GA Woman Convinced Potter causes School Shootings, Literacy
October 5th, 2006 by Atomictumor
Somewhat old news, but news nonetheless, Laura Mallory is appealing a deci
sion handed by the Gwinnett County school board in Georgia that Harry Potter can stay in their public schools. Says Mallory:
They’re not educationally suitable and have been shown to be harmful to some kids.”
Indeed. While not quoting her, the MSM sources reporting this say that she is convinced that Potter books lead to school shootings, pagan worship, and evil in general, and that these problems wouldn’t happen if schools had children read the bible instead.
What if you got her, and the guy who wanted to remove “under God” from the pledge of allegiance together in a room for a free for all, no holds barred, wacko extremist contest? Better yet, pit her against somebody else with weird fascio-theological tendancies, like Islamic insurgents or something?
I’ll bring the beer.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:53 am
” . . . she is convinced that Potter books lead to school shootings, pagan worship, and evil in general, and that these problems wouldn’t happen if schools had children read the bible instead.”
I’m convinced that people like her lead to school shootings, pagan worship and evil in general. My convictions against hers.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:08 am
I think that its all caused by an excess of humors. I propose we go back to bleeding people.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:12 am
This woman suffers from a paucity of humor, not a surfeit.
Or are you saying she’s really a performance artist? In that case, it’s mildly humorous, but nothing to bleed about.
October 5th, 2006 at 10:44 am
The ignorance of some is just…stupifying.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
With my phoenix-feather wand, I’ll smite everyone.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Ditto Joel’s opening comment.
I won’t speak for all families, but for my own: early in second grade, Delta’s teacher called, very concerned. “Can [Delta] read?” she asked. It seems that Delta had been refusing to read the little, mostly picture books that were assigned in class.
The answer was “yes, she reads rather well.” So, I asked if I could choose books for Delta to read during their classroom quiet reading time, and the selection was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She finished it up in two or three weeks, took the AR test, and immediately started the next one. Problem solved.
Almost any book that causes a child to want to read at a young age is worth having in school. Not all kids like Harry Potter, and not all kids like Uncle Remus Tales, but neither should be banned.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I agree. MastaG has kindled an enjoyment of reading solely because of the HP books. He is currently finishing up book 5 as we speak, about two grades above his reading level. Woot!
October 5th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
She just wants to ruin the fun for everyone.
Why does anyone think they have the right to pick and choose what other people read/see/hear/think? Just because the HP books are wrong for her, it doesn’t mean they’re wrong for anyone else.
Bitch has too much time on her hands and nowhere appropriate to put her big nose.
On a related note, I just finished two books that I picked up for Banned Book Week. Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (foul language, discussions about child abuse, murder) and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (it said “ass” or a variation thereof three times, and the peach squishes his mean aunts).
It amused me that some reader (or their uptight parent) scribbled out “ass” the first time, but neither of the other two occurances. Perhaps they were so offended by the first “ass” they stopped reading.
October 5th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Books don’t kill people - people kill them.
Forgot about the annual observance of Banned Books Week. Thanks for a reminder.
I always liked what Eric Bogosian wrote in his play “Talk Radio” — “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words cause permanent damage.” Heh heh.
Word-fear is a sure sign of immense self-doubt and self-hate.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Have you ever looked though banned book archives and seen the reasons for the banning? It’s nutty.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
No, but I’d like to. Where does one find the banned book archives? I want to read them all.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
This is a good place to start, NM:
www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm
So far I’ve read 30 of them.