Harry Potter Is No Hero

[jeffpugh]

Lawl. Source where you said Dumbledore was "gay".

[Laudate_Dominum]

I don't read that kind of stuff anyway so it wasn't a serious hypothesis based on textual evidence. Probably just a lame jab based on the way they dress the dude in the movies.
And who says this is a bad thing? Dumbledore championed the rights of werewolves, giants and the like and I think it is only fitting that we celebrate the diversity of the Harry Potter universe. Gay, bi, transsexual, lesbian, werewolf, mermaid, hobbit, clown, dogboy, extra-terrestrial, teletubby: I celebrate everyone, as does Dumbledore. I for one intend to teach my children this philosophy and if you don't like it you are intolerant and evil.

"After she outed Dumbledore, Rowling said that she viewed the whole series as a prolonged treatise on tolerance. Dumbledore is the personification of this. Like the LGBT community that has time and again used its own oppression to fight for the equality of others, Dumbledore was a champion for the rights of werewolves, giants, house elves, muggle-borns, centaurs, merpeople -- even alternative marriage. When it came time to decide whether the marriage between Lupin the werewolf and Tonks the full-blooded witch could be considered natural, Professor Minerva McGonagall said, 'Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world.'"

[jeffpugh]

I'll hold off on the sarcastic name calling (though I wouldn't mean it in a harsh way). Prof. McGonagall did say that if I remember correctly, but it proves nothing about Dumbledore's "Gayness". Heck, I didn't even see that guy like that through the whole books.

[Tinkerlina]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' post='1446479' date='Jan 16 2008, 12:23 PM']Spells in Potter are more like serious prayer. They are a tool to attain a greater state. Take for instance when Harry conjures a Patronis to save himself and Sirus from the death eaters. It took all his strength, will and "faith" I see the parallel in strong prayers ment to protect us in battle. Strong prayers that like "expecto Paronum" drive away the forces of darkness.[/quote]

I like this analogy; I definitely see Patronuses (Patronusi?) as akin to "Guardian Angels"!

[jeffpugh]

Patroni

[nleyetn]

I'm a Harry Potter fan myself, but I also agree with the article. The series is a great fictional story with elements of good versus evil. The problem comes when you add in an element (magic) which can be confusing for the original target audience of Harry Potter, children. It looks like everybody here knows the difference between fictional magic, and witchcraft in the real world, but I think the article is talking about the dangers for those who read the series and don't understand that difference. Those who don't realize real world magic is an evil practice and all they know is magic looks cool and fun to them. As long as you can see the difference between the two and can enjoy the books for what they are, fiction, then there isn't really any problem.

When I have kids someday, I won't introduce them to Harry Potter until they are teenagers and I know that they are aware of the difference between fictional magic and real world magic.

[Innocent]

Wow! Another thread on HP!

[zwergel88]

Harry Potter is my hero!

[Ash Wednesday]

I've just started reading the books.

[Paladin D]

It's interesting to see how many people are divided on this issue.

The Vatican has repeatedly been against the Harry Potter books, granted it's not dogma, but wouldn't the [b][i]continuing[/b][/i] negative critism of the Harry Potter series raise questions of any sort to those who support these works? If it was just one press release, then fine... but this isn't the first time the Vatican (or a Vatican official) has directly targeted Harry Potter.

[Ash Wednesday]

I don't have any problem with the Vatican's concerns, such as what then Cardinal Ratzinger observed about effects of erroneous concepts of magic might have the vulnerable and tender state of a young child's mind, particularly when being raised in the Catholic faith.

I think the same concerns should go for ANY literature or media that will be used by a child.

That's why I don't understand why Harry Potter itself gets singled out. I guess it's because people make such a big deal about it (too much either way, in my opinion).

If your kid starts reading the wrong books and decides to dabble in the occult, then chances are the parents were slacking off with making sure their kids were well grounded in the faith. When I was an adolescent, I checked out a book at the library on astrology. What did my mom do? What any good christian mother would do. She explained to me that astrology was something that went against our beliefs. That had an impact on me.

There's a lot of books and stories out there that deal with things like magic. For the most part, I view a lot of them as being fairly innocuous, so long as the parents are keeping a close eye on what their kids are reading or watching, and having discussions with them about these things.

It seems to me that most kids that start dabbling with dark things as a result of what's going on (or not going on) in the home moreso than books that have fantasy and magic.

But anyway, I would take the Vatican's concerns into account. But I still think Harry Potter is pretty overrated.

Edited January 17, 2008 by Ash Wednesday

[Apotheoun]

I enjoyed reading all seven of the Harry Potter books, and I do not see anything dangerous in them.

[SanctitasDeo]

As I am not Catholic, the judgment of the Vatican would not be my primary source of direction about the Harry Potter books. Most of the continuing negative criticism I have seen is of the I-haven't-read-the-books-but-my-pastor-said type. Not that the pastor read the book either. It tends to be poorly-reasoned, a knee-jerk reaction based off popularity and the word magic (I say popularity because, as some other poster just said, there are dozens of books about magic out there, too many to really keep track of, and there is nary a word of protest about those).

There is some truth to the idea that children should not read certain books before they are ready. I know that my sister still has not read the sixth or seventh book. My dad doesn't really want her to run into the idea of Horcruxes this early, I think, though the violence in the books also might have something to do with it.

[quote]It seems to me that most kids that start dabbling with dark things as a result of what's going on (or not going on) in the home moreso than books that have fantasy and magic.[/quote]

This seems true to me. It would honestly be hard to really start messing with the occult based just on what is in the Harry Potter books, or even most children's and Young Adult books. You would have to find more direction than that. And of course, there are places to get it, but as has been said, a parent who is paying attention to his kids and what they read, and is teaching them the Gospel is going to notice when they start reading Aleister Crowley.

[XIX]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1446902' date='Jan 17 2008, 01:41 AM']It's interesting to see how many people are divided on this issue.

[color="#FF0000"]The Vatican has repeatedly been against the Harry Potter books, [/color]granted it's not dogma, but wouldn't the [b][i]continuing[/b][/i] negative critism of the Harry Potter series raise questions of any sort to those who support these works? If it was just one press release, then fine... but this isn't the first time the Vatican (or a Vatican official) has directly targeted Harry Potter.[/quote]
Is this true?

[Autumn Dusk]

[quote]The Vatican has repeatedly been against the Harry Potter books,[/quote]

And in the 1700's the vatican was against the thought world being round.