-shakes head- What will they bitch about next?...

[Anonymous]

http://www.lifesite.net/features/harrypotter/

Wow........ wow.... and I thought the Martha Stewart crap was stupid. I know this isn't news to anyone but COME ON, its a children's book, I doubt JKR is out to transform children into little mutated cultists.... The series is inventive... but I never got that into em, and this still bugs the crap out of me. People calling themselves 'Pro-family' when they are just 'anti-individuality'. Bleh. Just bleh.

[Anonymous]

JK Rowling is full of it. This has nothing to do with the fact that the first book was novel, and any continueing book was meerly propagating a franchise. (Her writing style reflects this, the material is designed to sell.) Don't care for her. The literary world needs a good enema every now and then. Flush out all the crap at once.

[Ketamininja]

Never read any of them, haven't seen the films.
I don't see why news channels have to dedicate a 15 minute slot to the new book, with a panel of "experts" to give opinions. It just annoys me. Other great great books don't get this exposure.

I once heard that there was a book about a Harry Botter (or something equally as similar) who was a child magician, in Norway before JK made her first Potter book....

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't suprise me in the least.

[Anonymous]

((Batton down the hatches, this could get messy. And just for the record, I am agnostic.))



Seriously...wow...I can't believe people take the time to do this shit. I mean come on. It's a fucking book. Children will believe whatever they want to believe. And that's the way it should be done. "God" gave us free will, that does not mean that "God" intended us to force our will upon others. It's a fictional book, set in a fictional world.

I mean...this kind of stuff pisses me off. I read one of the "resources" it recommends to help parents judge whether or not these books/movies should be read. One of them brings an interesting topic from one of the movies:

"For example, in one class the students are taught to cut up mandrake roots, which are living human babies, for use in a potion. At the least, this can cause a subconscious desensitization to abortion."

What the hell is that? They cut up mandrake roots. ROOTS. They are plants. They have leaves and bark. Unless babies have recently begun taking root in the ground, sprouting leaves, and secreting sap, than please someone correct me. It's a fictional character...FICTIONAL. Fake, fabricated, fictional.

Obviously there is no plant in the world that can do what these "Mandrake Plants" do. It's just not possible. Also, this person goes on to say:

"Any serious student of modern media recognizes the power of film to reshape consciousness. By using both overt and subliminal techniques, it can override the mind´s natural critical faculty. It is also interesting to note that, even in the books, Rowling´s use of imagery and pace is actually derived from the techniques of visual media."

Um...HELLO!? You're doing precisely what you are claiming the books and movies are doing. You are forcibly reshaping consciousnesses by constructing these words to prove a point. His point is to bash JKR and make her stuff look bad. She offers a fake fairy tale of magic and adventure. Please.

If your child reads these books, or watches these movies, they aren't going to stand up, grab a broom and jump off your roof thinking they'll fly. Nor will they run out and start giving speeches about pro-abortion. They may be young, but they are very capable of establishing their own beliefs and ideals. That's just how the human mind works.

My little brother has autism for Christ's Sake, and he knows this shit isn't real, and that it is fabricated and fictional. Let children make up their own mind. If these kinds of people had their way, there would no longer be anything informative about what's going on in the world, no more shows to promote imagination and thought processes. No, they would have Catholic Evangelical Speakers broadcasted on every radio channel and TV station around the world, all expected to be done while reading their bibles.

Let the kid make up their own mind. They are more than capable of doing it themselves. A child wants to learn and grow, that's how a child's mind works. They will see these fabrications, look outside and realize there are no kids flying around on brooms, and realize it is fake, meant for entertainment.

Welcome to reality. Here we actually use our brains.

/endrant

[Anonymous]

JK Rowling is full of it. This has nothing to do with the fact that the first book was novel, and any continueing book was meerly propagating a franchise. (Her writing style reflects this, the material is designed to sell.) Don't care for her. The literary world needs a good enema every now and then. Flush out all the crap at once.

That is not what i meant. I hate the books, i read them just because i read the first one. Im talking about our world today, I dont give a damn if JK is just peddling her shit everywhere, some people enjoy it, and yea they shouldnt. But look, she makes it to sell, and it sells... obviously she did something right? Well anyways i was just talking about all this controversy. Somebody just needs to tell the vatican to shut up, they have no governmential powers any more (maybe in ITALY!) and they need to stop issuing these 'decrees'. Yes, the books are crap, no they arent written well, but we need to get the 'intelligent' people of this world working on something better than theorizing on how many HP books a child would have to read before his brain melts... Kayda is completely right on everything... and if i knew what i wanted to say and how to say it, that is exactly what i would have written. Thank you kayda... thank you.

((Batton down the hatches, this could get messy. And just for the record, I am agnostic.))

Athiest/NeoPagan here... to a certain degree.

[Manic Velocity]

What worries me is that grown men and women are clammoring over eachother to get these books.  Harry Potter isn't corrupting the children simply because the parents of those children are reading the books more than the kids themselves.

J.K. Rowling's target demographic has jumped from ages 8 through 11, to ages 21 through 40.  To me, that's the same thing as people ages 21 through 40 standing in line at midnight to buy the latest Dr. Suess book.  Except that Dr. Seuss knew how to tell a story.  

There is a world of literature out there that is much better than anything Rowling has ever spit out.  Pick up a Madeline L'Engle book some time.  She combines fantasy, science, and a little bit of philosophy with a cast of characters that are very easy to relate to.  (Forgive me, but I have a hard time relating to pre-teen orphan wizards.)  I recommend "A Wrinkle In Time" and "A Wind In The Door".  

Sorry if I got off-topic there.   :S

[Anonymous]

To me, that's the same thing as people ages 21 through 40 standing in line at midnight to buy the latest Dr. Suess book.  Except that Dr. Seuss knew how to tell a story.  

Hell yeah. There are words in the english language due to that man.

[Anonymous]

The first 4 are ok, but the 5 one bite the big one. You could tell she didnt really care about how will it read just how many copys it sold, but still poeple, like Kayda Said, need to see that kid can can figure out that it isnt real. Kid do have some Conigitve thinking processes

and a good series to read the the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King now he know how to Write. All i have to say is "It".

[Anonymous]

Ok, this is how it works. Instead of the parents doing something about this stuff themselves, they go and bitch to the government and stuff. This is how stuff gets banned and our rights are infringed upon. It's funny how the parents refuse to take responsibility for their own parenting. If they don't want their kid exposed to it, then don't let them read it. If they still find it, then that's the parent's fault. I'm sick of all these groups coming out just to bitch to the government about how this stuff is "influencing" people to do and believe in and do the "wrong" things. WTF?

What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? It's so easy to blame a book, movie, or video game for the problems of kids/adults. Why don't they just stop trying to find scapegoats and discover the real problems and come up with real solutions, instead of bitching about stupid stuff for no reason?

Censorhip really pisses me off because it is a direct violation of our freedom of speech.

[Anonymous]

Allow me to translate for Xtreem:

"PWND!"

X3

[Anonymous]

Yea Xtreem i agree with you on that people just use the goverment to "parent" thier kid by having them ban thing tghey see as wrong.

[Anonymous]

It's people's way of thinking (which bugs the crap out of me) If i dont see it as right nobody will be able to see it as right! My mom is the exact same way, every time i want to buy something (or i have to pay for MxO) she bitches and goes off mumbling and shaking her head, and yells at me for how stupid it is. Ok... but its my money. These people need to realize that not everyone in the world is catholic, and some people actually enjoy those books. You are all right, they do suck (i actually liked the first 4) she actually cared how the first ones came out, she wrote book one on coffee house napkins to save money and told it to children before she got it published (although thats probably a myth)  Now she doesnt give a damn, but that isnt what this is about... weather its quality reading or not, its about people wasting time on crap that doesnt matter... let people read it let people not read it, SHUT UP ALREADY! They have magic words, jelly beans that come in earwax, talking and moving portraits, and a map that is visible only when you say "I solemnly swear i am up to no good" Come on people!  In ethe imortal words of Kayda.

My little brother has autism for Christ's Sake, and he knows this shit isn't real, and that it is fabricated and fictional.

Yes some nutjobs think its real (like the guy who killed a few people and when the police came to get him he said "The matrix has you." Or the kids that went into sewers and stabbed the shit out of eachother with swords while playing their real version of D&D... But who cares about them =P just because theres probably 100 people who think its real (maximum) doesnt mean the billions of us shouldnt be able to read it. Im not going to read it... but i dont need the government or pope telling me that if i read it i will end up in hell. Any kid who can read a book that long without tearing pages out and mutating it somehow is smart enough to know that when they turn 11 they arent going to receive a letter telling them that they are a wizard, its as simple as that. So basicly... if they banned it would it affect me directly? No. But would it piss me off? Yes! Just because bush is an anti-gay anti-abortion anti-individuality redneck bigot doesnt mean he can ban a fiction book because it has magic, look at all the other magic books out there... WE HAVE WICCAN BIBLES FOR CHRISTSAKE, but nobody seems to care, because those dont sell =P.... Ok this book is more kid friendly, THERE IS MAGIC IN ALMOST EVERY FUCKING DISNEY MOVIE OUT THERE!!! I saw peterpan, im not gonna dress up in a green tunic and leap off of big ben, i saw snow white, im not going to make a witches brew and poison an apple. I mean come on... parents just think their children are all mentaly retarded these days, at least when my parents were kids they didnt ban stuff they just beat their kids =P back then parents were actually parents, and sure nobody liked being hit... but now parents rely on the government to make rules for everyone's children. (adults too actually...) we have a constitution, and just because most of the supreme court is going to end up being old crotechety republican conservatives doesnt mean they can deny us those rights. Although it will happen some day that they get it full of conservatives and we lose our rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.. but when that happens, the bank accounts of hitmen will go up everywhere... >: )

(I havent heard anything official about bush trying to ban HP but the pope has tried and bush has tried to ban porn.... HP is just about the only thing he hasnt tried to ban)

[Anonymous]

WEll the D&D thing had drugs involed

[Kosila]

Lord of the Rings has a wizard as the main character

:p Frodo's a hobbit!

The allure created heightens the danger that the crude and morally confused concepts will be assimilated and put into practice - especially by some of the more vulnerable in the target audience of impressionable children.

I hate it when stupid people use big words. So lets simplify it:

The excitement created heightens the danger that the immature and morally confused concepts will be absorbed and repeated by stupid children.

Does that even make sense? Honestly? So the more excited people are, the more danger our children are in?

Why do I have an opinion about this? I don't even read. :p It's 8 am and I haven't slept because of playing MxO. I'm going to sleep!