| Subject: Re: Harry Potter and Academics (Apologists:Accounting for their Myopia) |
Author:
Donald
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Date Posted: 11:44:36 06/04/04 Fri
In reply to:
Vince
's message, "Harry Potter and Academics" on 05:03:50 05/29/04 Sat
Hi Vince,
I was hoping for an intelligent response to this man's argument - some hope. Like I said before, the author of this article is not interested in upholding or rejecting 'Christian' opposition to Harry Potter, that is simply not his purpose. He is a sociologist and he is interested in the Harry Potter phenomenon as an indicator or where our secular society is headed. Some have maintained that the popularity of Harry Potter shows that even in our so-called secular society many are still very interested in magic and the supernatural. Some have used it in arguments against the secularisation thesis forwarded by Steve Bruce, Bryan Wilson and the young Peter Berger. It is in that context that the article argues that although magic is very prominent in the books, a close examination reveals that it is a very modern, and in many ways secular, view of magic. Magical objects are talked about like technical devices that can 'malfunction' and have technical names. The idea that Harry Potter can communicate with his dead parents is dangled before the reader, before it is quickly shown to be out of the question as impossible and irrational. Hard work and study are emphasized rather than supernatural gifts, and so on and so on. In short, the article points out that what at first appears to be a return to old fashioned magic of fairy tales and so on is in fact a very modern, secular view of the world. As Weber argued, the world has increasingly lost its wonder - demystified, people now believe that there are rational explanations for everything, and Harry Potter is a continuation of that trend, it is not a break with it.
Essentially his argument has nothing to do with your apologetic agenda and I find it astonishing that you would dismiss his view so out of hand. You have not even read the article. Then again you have probably not read Harry Potter either, whereas the author of the article had. I must admit I have only read the first book, but I guess that is still more than you. But this should come as no surprise to me, after all your whole web site is a collection of other people's opinions on various books and subjects; an assortment of quotes from books you have never read.
Donald
>Hi Donald,
>
>Some of these academics who sit in their ivory towers
>have no understanding of occultism other than what
>they have read in a text book. It reminds me of the
>academics out there who say things like TV and film
>violence does not make kids violent, and even put
>together papers attempting to prove this. While these
>jokers are sitting about 'pontificating' there are
>real young people watching these films and acting out
>what they see.
>
>You said: "Why has such an amazingly popular book,
>which is all about the very practicies you have
>mentioned, prompted so few of its readers to develop
>an interest in the occult?"
>
>People getting involved in HP are not "isolated
>stories", and I don't know how you have arrived at
>this conclusion. I work regularly with young people
>and, see the effects of HP first hand.
>
>Also, as I point out i one of my recent articles on
>the Spotlight site, it is not only Christians who have
>come to the conclusion that HP leads young people into
>the occult. Occutists themselves are also saying this:
>
>"The Pagan Federation, which represents druids and
>witches, says it has been "swamped" with calls
>following teenage programmes featuring good witches.
>Speaking to BBC News Online the Pagan Federation's
>Steve Paine, the high priest of a coven, said the hit
>US drama Buffy and the highly successful Harry Potter
>books were popular amongst practising witches. "They
>are taken as fantasy entertainment. But they do
>encourage people to think about different forms of
>spirituality", he said. The Pagan Federation, which
>deals with about 100 enquiries a month from youngsters
>who want to become witches, does not allow anyone
>under the age of 18 to become a member." Most of the
>enquiries are from 14 to 18 year-olds, and are dealt
>with "reactively" by a specially-appointed youth
>officer, an Essex based schoolteacher." (BBC News
>Online, Buffy Draws Children to Witchcraft, Friday, 4
>August, 2000, Full article at:
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/newsid_8
>64000/864984.stm).
>Likewise, witches Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have
>observed:
>
>"...Paganism is drawing so many young people at
>present, as can be seen by the media's interest in it
>in television and film. It is destined to become a
>major force in the religious world by the end of the
>twenty-first century." (Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone,
>Quoted in Wiccan Wisdom Keepers, p. 58).
>Similarly, Wiccan author Christina Seville, writes:
>
>"Thankfully, the perceived role of the witch has now
>started to change from that of a villain to a wise and
>honourable hero or heroine, as seen in television
>series like Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Bewitched, and
>Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and films like Harry Potter
>and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Fellowship of the
>Ring..." (Christina Seville, Practical Wicca, p. 6).
>
>Even though the evidence shows that HP is influencing
>young people into occultism, I feel that the full
>effects of HP will not be felt in the lives of many
>individuals until they grow up later on in life. HP is
>providing a foundation for later occult involvement.
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