If no one else wants to say it,

[plinsenmayer at yahoo.com]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C738
From: plinsenmayer
Subject: Re: If no one else wants to say it,
Reply To: [Yahoo! #737] Re: If no one else wants to say it,
Date: 3/27/00 8:41 pm  (ET)

Apology accepted.

I'd be happy to talk to you about the books. But, I think it's very very
important for you to have read them yourself before you can begin to have
a meaningful dialogue with any of us. This group is for adult fans of
the HP books, and as you can no doubt see from our messages, we're just
wild about these books. But, I truly don't think you can get anything
out of discussing them with us if you haven't read them yourself. If
you've read them, I don't think you could have the opinion that they
are a bad influence on children. So, I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly)
that you have not yet read them and just have preconceived notions about
them from things you've read or heard.

So . . . set me straight first off. Have you read them?

I think your basic point (if I haven't completely misunderstood you)
is that the books show children "practicing witchcraft" and therefore
children will believe that the books condone this. If you read the books,
you'll see that they aren't really "practicing witchcraft" in the sense
that you are probably imagining it. What Rowling has set up is a parallel
universe -- the books are a means of illustrating universal truths. And,
as I mentioned yesterday, Rowling said she's never heard a child say
that they are now going to take up witchcraft as a result of reading
these books. It's a fantasy world, and the kids recognize this. These
books are no more harmful to children than many classic children's fairy
tales, Caspar the Friendly Ghost cartoons, Peter Pan, the Wizard of Oz,
the Narnia books, etc.

But, I *really, really, really* can't emphasize enough that you will
not be able to understand what any of us are saying if you haven't read
these wonderful magical books.

I mentioned in one of my posts yesterday that the books demonstrate
a number of virtues that we should all applaud (tolerance, loyalty,
self-sacrifice, self-confidence, etc.). I set out a long quote from a
piece written by a religious scholar -- it was a particularly eloquent
passage to me because the scene he recounts from the 2nd HP book (Chamber)
is one of my favorite scenes. He said it better than I but the basic
gist of his point is that these books are about a journey in character
formation. Harry recognizes that he is not inherently good and that there
will be many choices along the road of life. I think it was message 714
or 715.

I'll end here as this is getting long.