Update on fundie who wants to ban Harry Potter

[kay1864]

Hearing is today. My prediction is she'll lose.

She got four other fundie parents to side with her and speak at the hearing.

She's outnumbered though, b/c presenting the opposing viewpoint, we have:

Faye Curlee, the school system’s director of media and information services;
Margaret Lyle, a parent from Sugar Hill Elementary;
Laura Bowen, a parent from Knight Elementary;
Lisa Eickholdt, a reading specialist at Freeman’s Mill Elementary;
Carole Bennett, a parent from Head Elementary;
Jennifer Lewis, a teacher at Magill Elementary;
and Mark Berens, a parent from Magill Elementary.

It's a damn shame that people have to take time out of their day for this nutball. Or that county tax dollars are wasted on her idiotic crusade.

I read that the books are ALREADY on the restricted reading list, so her children are already protected from the blasphemy. But Nooooo, she wants it to be banned for all kids.

Full story on the hearing here: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0420gwxpotter.html
Original story here if you missed it: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/04014gwxpotter.html

(use www.bugmenot.com if you don't have a login for ajc.com)

EXCELLENT ajc.com blog here: http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/education/entries/2006/04/20/harry_potter_to.html

Mostly liberal viewpoints from what I've read so far; some samples:

I have another view. I think the Gwinnett Mom should be removed from parenting.

If parents dont want their kids to read it or see the movies, then dont let them check it out from the library. But please dont regulate what other parents approve for their children. That is not your job.

The ‘Christian’ mom advocating censorship of the Harry Potter books that she admitted has not even completely read indicates a her inability to distinguish between fact and fiction and reality and fantasy. As a good Catholic mom who is an avid reader, I encouraged my kids to read anything and everything.

[Ian David]

1. I'd buy the movies on DVD, rent a video projector....

and get permission from the neighbor across the street from the fundie lady to have a Harry Potter Film Festival on the front lawn.

And then later...

Brokeback Mountain.

[Danieljay]

2. she says "Harry Potter lies, cheats, and steals". Now granted, I haven't

read the books, but I've seen the movies. I'm not sure I get what she is referring to unless its him breaking away from an abusive home to find himself. I think the most threatening thing to some of these people is that their children will actually discover their creative potential, the God inside, and realize how limiting their fundamentalist religious roots are.

[RubyDuby in GA]

6. How the hell does she know if she hasn't read the books?

And I hope someone is really screwing with her giving her all that bad info, because I've read all 6 books and she's talking out of her ass here.

And btw JK Rowling - I hope you're working frantically on the 7th right now - and I'm over 30 and I will push small children out of the way to get to it when it finally comes out :)

[Beowulf]

10. she says "Harry Potter lies, cheats, and steals...

I guess the Bible is out then. Jacob, a favorite of God's, is accomplished at all three.

[tanyev]

11. George Bush lies, cheats and steals.

Bet she loves him.

[progdonkey]

16. my guesses...

I've only read the first book (I've started the second something like four times, in both English and German, and I'd get bored to tears very quickly, and I just haven't bothered to start the third or later ones; Dobby's so damn annoying), but I've seen the four movies, and I think these are where she gets the whole "lie, cheats, and steals" thing.

Lies: does quite a bit of it; for instance, lying to Dumbledore about not knowing about the attacks at the school in the second. That's hardly a big lie; besides, you know that Dumbledore knows he's lying but lets Harry do what he wants, since Dumbledore's awesome. ;-)

Cheats: Ok, on this one I have no clue; maybe using magic to get things done instead of using your hands, though that would be Mary Poppins is a filthy, rotten cheater as well. (I'm afraid, though, that the fundie mom wouldn't get the sarcasm in that sentence....)

Steals: Ron and his brothers steal their dad's car to save Harry. I bet someone told this lady that "Harry and Ron go flying around in Ron's dad's stolen car," and assumed away that they were doing your typical juvenile delinquent crap.

Still, it's not like this makes Harry any less of a good role model for kids. He makes mistakes, deceives, etc., but his heart is in the right place and he's vindicated at the end. Besides, how crappy a character (and story) would he be if every time something happened, he ran to a teacher and told the teacher everything, went back to his room, and prayed for the rest of the day?

[justice1]

3. My son hated to read, I was thrilled he started reading the series.

[RubyDuby in GA]

4. I posted this in the GA forum:

I bet they have a copy of the Bible in there. I want it removed.

A burning bush. Someone walking on water. Obviously strong witchcraft going on there.

What a fucking moran. Haven't we settled this already? 6 books into the series is a little late to get your panties in a wad.

**************
May as well fight absurdity with absurdity.

[Sequoia]

5. Aren't those "Chronicles...." series about wizards too?

This woman is stupid as they come.

[RubyDuby in GA]

7. Welcome to GA my friend. And people here (in the state) wonder

why we're last in education???

I don't.

[Sequoia]

12. My sister lives there.

I visted Atlanta which is a cool city, but no booze on Sundays. Not my kind of town. GA has many repressive laws and those fundies are scary daughter rapers.

[dogday]

8. That's such a crock

You know in your heart whether you are doing something wrong or not...

Harry Potter is entertainment.. Nothing more, nothing less...

Poor woman has nothing better to do than this speaks volumes about her life....

[ProdigalJunkMail]

9. the fact is

that this woman has two problems if she is hell-bent on banning these books.

1) She is afraid that her faith and her communication thereof to her children cannot stand up under the immense weight of witchcraft fiction in Harry Potter.

2) She has no influence over her own children that a parent should have in regulating what their children read. I mean, a simple, "Mommy doesn't approve of those sorts of books, please don't read them...and here's why" should go a LONG way...

These are what I see as here two primary problems...aside from the incidental fact that she feels no one else has the right to an opinion on whether or not this book series is acceptable for wee ones.

This woman makes me, as a Christian, look really bad. People of this sort scare me...

subjectProdigal

[MikeNearMcChord]

14. Hear! Hear!

I wonder maybe she might've gotten a bad expierience from "The Wizard Of OZ"
:crazy:
Funny I think all of us have probably seen this classic plus the Harry Potter movies, and we are all right.(are we?:D )

[Beelzebud]

13. Someone needs to give this idiot a copy of the Bill of Rights.

[zbdent]

15. Where do I get a well-paying job as a professional

nutbag? Are all the positions ReichWingNuts?