harry potter banned

[nanakki]

hey, this might be old news, but in todays paper, some of our schools are banning harry potter because they reckon it promotes witchcraft. i personally don't have a problem with this, having dabbled in the craft myself, but i was wondering what other people thought - could harry potter really be classed as "corruptive"?

[tangers75]

What a collection of simple minded muppets these people are!

A few hundred years ago they would've been burning innocent women at the stake.

[Jorge22]

I agree. These individuals who want to ban Harry Potter are uneducated, utterly in need of treatment and, may I add at the risk of sounding a bit like them, should probably be banned from libraries. Allow me also, in Europe this kind of thing seems impossible, thank God!

[Riovanes]

Some banning decisions are made on a practical basis. For instance, you don't want middle school age children reading the Canterbury Tales - not that they'd get half the sexual references in there, but if they did, it wouldn't be pretty. But this, banning Harry Potter, is just - I'm sorry - stupid.

These are probably the same sort of people that blame video games for kids killing each other at school. I wouldn't get too worked up - this kind of thing has a tendency to reverse itself before too long - people get their heads screwed on right again.

BAH!!!

[LARAMANIAC]

Small-minded, narrow thinking, tunnel visioned - shame for them really! Glad I don't see the world through their eyes!!

[AmO]

i do not believe in book banning.

[Deekman]

I wonder if any of those schools have banned any of the following:
Lord of the Rings.
Lord of the Flies.
The Crucible. (the text of the original play)
The Time Machine.
1984.
Animal Farm.
Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Mother Goose Tales.
Dracula.
Frankenstein.
Macbeth.
A Midsummer Night's Dream?

[tangers75]

The deliciously ironic thing is that the best way to get thousands (even hundreds of thousands) of kids (or adults) to instantly want to read a book is to attempt to ban it.

These people are just far too mind-bogglingly thick to realise that they are in fact a marketers wet dream.

[THE True Lara]

The moronic behaviour of some people beggars belief.

I suppose if Harry Potter is to be banned, we should also start burning suspected witches as well?

This is not the middle ages, so there is no need to act like it is.

[Deekman]

Originally posted by THE True Lara
...we should also start burning suspected witches as well?

No no no! Just ban them from using school libraries.

And while I'm at it let's add Peter Pan to my list.
It contains a scene of fairies returning from an orgy.
Oh? That's OK? nevermind

[Tha_Bouncer]

Animal Farm was banned from Lake Placid but it seems to be allowed back I jus thynk it's funny they ban books..........it's really retarded I think, ESPECIALLY with the Harry Potter!

So what if it promotes witchcraft? It's the decision based upon the kid and the school can't control every aspect of a child or what he/she wants to do. Anyways the kids will go home and read the book (if they got it) and still, what's the school gonna do about that ?

[Rose662]

I think banning the Harry Potter books is ridiculous!!

It's some ignorant person with a mindset that these books corrupt minors - which is very untrue.

The kids are going to read them whether they are banned or not. You cannot go into peoples' homes and tell their children what they can or cannot read!

A good example of the Harry Potter books not corrupting children's minds with witchcraft: The twelve-year-old son of the Pastor of my church reads them and loves them. What's more: His father, the Pastor, is all for his son reading them and he loves them too!

Bottom line: Not all Christians are against the Harry Potter books.

DEEKMAN: I had classes for two of those books in high school, "Lord of the Flies" and "Animal Farm". I hated both of those books!

[Deekman]

Originally posted by Rose662
I had classes for two of those books in high school, "Lord of the Flies" and "Animal Farm". I hated both of those books!

Truer words were never spoken. They're not pretty stories.
They were both a rough read. Especially in school.
I read Flies in Six grade and Farm in Seventh. I hated them then, too.
(not now though...!)

Speaking of words true...
Why not let's just ban all fiction in school libraries simply because fiction is not true.

(I just finished reading Watership Down recently. I can't believe I hadn't
read it before.)

[resh]

Well, my views on whether the books so should be banned are very simple, they should not be banned. Why deprive the World of writing that is thrilling and enticing to the imaginative minds of all people of ages. I think that it is simply a ploy agait JK Rowling, perhaps the people who began the idea of banning the book are merely jealous at her success.

[KoolKat]

Trying to control what people read is like trying to control what people think - especially young school children who are easily influenced.

It's not right and it takes away ppls rights to free thought and personal opinion.

I was well into the idea of witchcraft and such like before I ever read that.

Also, Harry Potter is a harmless childrens fiction novel which is fun and good to read. It is a stupid idea to ban it.

What, will they be banning Halloween next?

[MountainDewNut]

It sounds just as rediculous as banning the Bible and prayer from school.
I personaly have no problem with the Harry Potter books. I don't read them myself, but from what I've heard, they're good reading books. I mean, atleast the books get children to enjoy what they read.

[Aquarius]

Originally posted by DEEKMAN
I wonder if any of those schools have banned any of the following:
Lord of the Rings.
Lord of the Flies.
The Crucible. (the text of the original play)
The Time Machine.
1984.
Animal Farm.
Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Mother Goose Tales.
Dracula.
Frankenstein.
Macbeth.
A Midsummer Night's Dream?

I can find 4 books on that list that are mandatory literature in some classes at my High School. My school district, or even my city, doesn't have a problem with Harry Potter. I think it's when you get into the smaller, closely-knit communities with not a lot of diversity that you'll find people opposed to books like Harry Potter. Some of those cities are probably small enough to fit inside my entire High School.

Side note: The Crucible is a really good book/play (I just read it this year), but it so aggravates me that people were once that stupid! (somethings never change I guess )

[Tha_Bouncer]

Side note: The Crucible is a really good book/play (I just read it this year), but it so aggravates me that people were once that stupid! (somethings never change I guess )

I totally agree, Aquarius; I read it this year and watched the old version and new version of the movie.

[suzieq51]

Yeah nanakki I saw this piece in the paper too, it was a small grab on the news on TV last night also. The school in question is one of those weird little religious sect schools up in the hills outside Melbourne (there's a few of them up that way!). The reason given for the banning from the library was that "the school saw the Potter series as evil being portrayed as good".
However "Lord of The Rings" is still on the school's shelves.

Isn't it all too ridiculous?

[ragsy]

it is typical of a muggle schools to ban such things

here at the Ministry of Magic we are still trying to track down JK Rowling for several breaches of the international Secrecy statute

she will be in Azkaban by the next full moon

[Shayde]

I don't see witchcraft as being any more dangerous than catholicism or any other 'ism'. Its just another case of people being unable to step outside of their paradigms.

As for banning books, that is tantamount to banning thought. I thank God that South Africa has one of the most liberal constitutions around and that sort of thing would never happen without a HUGE public outcry.

[Matt from Spam Buddies]

You know, they are already close to banning "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", too.

I was once a Harry Potter fan and still kind of am, too, but I think it's wrong to ban it.

As stated before, they should as well ban Halloween and maybe even "The Little Red Riding Hood" in that case.

I mean there's a wolf in "The Little Red Riding Hood", it is related with werewolves and witches! That equals whitchcraft... !

- Matthew

[Eddy Bones]

Does it really matter is they ban them from schools?
You all make it sound like poeple don't read at home nowadays.

[KoolKat]

...but young children are easily influenced by what they learn at school and if it is banned in their school, they are much less likely to read it at home and think it is evil.

[CatSuit&Ponytail]

Originally posted by Gandalf the Gray
Does it really matter is they ban them from schools?
You all make it sound like poeple don't read at home nowadays.

The answer is that most young people only have the time, opportunity, financial means, etc., to visit a library at school for their reading material.

I think it is INSANE to disallow a book like this when so many young people are not getting enough motivation to read, or learn to read in the first place. Instead of opening doors, it is a case of slamming the door in the faces of those kids who want to read, really.

Well, let me ask.....just what is wrong with witchcraft anyway? If it's fiction, so what? If it's real, so what? We all know it is some sort of religious-right decision to tread on freedoms and control the types of ideas that children are exposed to.