A Rhodent Ranting Regarding The Ridiculous!
HMPH!
I am so tired of the drivel. I am so fed up with every news show highlighting this as if it were important news. What are these people thinking?!? Once again, I listened to some morons complaining about the new Harry Potter book as well as the previous books. Most of these people have not even read the books. I have yet to read the new one, but I enjoyed the previous ones.
I can understand why some people would not want their young children going to the movies. At a young age they probably would have given me nightmares. What I don't understand is why people are getting so uptight about these books! Some of these people that are complaining the most have not read one of the books OR seen the movies. They are convinced of the evil that they contain. Did they not see or read the Wizard of Oz as a child? Were there not good and bad witches in the story? Didn't Dorothy do the wrong thing by running away from home? Was Peter Pan evil because he associated with Tinkerbell who used magic fairly dust? Hansel and Gretel met up with a witch. They pushed her into an oven. Not socially acceptable behavior in this day and age. Aladin had a magic lamp with a genie. Cinderella had a fairy godmother. The bad boys in Pinoccio turned into donkeys. I don't remember any stressed out people concerned about what that would teach their children. Superman was a superhero who did things that we could never do. Hopefully, our parents made sure that we knew people don't really fly, so that we would not try to jump out of the window in a cape. Samantha was a witch and did fine for years on TV without people getting worked up into a feeding frenzy.
Super Mouse! Watch out! He is probably pure evil!
The books are very imaginative, well written, and have clearly defined concepts of right and wrong. There are good wizards and bad wizard, good witches and bad witches, good magic and bad magic. Do these people think the books are meant to be reality? I don't know about you, but I know that this is make believe... and so do most children who are old enough to be reading these books. Just like as children we loved the Peter Pan stories. And these stories make great movies for children who are mature enough to see them.
I get the point about showing disrespect to parents. But let's be real. Not all parents or foster parents are nice people. Not all children live in "Leave It To Beaver" homes (and by the way, I don't remember that Beaver was always the perfect child!). There is good and bad in the books, just as there is good and bad in this world. The important thing is to teach our children to know the difference... not hide them away and teach them to be fearful of things that are not real.
If you are a parent who is concerned about the stories, you can (a) read them along with your children and talk about the story (b) not buy the books or go to the movies and explain to your children why you prefer that choice (c) ask your children what they think about the books after they have read them and then discuss them (d) read the books yourself first to determine if they are appropriate for the maturity level of your child (e) numerous other choices besides trying to ban the books from libraries and schools and push your opinion onto everyone else you can.
Oh no! We are doomed!
I have heard people complain how Harry Potter is the first step to a slippery slope that will lead our children down the path of evil. Imagination is a good thing. The books are fantasy. Fantasy stimulates the imagination. Children are exposed to far more dangerous concepts on the evening news, in newspapers, and many of the warped cartoons that they view. I would be concerned as a parent if that is all my children wanted to read or do. Provide other reading materials and experiences for them, talk to them about what is going on in their minds and lives, show them that you love them, teach them that God loves them and that they are worthy of that love, and you probably will never have to worry about Harry Potter corrupting their young lives.
I could continue with this ranting, but hopefully, I have made some sense. If you don't like Harry Potter you are entitled to your opinion, but so am I. Don't let your children check the book out of the library, but don't tell me that the books should be banned from libraries. To those of you who will still insist on such nonsense, I have this to say to you...
I can understand why some people would not want their young children going to the movies. At a young age they probably would have given me nightmares. What I don't understand is why people are getting so uptight about these books! Some of these people that are complaining the most have not read one of the books OR seen the movies. They are convinced of the evil that they contain. Did they not see or read the Wizard of Oz as a child? Were there not good and bad witches in the story? Didn't Dorothy do the wrong thing by running away from home? Was Peter Pan evil because he associated with Tinkerbell who used magic fairly dust? Hansel and Gretel met up with a witch. They pushed her into an oven. Not socially acceptable behavior in this day and age. Aladin had a magic lamp with a genie. Cinderella had a fairy godmother. The bad boys in Pinoccio turned into donkeys. I don't remember any stressed out people concerned about what that would teach their children. Superman was a superhero who did things that we could never do. Hopefully, our parents made sure that we knew people don't really fly, so that we would not try to jump out of the window in a cape. Samantha was a witch and did fine for years on TV without people getting worked up into a feeding frenzy.
Super Mouse! Watch out! He is probably pure evil!
I get the point about showing disrespect to parents. But let's be real. Not all parents or foster parents are nice people. Not all children live in "Leave It To Beaver" homes (and by the way, I don't remember that Beaver was always the perfect child!). There is good and bad in the books, just as there is good and bad in this world. The important thing is to teach our children to know the difference... not hide them away and teach them to be fearful of things that are not real.
If you are a parent who is concerned about the stories, you can (a) read them along with your children and talk about the story (b) not buy the books or go to the movies and explain to your children why you prefer that choice (c) ask your children what they think about the books after they have read them and then discuss them (d) read the books yourself first to determine if they are appropriate for the maturity level of your child (e) numerous other choices besides trying to ban the books from libraries and schools and push your opinion onto everyone else you can.
Oh no! We are doomed!
I have heard people complain how Harry Potter is the first step to a slippery slope that will lead our children down the path of evil. Imagination is a good thing. The books are fantasy. Fantasy stimulates the imagination. Children are exposed to far more dangerous concepts on the evening news, in newspapers, and many of the warped cartoons that they view. I would be concerned as a parent if that is all my children wanted to read or do. Provide other reading materials and experiences for them, talk to them about what is going on in their minds and lives, show them that you love them, teach them that God loves them and that they are worthy of that love, and you probably will never have to worry about Harry Potter corrupting their young lives.
I could continue with this ranting, but hopefully, I have made some sense. If you don't like Harry Potter you are entitled to your opinion, but so am I. Don't let your children check the book out of the library, but don't tell me that the books should be banned from libraries. To those of you who will still insist on such nonsense, I have this to say to you...
9 comments:
What sucks the most, JK Rowling is single handely responsible for turning millions of kids and pre-teens on to reading. All the video games, movies, DVDs, and the Internet has stifled the joy of simple reading. And they have to harsh that buzz but being anal about "witchcraft". Stoopid wingnuts.
Its a phenomonon that occurs every fifty years or so...a children's writer is so well read that the literary community (you know...those bozo's who think James Joyce can actually WRITE!) gets upset and has to re-think their prejudices. The wind in the willows, then Star Trek, then Harry Potter. Before that Beatrix Potter, Daniel Johnston, Ben Franklin, and so forth.
There is nothing new or original in JK Rowlings prose or ideas, but her writing seems to be, hmmm...how to put this....Very Readable. And children (and adults like myself) have picked up on that. I am reminded of some of the best Science Fiction from the Golden Age (late fifties) which also required a good "willing suspension of disbelief" and actually dealt with the human condition.
Anyway, I'm just a drive by blogger. Got here from some armadillo waxer's site.
Regards, Bill
Parents needs to step up to the plate and deem what is acceptable in their household and what is not. If their children cannot be trusted to leave the house and make the morally and ethically correct choices on their own, then the parents need to reassess their own parenting style, and not hold the entire society accountable for the fact that their children turned out rotten.
Then again, I grew up with a grandmother and a mother that prized reading over all else. If they were burning books somewhere, my grandmother would be the one with the hose, pulling them out.
The big book burning of "my" time was the stink over Dear God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. And yes, my mother let me read that at the appropriate age.
Right on! When the first book came out, my son showed a real interest in it. I read it right along with him and I've read them all since. These books have given him a love of reading which he did not have before. Those who criticize without reading it, have no business opening their big, fat mouths about it.
some people are just insane
I haven't read the books so I don't know what they are like.
I do own a gillette sensor razor though although I don't really see the relationship between it and the censoring of a book.
Hope that helps clarify things..
Agree with you! People sure get worked up over things nowdays. You wonder why they don't get as upset over, for example, the current famine in Niger.
funny,
A little knowlege of history shows us that Book burning and hype like this all stems from the same root.
Its this concept of a single Patriarchial God...where followers are taught fear based doctrine: doctrine that makes them feel that there is only one right path, and that all "others" should be feared.
This idea of "our god is better than your god" is the root of most major wars too.
The Catholic church has deeply embedded the fear of Paganism into all sects of christian doctrine.
But whats to fear?
Pagans simply look to nature for the divine. They believe in a circular theology (Like the seasons of the year) They are peaceful people who see god from a feminine perspective.
It was the Catholic church that spread the lying propoganda about ugly witches and their magic potions.
Tragically, over a million women were burned at the stake because they werre holistic healers who followed the olde religions. These women were not witchess. They were the local healers! They used herbs and midwifery to help people.
Killing them off would be like killing all of todays doctors!
the church spreads fear because they dont want the truth to be known.
Pagans are feared by the church because they ask tough questions, like :
"Why cant a woman be Pope?"
"Why cant a woman vote for Pope in conclave?"
"Why is it that women cant preach, even though Mary preached with Jesus?"
"Why is it that Mary wore the red robes of an Essene priestess with honor, but the church has changed the term 'woman in red' to a whole new meaning?"
The church teaches us to fear Pagans because the church fears women with power.
look at how they dethroned the Goddess of old by switching the story from
-woman gives birth to man
to
-man gives birth to woman (eve from adams rib)
Its silly when you think about it.
Joseph Cambell explained that matriarchies are peaceful and worship a nature based model
Patriarchies emulate male traits of power and control and are war like and aggressive.
The patriarchies have practically wiped out all of the matriarchies on earth. All we have left are the three patriarchies that are really just sects of the same religion. (Islam, Jewdaism and Christianity) and now they are fighting each other!
Knowing that, I ask, who is the real threat, J.K Rowling or The Pope?
It's all just symptoms of the current world of laziness. Parenting through omission is easier than actively shaping a mind. If we avoid exposing children to any objectionable content they will emerge from youth unscathed.
What I want to ask these so called people for a better world is how do you prepare them for what awaits them on the outside. Books and movies, when properly viewed and discussed, provide a springboard into discussions you could never have with your kids. Why woudl you want to avoid these situations and discussions when you could teach your children to deal with the world instead of just ignore it and live like a hermit?
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