Comments on: GA Woman Convinced Potter causes School Shootings, Literacy

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:53:20 +0000

” . . . she is convinced that Potter books lead to school shootings, pagan worship, and evil in general, and that these problems wouldnâ€™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.

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:08:13 +0000

I think that its all caused by an excess of humors. I propose we go back to bleeding people.

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:12:42 +0000

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.

By: Evan Erwin

Evan Erwin — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:44:56 +0000

The ignorance of some is just…stupifying.

By: meice

meice — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 16:20:23 +0000

With my phoenix-feather wand, I’ll smite everyone.

By: Netmom

Netmom — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 16:35:54 +0000

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.

By: Atomictumor

Atomictumor — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 16:43:46 +0000

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!

By: GoldenAppleCorp

GoldenAppleCorp — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:03:47 +0000

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.

By: Joe P.

Joe P. — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:56:55 +0000

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.

By: meice

meice — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:16:56 +0000

Have you ever looked though banned book archives and seen the reasons for the banning? It’s nutty.

By: Netmom

Netmom — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:43:20 +0000

No, but I’d like to. Where does one find the banned book archives? I want to read them all.

By: GoldenAppleCorp

GoldenAppleCorp — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:56:01 +0000

This is a good place to start, NM:
www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm
So far I’ve read 30 of them.