I am about to rant/the hardest part

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 173993


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Maeg <chaomath at ...> wrote:
>
> Geoff Bannister wrote:
> 
> > 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 
> > at which you 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?

Maeg:
> If you find "continual complaints" annoying because you don't agree  
> with them, am I allowed to find continual praise of DH equally  
> annoying if I don't agree it? It sounds like you think I'm not  
> allowed to be annoyed. In other words, I'm to tolerate what I don't  
> like, but you're free to ban everything you don't like. I don't think  
> that's in the best interest of this list.

> As for what pleases me in DH, yes, there were some things. I'm not  
> really interested in discussing them, though you may be. Again, why  
> do I have to conform to you way of thinking? Is it really better if  
> we only talk about sweetness and light? Certainly, some think so. I  
> do not; in fact, I think it is dangerously banal.

Geoff:
I am not trying to proscribe people from writing complaints. I have 
frequently said, especially in the Christian threads, that we have a 
perfect right to disagree with one another. Another group member 
has suggested to me in an off-list email that my Eeyore reference 
might not have been recognised as being humorous - perhaps in 
retrospect I should have used a smiley. In the UK, Winnie-the-Pooh 
is well known by children and adults alike and to refer to someone 
jokingly as an "Eeyore person" is to suggest that whatever happens, 
they will always see the gloomy side of it. My father was like this in 
his later years; there was bound to be a fly in the ointment, a flip side, 
a catch. On a sunny day, he always saw the risk that it might rain. :-)

I also quite agree that it would not be accurate to only talk about 
sweetness and light. But it would be pleasant if we did talk a little 
*more* about it. As I wrote, one of the problems with contemporary 
newspapers and the media is that the only news is bad news. There 
is a UK saying "Good news doesn't sell papers".

Maeg: 
> I accept that JKR has written the books the way she wanted to; DH is  
> now canon. I really don't like it, and I really don't like the  
> twisted, fatalistic message that the entire series now appears to be  
> about. I keep posting to this list, hoping someone will be able to  
> explain where I went wrong. I really loved this series passionately  
> until DH, and I'm in mouring about losing faith with it. It's only  
> been a little over a week since the book came out -- can't I have a  
> little more time to work out whether or not to abandon it?

Geoff:
I personally don't see a twisted fatalistic message but there are parts 
of the book which, for want of a better description, I am puzzled about. 
I have embarked on a second read to see whether some of my first 
impressions were hasty. But obviously taking more time is your privilege 
and choice. I think I had a difficult time with HBP when it first came out.

Geoff (previously):
> > I am merely asking - nay pleading -for a little more consideration for
> > opposing views and perhaps a walk on the bright side.

Maeg: 
> I haven't seen anyone being terribly inconsiderate of people who  
> found things to like in the book. If the majority of posts seem to be  
> negative, then your only real recourse is for you to post positive  
> things. If others argee with you and want to discuss it, they will.  
> If they don't, then they won't.

Geoff:
Which is what I am trying to do. :-)
 
Maeg:
> Pleading and badgering probably won't get you anywhere. Certainly,  
> you've annoyed the heck out of me and made me only want to keep  
> talking about the problems I have with DH.

Geoff:
Well, I can only apologise. I had no intention of stopping anyone talking 
about problems. I was trying - and still am - to persuade people to stand 
back and take a wider look and see if there are any green shoots to 
encourage you that it's not all desert.