entirely original.

Show me one series which has increased reading among young adult and children’s like Harry Potter.

Seriously get real.

Don't be so quick to bash potheads either.

[FireMoon]

Not much more you can say but what a complete and utter eejit the woman is...

[the Shadamaun]

ANY increase in reading today, when kids have tv and videogames, would be a remarkable increase. Just because the base was lower to start, doesnt make Harry Potter's impact so remarkable.

Harry Potter is written in a genre catered to the TV watching veg-heads

Edited October 5, 2006 by the Shadamaun

[Shivel]

Never Hit Nirvana, I'm almost entirely certain Mister E. wasn't responding to your post.

the Shadamaun, you're absolutely right. For people with so much faith, it sure seems like these people have very little when it comes to their religion's stability.

[Never_Hit_Nirvana]

Get real. Show me one series of books in this genre which is entirely original.

Show me one series which has increased reading among young adult and children’s like Harry Potter.

Seriously get real.

Don't be so quick to bash potheads either.

'Abarat' by Clive Barker.

'Lord of the Rings'

Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" books.

Narnia.

The list goes on.

And the only reason Harry Potter is successful is the marketing campaign. Kids read the books and get the crap that goes with it. Or vice versa.

And I've already gone over why the "it gets kids reading argument" is crap. So allow a quote:

even if the "little fruit on a broom" books do get kids interested in reading again, they are raised on crap. If you raise a child on McDonald's how will his body function? Not at all, the little chunk monkey will probably have a coronary between the couch and the Xbox 360 at age 11. Encouraging kids to read Harry Potter and then praising it because the kid is reading is like taking your kid to McDonald's for every meal, then saying "Well, at least he is eating."

No! Your mind is like your body: it can be malnourished, fatty and useless also if all it consumes is junk.

And that is pretty much the point of my post. I don't care if it supposedly gets kids reading again. It is useless is if it is largely crap. Yes, American kids are starving as far as reading is concerned. But the answer to starvation is not junk food. You wouldn't send a million Double Quarter Pounders to Ethiopia, so why send Harry Potter to kids that don't read?

Send them 'Treasure Island', 'War of the Worlds', 'A Wrinkle in Time', 'The Fellowship of the Ring', even 'Gormenghast' (sp?). Send 'em anything but the McDonald's of the publishing world.

[Michelle]

You keep going on about 'Lord of the Rings'...personally, normally when I pick up a book I'll read until I finish even if it takes 12 hours. I read quickly and only the thickest books like 'The Talisman' take that long. Anyway, 'Lord of the Rings' book or movie didn't hold my interest enough to finish even a third.

I did love a 'A Wrinkle in Time'.

edit: In fact I'm glad you reminded me of it. I haven't read it in twenty years and would like to again.

Edited October 5, 2006 by Michelle

[ThickasaBrick]

Ok I will give you Clive Barker. Chronicles of Thomas Covenant pretty original too.

Tolkien is about the most unoriginal author out there. Don't get me wrong I love Tolkien, but original, NO! Just took stories and fables made a world. Rowling has done wonders for books and children. Too bad if you don't like them, I didn't care for the chronicles of narnia but does that mean I am going to say anyone reading them is a brain-dead fool. In my opinion any child reading nearly anything is a step in the right direction.

Starting a child reading Harry potter may just get their appetite for reading started. It could go anywhere from there. Yes they are simple books with very little original thought, but as the series progresses the level of reading goes up.

Book 1 may be a third- fifth grade read.

Book 6 was about a seventh-eighth grade read.

Showing a child that reading is fun and exciting is just the beginning, get them interested and let them loose in the library. Your argument is absolute garbage, so once again I say get real buddy.

[bails]

This is unreal.... I'm personally not a fan of the harry potter books but I truly believe this women has way to much time on her hands. She should focus on raising her children and how best to raise them, instead of trying to change some books that are in a library. I don't agree with alot of things in this country but thats the way it is, deal with it.

[Ryo Ohki]

Lord of the Rings is stupid. And I can read The Hobbit but I dont know whats going on.

Edited October 5, 2006 by Ryo Ohki

[Shivel]

You keep going on about 'Lord of the Rings'...personally, normally when I pick up a book I'll read until I finish even if it takes 12 hours. I read quickly and only the thickest books like 'The Talisman' take that long. Anyway, 'Lord of the Rings' book or movie didn't hold my interest enough to finish even a third.

I did love a 'A Wrinkle in Time'.

I actually have more or less the same problem with The Lord of the Rings.

To me, it's so extremely dragged out. Even in a section with an intense battle, with the amount of detail involved, I couldn't get a feel for it. The only reason I got as far as I did was because of how much I wanted to finish. It's the same problem I have with Stephen King.

J.K. Rowling's writing style is much different. She knows how to explain a situation/character without rambling, and I find the stories much more interesting because of it.

Different tastes, I suppose.

[Michelle]

Different tastes, Jay...when I read Steven King I can picture things so vividly I almost feel like I'm in his head.

[Moredhel84]

You keep going on about 'Lord of the Rings'...personally, normally when I pick up a book I'll read until I finish even if it takes 12 hours. I read quickly and only the thickest books like 'The Talisman' take that long. Anyway, 'Lord of the Rings' book or movie didn't hold my interest enough to finish even a third.

Have to agree here, have read various fantasy serious (David Eddings, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, Raymond Feist etc) and would put LOTR below the lot of them, couldn't even get through the 3rd book and the 1st took me over 6 months to finish when it would normal take a max of a fortnight. Oh well, each to their own, as for Potter, I’ve never actually read any of the novels and tend to think even if the kids are reading "rubbish" as previously posted, they need to start somewhere. I started on GooseBump books by RL Stine when I was 11 and while they're far from the likes of LOTR etc, it opened my mind for further reading down the line.

[anjan011]

well , who knows? It seems that u can file on anything u like! Don't worry, some day u will here about a girl complaining about toilet papers , which spoils her religious feelings !!! Nothing seem to be impossible these days

Well guys n gals lets just calm down,ok? you want to raise your children well n good? then keep them out of adult contents and violents, and spend a little more time with them. Then u will need to run to courts a lot less.

Edited October 5, 2006 by anjan011

[Never_Hit_Nirvana]

Ok I will give you Clive Barker. Chronicles of Thomas Covenant pretty original too.

Tolkien is about the most unoriginal author out there. Don't get me wrong I love Tolkien, but original, NO! Just took stories and fables made a world. Rowling has done wonders for books and children. Too bad if you don't like them, I didn't care for the chronicles of narnia but does that mean I am going to say anyone reading them is a brain-dead fool. In my opinion any child reading nearly anything is a step in the right direction.

Starting a child reading Harry potter may just get their appetite for reading started. It could go anywhere from there. Yes they are simple books with very little original thought, but as the series progresses the level of reading goes up.

Book 1 may be a third- fifth grade read.

Book 6 was about a seventh-eighth grade read.

Showing a child that reading is fun and exciting is just the beginning, get them interested and let them loose in the library. Your argument is absolute garbage, so once again I say get real buddy.

And you successfully ignored my argument.

I am not saying that children should not learn to love reading.

Far from it.

I am saying that it would be wise to start them on something better than Harry Potter.

You don't feed a baby a Big Mac. You give them Gerber's.

The Potter books are not a good solid mental food. They are of poor literary quality. You start a kid out on poor-quality food, he grows up malnourished.

If a child is interested in fantasy, there are many, many other betters things to feed him. It does the child a disservice to be happy because they are reading.

As Shadauman said on another thread (paraphrased): "That's like saying your kid is at least playing outside, when he is sitting in the grass playing with Pokemon."

In other words, complete frigging nonsense.

And for the record: I also didn't like Narnia, or "The Lord of the Rings" books. But that was a personal dislike. As literature I can appreciate the brilliance of them -- I'm not even going to begin to explain the concept of "synthesis of myth" to someone whose main argument is "get real" -- but personally I just don't care for them.

The Potter books offend me as someone that cares about writing and literature. To accept them as fine, even for children, does the child an instant disservice, and society as a whole a far greater harm.

Legions of waterheads in the future, no taste, no sensibility, 'See Spot Run' a rose of literature.

See where I am going with this?

By saying "at least they are reading" and accepting something of dubious quality, even for the vastly deep and thought provoking world of juvenile fiction, does not teach your child standards. Will the same parents be saying "at least they are reading" twenty years from now, when their kids are reading Harlequin romance novels, or worse yet, comic books?

Yes, teach the child to love reading, but teach them to be discerning in it. To search out those books that expand their horizons and lead them into new realms of interest, not just shutting them up and filling their brain with mush.

And "leading into new areas" of study is the real power of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Eventually, a kid is going to ask "Where did he get this idea?" Then you can tell them about mythology and legend and how they still ring true today. The next thing you know the kid is reading "Bullfinch's Mythology".

What is one to say if the child asks the same about the Harry Potter books? "Well, son, she stole them from other people and mixed them up so that people would think they are her own"?

[Bella-Angelique]

Will the same parents be saying "at least they are reading" twenty years from now, when their kids are reading Harlequin romance novels, or worse yet, comic books?

I buy them for the art.

[i hate Journalists Even WatkinS]

[Michelle]

I think by the time they read HP they're well past the Dr. Seuss stage.

[Luziadus]

I ban everything related to Church,and I support the creativity of Harry Potter.

Why the Christian people are more active in a negative way to this kind of creativity? where are the others religions?

The Christian people should know that who gave the idea of evil about witchcrafts was their own religion or beliefs,and it was a idea that wasn't corresponding the true,the church made up to scare the people and to make them following the Christian religion to be "safe" from Paganism.

Its stupid that in XXI century we continue having people who tries to destroy others beliefs with non-sense/backward teories from Inquisition.

I never saw anyone trying to destroy the Christianism,but its time to give what its received from others.

That women could explain to her childrens that her belief killed millions of people (more than Hitler) to increase the wealth of Vatican,this is true,now she can't prove that witchcraft is real.

Curiosity: some teas that we drink today are the result of the so called magic potions from the ancient people,one of them were the pagans or the "witches" that was considered by Christians as having poison and black magic as the Church call ,which is a mixture of herbs with water and other kind of plants from forests,today we still drink them,and even many christians drink it too,not knowing that is also a pagan drink.

Stop making to see that Chrisitanity is all pink and good and eternal,its all a bulls***.Let the creativity of artists raise upon the public,then its up to the people chosing or not what they like.

Literature is like Music, there are the ones who like it and others dont,there are the ones who like something and others like other thing,Arts have many kinds of creativity for many people tastes,so as Portuguese Proverb says: "Tastes are not discussed".

As I heard somewhere the story of Harry Potter begans in Porto,when the writer visited the city,I think.Many arts came from what the artist created with others influence,its have always influence,and exist others who create it from nothing.

Edited October 5, 2006 by Endymion