I am about to rant/the hardest part

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 173673

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sistermagpie" <sistermagpie at ...> wrote:

> Geoff:
> What I am trying to get at is instead of trying to score points off 
> one another or run down what JKR has written, why don't we try looking
> for things to agree on; things that we like about the books. Instead
> of perpetual negativity, why don't we look for good things, 
> encouraging things, things to say "wow" about? Instead of counting 
> the dead, why don't we remember the numbers who came through the war 
> and will go on beyond the last page – in the epilogue or not – Harry, 
> Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Bill, Charlie, Arthur and Molly, even 
> Draco and his parents(!) and the rest. I read Tolkien and Lewis and 
> Rowling first and foremost for pleasure. Perhaps I'm naïve but I 
> don't want to analyse them down to the last full stop; I just want to 
> be an armchair hedonist for a couple of hours!

> Magpie:
> How much are planning to pay me for writing posts for your 
> entertainment instead of my own? Because I'm writing about what 
> interests me in the books and in list discussion and skipping the 
> stuff I'm not interested in.:-)
 
> -m (who would probably have had little interest in Riddle's diary, 
> the Weasley family tree or the location of Hogwarts and pretty much 
> entered HP fandom because she thought something in the books was 
> whacked!)
 
Geoff:
I think you may have missed the point I am striving to make.

I quite understand that you might not have had any interest in the topics
I mentioned; they were just a couple off the top of my head to illustrate 
my point. You are writing about what interests you in the threads. So am 
I. Hence, you will find very few posts from me about Snape!

As I said in my previous post, I have been a member since July 2003, 
joining just after OOTP hit the shelves. When I joined, there was almost 
a family atmosphere about the group. Other contributors were friendly 
and sociable (as far as you can be in cyberspace!!) and although there 
were disagreements over interpretations, they were seldom confrontational 
or unpleasant.

In the current situation, my concern is not so much what the messages are 
ABOUT but HOW they are presented, There are two areas which disturb me, 
The first is the confrontational situation where a contributor takes the line 
"This is what I think. I am not going to change my view and anyone who 
disagrees with me is an idiot/pigheaded/unwilling to consider other views
/inexperienced/etc." And when a couple of posters like this meet, we get 
these interminable exchanges where the same thing is repeated again and 
again and again. It reminds me of John Cleese's infamous Basil Fawlty who 
believed that if you spoke to foreign guests in his hotel slowly enough and 
often enough, they would understand English perfectly. I believe that these 
folk have a scientific classification: homo obstinatus or homo arrogans. :-)

I realise that members can be constitutionally optimistic or can be Eeyore 
types (Winnie-the-Pooh if you don't recognise the reference). I'm usually a 
half-full glass type. There must be something within the books which 
pleases you or encourages you - surely? Something which go "at last" or 
"wow" and punch the air? I have to say that I find the continual complaints 
about certain events in DH annoying. After all, it has been pointed out that
 JKR wrote the books as she wanted to. If you cannot accept what she has 
written,why are you here like a house elf, agonising over to and banging 
your head on a wall? 

Reading HP books is not mandatory - yet. :-)

I am merely asking - nay pleading -for a little more consideration for 
opposing views and perhaps a walk on the bright side. I know that good 
news does not sell newspapers and a good massacre or a rumour that 
Harry has been captured will triple the sales of the Prophet, I would still 
like to be reminded of the way in which those opposed to Voldemort and 
supporting Harry are doing their bit. I found the Pottercast transmission  
a great bit of propaganda. There are encouraging things in the book; let's 
give them an airing as well.

I was very inrested in SSSuan's post 173546 in which she looked at possible 
developments involving Slytherin in the years leading up to the epilogue. I 
was thinking today that it is 18 years since that incredible summer of 1989 
when the Communist bloc unravelled before our eyes. But the fact is that 
even after that length of time, there are some countries which are only 
hanging on to democracy by their fingernails. For those who have welcomed 
the freedoms and lessining of tension, there are still those who would favour 
a return to the old days.

So it will be with Slytherin. If there are straws in the wind pointing to changes 
in DH, there will still be a core of traditional Slytherins in and out of Hogwarts 
- including ex-Death Eaters and sympathisers - who will oppose a liberalisation 
of the house. As somebody has remarked, there is a niche here for the fanfic 
writers to get their thinking caps on. I welcomed the acknowledgments between 
Harry and Draco as at least showing a tiny thaw in relations.