What has Harry Potter done NOW??!
Now, I will be honest in saying that I have never read any of those books, but I have seen the movies, and from I gathered from what I have seen, the movies were teaching more about wizardly magic, as well as friendship and team work and getting along with those different from you. Basically, they are teaching kids about diversity.
Personally, I do not know much about the Wicca faith, upon which "witches" is taken, but I do know that it is a feminine based faith that honors the earth. I am sure that many of you can go and "Google" Wicca and find out much more about this "religion" then what I can state here.
Anyhoo, I think that some people have a truly skewed view of what is important in our schools, and what is not. Is she wanting to remove the books because of what she thinks "witches" are (in regards to wicked witches of the west and broom flying harpies and daughters of Satan and all that clap-trap), or is it another one of those anti-Potter tirades where anything that stimulates a child's imagination is "evil" because magic users are seen as those that look around them and question the way of things (and parents certainly CANNOT have children questioning them!!)?
Personally, I think that schools should be more concerned with EDUCATING our students in reading (hmmm... reading Harry Potter books, which are probably written above a 8th grade level), writing (*gasp* book reports?!?!) and arithmetic (If the writer makes 20 million per book and writes 7 books, and from each book a movie is made which averages 50 million... how much money will she make in 10 years..??), and not worrying about kids reading about magic or witchcraft. To me, "Christianity" is much more dangerous to our children then Wicca is. You disagree? Well, how many Wiccans has the Catholic church burned? How many Catholics have the Wiccans "sacrificed"? Still having problems with that? Okay, let's try this. Can you name a current conflict in a middle eastern country where scores of people are dying on a continual basis, which is primarily a socio-religious conflict? Need a hint? Okay, here you are. It's a "crusade"! Still don't know? Does Iraq ring a bell??
But, I am sure that we are not teaching our kids that the current war has anything to do with anything other then keeping them safe from the horrors of terrorism. We won't teach them that such terrorism is brought about because of two diametrically opposed view points of the world, one a Judeo-Christian viewpoint, and the other a Muslim viewpoint. Two views that, while having so many similarities within their bases, have been at factional war now for thousands of years. Such views that see the need for the destruction of the other, because there is no acceptance for diversity from either of those camps. Which is why so many "Christians" have such a hard time accepting anyone that does not follow their own specific brand of religion, be they Catholics versus Protestants, English versus Irish, White versus Brown, or the USA versus EVERYONE-ELSE! Acceptance of diversity?!? Not in my schools!! BURN HARRY POTTER!!!
No, I think someone should smack that woman upside her head, and drag her by her ankles and toss her into a single room school house with a bucket and sponge to clean up the blood that was spilled by some little girls that most probably never heard of Harry Potter. She, and her type that feel that the worse thing that faces their schools and the children within are the threats against their ideology of intolerance, and certainly not any physical dangers that may come in from outside the schools. But then, I bet that particular woman who is so concerned about the dangers of witches influencing her children, believes that there is no such thing as teen pregnancy, or drug and alcohol abuse, or of bullying (ie non-tolerance -- again!). She probably has no concept of people coming into her school(s) with weapons and/or drugs, and indeed probably doesn't care of such things, because Harry Potter is by far a much greater threat to her children then any person wanting to shoot any of the kids therein.
But then, I figure that she is one of those self-important PTA types, of some fairly large and well funded school district in the suburbs. A rich WASP that wants to put her own personal ideology within the brain-pans of these kids, which is, to me, just as dangerous as a bullet. Each will destroy a brain, though one is faster and more permanent, while the other is more insidious and contagious. She is most probably of the type that figures that school violence cannot happen at her school, since it is only a problem of those poor inner-city type urban schools, where gangs and drugs and guns are rampant. No, it is much easier to look at and concentrate on the imaginary danger, instead of the actual dangers that our children face, because the imaginary is always someone's fault (ie J.K. Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter books), while the actual dangers are more often then not, our own! Why face our own inadequacies and mistakes when we can point the finger at someone or something else?! It's George Bush's way of doing things, so why not Laura Mallory?? If it can work to take the Unites States to war, then why can it not work to have books taken off the shelves of the Gwinnett County schools??
Sure it will work. It has before.
Sadly and tragically enough.
(Originally posted October 5th, 2006 on Yahoo 360)
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