LLoopiness and more cody goodness!

[Sean Dwyer]

another batch been and gone :)

As mentioned previously the Gred & Forge Bastardry debate continued but began
to exhibit signs of instability. The thread continues for another 100 or so
posts that I can see, and will no doubt be totally worthless by that stage.

Speaking of worthless, 12 rejects this time, mostly due to the hopes of some
that Fred and George would actually complete their schooling, despite the
totally speculative nature (#43240 pointed this out). I gave #43276 a KING OF
SPAIN code as it was the only daddy!Snape post that had ANY acronym backing :)

Further isolated batch notes in below discussion:

> Carolyn:
> Yes, I did some coding yesterday evening and picked up the end of 
> that thread, and thought the same thing. [For those of you who have 
> not seen it, it's continuing the Elkins' SYCOPHANTS-type concern 
> about the victims of practical jokesters].

Yes I noticed you'd coded a few things :) Helpful in a couple of threads I
was about to query with you. BTW, good news Cho haters, #43242 is the original
CONNIVING CHICK'S REVENGE post :) But an instructive post is #43290, obviously
many Listees aren't capable of that kind of objectivity.

> First, is there anything wrong with JKR showing her characters 
> engaging in the various crimes against humanity which she is 
> regularly accused of? What I can't understand is that the logical 
> extension of all these arguments is that all books should only be 
> written from a particular POV [fill in the one you approve of]. In 
> particular, children's lit, or any books involving children should 
> only be filled with squeaky clean role models, sanitised to a point 
> of absurdity, in order to cause no global cultural offence.

Oh unfortunately it is _very_ understandable; very large corporations have
grown accustomed to large-volume sales at the LCD of culture - anything
outside those parameters is perceived as marginal to profit. Then JKR comes
along and breaks all kinds of kids lit. rules and thank god. Because it SELLS.
LL and the gang are up against profit motive, but fortunately this time a good
story might survive. I have no doubt that when the dust settles on the
Potterverse the We Know Best crowd will have a field day attempting to rewrite
literary history, but that's their problem, isn't it :)

> On the nature of these fan debates, it seemed to me that the F&G 
> argument, though heated, generated some interesting discussion [eg 
> the TOON definitions], which the current LL stream of invective does 
> not. Different people involved, different list era. Ironically (given 
> the subject of discussion), what is going on now, IMO, is 
> intimidation by one or two posters, hijacking every thread to their 
> own agenda. It takes time and energy to counteract this and those 
> capable of it can no longer be bothered, leaving the unpleasant 
> impression that the views of LL et al represent some kind of list 
> consensus. 

If they start writing protest songs I'm going to get upset :) Seriously, what
can you say to someone who took the trouble to join a HP forum to outline why
they're going to destroy books if the author doesn't toe the PC line? I'm so
tempted to pursue the morality of this, but I must be a good penguin.

> If you've not read the Jasper Fforde books you'll not appreciate 
> this, but the Potter fandom definitely has gone way over the edge of 
> blurring fiction with reality in much the way he describes. 
> Essentially, Fforde's created a world where fiction drives the 
> economy, politics, wars, people's personal lives. Fantastically 
> clever and funny on the page, but more than slightly disturbing to 
> see it played out for real.

I hadn't read any but if the reviews of The Eyre Affair that I found on the
web are anything to go by, I think I want to read this stuff! Heroines with
names like Thursday Next are fine with me :)

> Carolyn
> Wearing a new badge this morning, discovered in the archives 
> recently - LOOT (League Of Obsessed Theorists).

Where? I want a badge too! BTW, still no broadband, so chuck me another wad of
posts, may as well do something while I wait!

-- 
When all you have are foxes, everything looks like a henhouse.