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Why does the Right Wing hate Harry Potter so much?

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ck4829 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:53 PM
Original message
Why does the Right Wing hate Harry Potter so much?
Edited on Thu Jan-18-07 06:53 PM by ck4829
Color me crazy, but I don't think the RW'ers hate Harry Potter because it "encourages them to participate in witchcraft" or something like that, but I think they hate Harry because so many kids love reading because of the books.

One of the best weapons against authoritarianism is not the sword, but an education IMHO.
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ayeshahaqqiqa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:55 PM
Response to Original message
1. Yes, and it teaches
that good eventually triumphs over evil. They don't want the kiddies to know that, either.
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hughee99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:55 PM
Response to Original message
2. My parents and brother are repukes (though not fundies)
and love Harry Potter. Maybe it's just the fundies who hate Harry?
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CrazyOrangeCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:56 PM
Response to Original message
3. They hate the imagination more than anything, I suspect.
That, plus they don't want anyone to have fun.

Then there's the education angle, as you say . . .

Heck, guess there's always a reason to hate, for them.
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lolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:57 PM
Response to Original message
4. Hits too close to home?
An evil, vengeful sociopath who wants to exercise complete control over everyone and wipe out all opponents . . . now, let me think. What does that remind me of? Wait, wait, I'll get it. Just give me a minute . . .
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The Velveteen Ocelot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
5. All magic is satanic, even if it is used for good.
If it doesn't come from Jesus, it's crap.
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maxsolomon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
6. Gargoyles! Slykicks!
you had to be there....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0MHK8ntKqk

poor kids, poor husband.
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Bigmack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #6
21. Mentally ill. Why is nobody...
getting some help for that poor person? Why do people continue to let her suffer like that?
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jgraz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
7. They hate it because it competes with their sick, authoritarian superstitions
Write a book called Harry Potter and the Republican Jesus and they'd be all over it.

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brettdale Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:00 PM
Response to Original message
8. I know a religious lady
Who goes to Harry Potter book burnings with her church group.

I told her those books are harmless.

She said "kids would put spells on their parents"

I replied "but they wouldn't work"

She said

"You poor misguided fool"

I guess there is no point in having a discussion with people like that.
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we can do it Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:04 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. oh boy
:eyes:
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Bigmack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:50 PM
Response to Reply #8
22. Does she vote? nt
nt
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brettdale Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 09:57 PM
Response to Reply #22
27. here in NewZealand she does
She voted for the "christain party of New Zealand" in 2002, because of their leader who she said was a wonderful man. In 2005 he was jailed for raping a five year girl and a seven year old girl. I guess he wasn't so wonderful after all.
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Bigmack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:53 PM
Response to Reply #27
35. Hey... everybody has minor flaws! nt
nt
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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:48 PM
Response to Reply #8
30. So, why dont they burn other fantasy books?
Salvatore (and lots of other fantasy writers) creates all kinds of stuff that revolves around magic and spells, books like Wiccan magic for teenagers or even all the other "pagan" books out there? But, I dont think the Harry Potter author cares, because those people had to pay to burn those books which helps put it on the best sellers list and fund the next book for the Harry Potter canon! fools.

Did they use magic in Disney's "Return to Witch mountain."? I did not hear of any burnings of that film.

There is no difference between one fantasy or another, its all imaginative just like all the stories in all the holy books..pure fantasy. Should they be more concerned with Sci-Fi, something that tends to write about a future without religion?? Progress is what I thought Jeebus Freaks feared the most...Burning Harry Potter books seems to be a waste of time and resources, thats what religion does best, waste time and resources.

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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:58 PM
Response to Reply #30
37. They do.
Harry gets the publicity. No shortage of wackos.

--IMM
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LostInAnomie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:02 PM
Response to Original message
9. The thought of any teenage boy or girl that they...
Edited on Thu Jan-18-07 07:06 PM by LostInAnomie
... can't send dirty email to infuriates them. :grr:
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liberal N proud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:03 PM
Response to Original message
10. As the church lady would say...
Maybe it's ....... Satin?
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lolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:04 PM
Response to Original message
11. Serious fantasy/reality problems
Fundies are very weak in separating fantasy from reality.

If creative literature can be enjoyed and accepted in a separate box most people recognize as "pretend," then what keeps their religious myths out of the same box?
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pdrichards114 Donating Member (215 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:04 PM
Response to Original message
12. I think they hate the Harry Potter series because....
it tells a story with some of the best thematic qualities of humanity; hope, joy, love and friendship, of which they have none personally.

These stupid, stupid people only like to tear down, never build up. The best literature according to these idiots in years is that "Rapture" series. "Coincidentally" targeted for these buffoons. Anything that doesn't fall under their agenda umbrella is "the work of the devil."
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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:52 PM
Response to Reply #12
33. Yes, you can be a good person and a pagan too....nt
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SmokingJacket Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:05 PM
Response to Original message
14. Yes, indeed.
And they hate that Rowling got rich by writing books, not by exploiting the shit out of people.
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murielm99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:05 PM
Response to Original message
15. They hate Harry Potter
because they are told to hate him.

Most of them never read anything. They have not read the books. Most of them would never have heard of Harry Potter if the millionaire television preacher/hucksters and their own so-called religious leaders had not told them about Harry Potter.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:08 PM
Response to Original message
16. If kids like reading then they'll start learning shit and question the GOP.
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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:19 PM
Response to Original message
17. The books chart the re-emergence of a racist rightwing group.
Edited on Thu Jan-18-07 07:20 PM by aquart
Which controls by fear.

The racist rightwing group has death squads. It practices false imprisonment and torture. Harry stands up and fights against it. For all we know, in the seventh book he may well die fighting it.

In the meantime, he studies his ass off learning ways to thwart them.

Now why would rightwingers hate Harry?
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SanCristobal Donating Member (303 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
18. I knew a woman who seriously believes...
...that Harry Potter has subliminal black magic spells to turn kids towards Satanism. It's pretty hysterical, until you realize she votes.
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Manifestor_of_Light Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 09:17 PM
Response to Reply #18
24. She is an idiot
If she had taken Latin in school, like I did, she'd know that those word spells are accurate in Latin. But of course, harmless fantasy. Does she hate The Wizard of Oz too? Does she think that Judy Garland was possessed by Demons? Or maybe the Cowardly Lion, Bert Lahr?
Does she believe that flying monkeys carry people off?




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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:51 PM
Response to Reply #18
32. I dont see a difference between...
..Harry Potter and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe...

They all used spells and magic, had creatures that could talk and they used enchanted weapons...

People are so stupid...
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Bronyraurus Donating Member (871 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:38 PM
Response to Original message
19. No, it's just the religious ones
The religious ones don't want any competition for their beliefs. Of course, to imagine that Harry Potter's brand of wizardry is any competition is the definition of stupidity in itself.

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flashlighter Donating Member (246 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:43 PM
Response to Original message
20. Because they haven't seen this yet?

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AnnieBW Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 07:54 PM
Response to Original message
23. I always tell them
That if "Harry Potter" is real, then I want a goddamn house elf! Preferably Legolas, not one of those scuzzy things with long ears. :evilgrin: I'm still wondering if I missed the part about Apparations in my Wiccan training. :D

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Kerrytravelers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 09:27 PM
Response to Original message
25. My disgusting fucking-whore-bitch sister-in-law funder fruitcake hates Harry.
But loves Disney.

When I asked her if she reads her kids Disney stories with witches, she said "of course."

When I asked her to explain the difference between the bad witches in the Disney stories and the goodness of Harry Potter, she had no answer.

When I asked her if she'd actually read any of the harry Potter books, she replied "of course not, I'm a Christian."

I just laughed and said "If you say so."


This woman was married to my husband's late brother. We both hate her. Thankfully, we never have to see her. She lives in Texas, we're in California.
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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:49 PM
Response to Reply #25
31. tell her Jesus worked Magic, not miracles...nt
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barb162 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:54 PM
Response to Reply #25
36. she sounds like she's incredibly self- unaware
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Kerrytravelers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-19-07 12:22 AM
Response to Reply #36
40. She is very controlling.
It's very sad to watch her with the kids. Not abusive, but very very cold and controlling. It breaks our hearts.
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barb162 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-19-07 12:28 AM
Response to Reply #40
41.  Oh, that is sad.
She is also STUPID
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Jennicut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 09:55 PM
Response to Original message
26. Because they hate Paganism and Wiccans
Edited on Thu Jan-18-07 09:56 PM by Jennicut
and really any other religion that is not ultra conservative Christianity. They also hate a story that takes an outscast (Harry) and has him triumph not just over evil (Voldemort) but the common idiots that outcasted him in the first place (his extended family). I love Harry Potter because I love all fantasy books/movies that are smart and really use imagination. My 2 1/2 year old daughter likes Harry Potter too but I won't really let her watch much of it (too scary in parts). She loves to pretend to do magic and likes watching Mickey Mouse do magic as well. Does that mean she will end up worshipping Satan? That is so ridiculous! My husband is an organist at a Lutheran church and we are a religious family but I want to teach her that Jesus was a loving and giving man. Some of these fundies's views of Jesus is so out of wack with who the man really was. They abuse his name for their own selfish reasons and scapegoat others to make themselves look better. Unfortunately, its been going on for thousands of years. This is nothing new. Accept by 2006 you would think people would know better.
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tinfoilinfor2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:22 PM
Response to Original message
28. I am an ACLU card carrying dirty dog liberal Christian who loves Harry Potter.
I also vacation in Paris, on occasion enjoy watching psychic John Edward, love Patsy Cline music, and have been known to eat McDonald's french fries. And from time to time, I will even intentionally watch Imus in the Morning.

I guess I'm a mess. But I live in the Keys, so we're allowed to be a little strange. :)
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The Velveteen Ocelot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:32 PM
Response to Original message
29. To the wacko fundie Dementor Harry-haters I say:
EXPECTO PATRONUM!

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barb162 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-18-07 10:52 PM
Response to Original message
34. I think it's not the right wing but some uneducated religious types.
I live in a right wing area and when the new Potter books come out the kids and parents are lined up for blocks around the book stores at midnight.
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Cheap_Trick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-19-07 12:02 AM
Response to Original message
38. because they're dull, unimaginative fucktards
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AZBlue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-19-07 12:10 AM
Response to Original message
39. Reminds children that religion wasn't always a male-dominated corporation.
That would be horrible!
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