Harry Potter and the End Of Civilization
The christopathic crazies have been grumbling to themselves about Harry Potter from the launch of the first book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Bubbling Cauldron of Shite"* (or whatever). Did Harry Potter promote witchcraft? Was that bastard corrupting the moral values of Christian Children, turning them into little fire-dancing, solstice-celebrating Pagans? Was Harry Potter Satan??? The people seriously pondering these things were escorted back to the Psych Ward without incident and have been quiet ever since, until now. Canada Free Press (aka Wingnut Daily) reports:
"While most consider all anti-Potterism to be downright Mugglish, concerns remain among many parents, especially in light of today's surging interest in "Wicca" (witchcraft) among teens. While millions devour Harry Potter novels, increasing numbers also frequent Wicca websites, cast "Love and Money Spells," and practice "white magic." Is it all just fun and fiction, or is something truly supernatural going on? Something dangerous?"
Surely this new and unprecedented interest in *gasp* Wicca and Witchcraft signals that the apocalypse is at hand. "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin..."
Except that it isn't new and it doesn't signal anything beyond the fact that kids have always been and always will be intellectually curious, searching, trying new things on for size. This is far from the first generation of young people to become enthralled with witchcraft. I was an aspiring witch at age 15; some of my friends became satanists. It happened naturally as the hippie counterculture inevitably began splitting into subgroups; the witchcraft phenomenon was a direct response to the Jesus Freak culture. Christianists of that day also blamed the entertainment industry, citing movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and bands like Black Sabbath. But in spite (or maybe because of) the fundies' book-burning (if ever there was a visual metaphor for ignorance, book-burning is it) and record-trashing protests, the phenomenon flourished well into the late 70s, and never really went away. Maybe Satan has a better ad agency than the Lord?
If there's a "surging interest" in witchcraft among young people, it's only new to this particular generation. It's been done over and over again by generations past, and even the christianists might have noticed that the world hasn't burst into flames yet.
*props to my brother, who actually conned me into looking for a Harry Potter book by this title :(
"While most consider all anti-Potterism to be downright Mugglish, concerns remain among many parents, especially in light of today's surging interest in "Wicca" (witchcraft) among teens. While millions devour Harry Potter novels, increasing numbers also frequent Wicca websites, cast "Love and Money Spells," and practice "white magic." Is it all just fun and fiction, or is something truly supernatural going on? Something dangerous?"
Surely this new and unprecedented interest in *gasp* Wicca and Witchcraft signals that the apocalypse is at hand. "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin..."
Except that it isn't new and it doesn't signal anything beyond the fact that kids have always been and always will be intellectually curious, searching, trying new things on for size. This is far from the first generation of young people to become enthralled with witchcraft. I was an aspiring witch at age 15; some of my friends became satanists. It happened naturally as the hippie counterculture inevitably began splitting into subgroups; the witchcraft phenomenon was a direct response to the Jesus Freak culture. Christianists of that day also blamed the entertainment industry, citing movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and bands like Black Sabbath. But in spite (or maybe because of) the fundies' book-burning (if ever there was a visual metaphor for ignorance, book-burning is it) and record-trashing protests, the phenomenon flourished well into the late 70s, and never really went away. Maybe Satan has a better ad agency than the Lord?
If there's a "surging interest" in witchcraft among young people, it's only new to this particular generation. It's been done over and over again by generations past, and even the christianists might have noticed that the world hasn't burst into flames yet.
*props to my brother, who actually conned me into looking for a Harry Potter book by this title :(
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