WHY the protest against Harry Potter??

[Karma]

Allright, i was listening to a talk show on the radio this morning on the way in to work. This woman was on the radio running off at the mouth about the "insidious evils of Harry Potter" she proceeded to (erroneously) link Harry Potter to wicca and witch craft, trying to link children who read harry potter to children who are victimized by internet predators, suggesting that 6 and 7 year old children who read these books will need therapy and that these books are erroding the minds of young people.

She's not the only one who feels this way..other religious people even the POPE have once again come out against Harry Potter.

first of all...i have to ask..WHY?


1) its a FICTIONAL BOOK and it does NOT in anyway represent wicca or true witchcraft

2) it does NOT glorify sataism or demonism

3) if you are worried about the appropriateness of it for YOUR children, then deal with YOUR children and monitor what they read/watch etc...DONT presume to think you know whats best for everyone ELSE's children or other adults

4) isnt something that encourages a child to read a GOOD thing? more kids are reading now more than ever in the recent years thanks to harry potter books...and those books are very well written.

5) why is it that anything that is intended for pure fantasy and fun (Bewitched, Smurfs, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins) condemned by christians as something glorifying satan? i watched bewitched, the smurfs AND mary poppins and i didnt need therapy, nor did i grow up to become a serial killer or satanist....there IS no link between the two so i think these christians need to GET A FRICKIN GRIP!

 

[Mat]

Sometimes I think they protest stuff like Harry Potter just so they can get some press. Too bad that to the majority of us rational adults, it reflects poorly on them.

Another reason Harry Potter is getting flak is simply because it's well-known. If there are in fact childrens books out there which have demonic undertones, they're not even close to being as popular as HP.

"You can't read Three Little Witches! It's evil!"

"What?"

"You can't read Harry Potter! It's evil!"

"No kidding, really? Woah..."

 

[Bane]

Well, my family's ultra-conservative and ultra-Christian. I'm the exact opposite, so they've been able to accept things they otherwise haven't, but I remember when I was little that my dad would hate it when I'd see horror movies or movies would violence. He'd call them "evil." Though, yeah, it was just fictional fun. I would guess it's about temptation. I like to parallel it with Muslim extremists -- they feel a woman should be completely robed so as to help a man resist his sexual urges. In this case, they're banning books. However, I believe it's ridiculous. Harry Potter is in no way satanic in nature -- in fact, it has very little relation to true witchcraft (of the Wicca kind).

 

[Karma]

i just HAVE to speak on this, since it was mentioned...as someone who IS wiccan and ALSO practices witchcraft..i HAVE to say that they are NOT linked by default. a wiccan can choose not to practice witch craft (as it IS a very rigorous thing and requires clarity and discipline of the mind and one's own impulses). Harry Potter is in NO WAY representative of either wicca OR witch craft.

but this woman on the radio attempted to link all three things..and went on to suggest that ALL of them were rooted in satan. first of all, satan is a CHRISTIAN character and has no standing in Wicca..."he" is not acknowledged at all...and secondly, witchcraft (like any other tool or practice) is as "good" or "bad" as the PERSON who uses it. MAGICK (note the spelling) is NOT "good" or "bad" ...although many people attempt to transfer those connotations onto the "white"/"black" magick/witch titles some practices witches use.


the bottom line for me is. these are just BOOKS..FICTIONAL BOOKS....these religious fanatics need to shut the hell up and get over it and stop trying to tell us ALL whats good for us. they need to worry about their own damn selves.

 

[Dapper Dan]

Ugh.... I heard way too many of these types of people..... I used to work in the theater as some of you know and I can't count the number of times people complained about Harry Potter.... esepcially with me living right in the middle of the bible belt.

Honestly people, it's not really that different from any of the other fairy tales that have been around forever.... Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinerella, blah blah blah...... hero/heroine, evil magicl entity, yadda yadda yadda. I agree that I think all they are looking for is the press... some people just aren't happy unless they are complaining and if they can get their "15 minutes of fame" while making a fuss that just adds fuel to the fire.

 

[Persephone]

Oh god. What next...Sabrina the Teenage Witch makes kids want to go out and drink cow's blood and dance around the fire naked? IT'S A BOOK PEOPLE!! It's a children's book that millions of kids (and adults the same) enjoy reading--that actually peels them away from the TV and internet and gets their mind working...what the hell more do you want? Seriously...everyone's always complaining about how kids need to read more...Harry Potter is well over 300 pages of wonderful writing that sucks kids in and keeps them wanting more. It's not satanic, it's not encourging kids to go grab the nearest cat and sacrafic it.

Ugh I hate peopole who try to pin satanic and wicca crap on fictional books that are nothing but entertaining.

 

[Clara Oswald]

This reminds of when they changed the name of the Washington Bullets to the Wizards. This sportswriter in DC Tony Kornheiser wrote this article that was saying how they changed the name because people were afraid it promoted violence. But then he spoofed it and said how now all the kids in the DC area were going to go around practicing black magic. lol

 

[Jenna Jameson]

They protest every time a new Harry Potter book comes out Like Farrah said, if it's something that gets kids reading, how can it be a bad thing? I'm a big fan of the series and it's a wonderful world to get absorbed into. It helps spark kids imaginations, something that video games can't do. It does get scary at times, but so has other books, like the Grimm fairytales. Kids today are really smart anyways, they know it's all fantasy. Have they actually seen any kids become Satanists or big bad evil wizards/witches from reading it? I highly doubt it There's much bigger stuff in the world to worry bout than something that's helping kids develop brainpower :nod:

This reminds me lol. I used to play an MMORPG (Asheron's Call, which I'm highly tempted to play again heh heh ) and my monarch at the time was helping me level. He was very much into theology and such. A few weeks later he actually quit the game, and I asked around why. Someone had told me that he totally disagreed with the use of magic in the game as it's evil! Talk about nuts :stupid: He shouldn't have helped me (a mage) level

 

[Jenna Rink]

What a strange point of view !
Even if some religious people are scared, I think that children most identified to Harry Potter, who is a good wizard, or Hermione Granger, the best good witch in the history of magic !! And even if some characters like Draco Malfoy, his family or Lord Voldemort are really bad, children must be scared of them !!