Oh, I don't know, karmic. I see your point, but if I spent my days thinking about nothing about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then I think I'd need lots of psychoanalysis.
I do agree that there seems a to be a lot of need to prove oneself right around here and that in the grand scheme of things, Harry Potter books seem pretty inconsequential. But obviously some people are passionately for them and some are passionately against them.
I don't see that particular argument as any different from the prochoice vs. prolife or the right vs. left political debates. Because of conflicting religious beliefs, it pushes people's buttons.
Yes, the world is a scary place. I can't remember when it wasn't, though.
When I was a small child, we had A-bomb drills in grade school (duck under your desk, the commies are coming!). When I was a teenager we were pretty sure Russia was going to bomb us to oblivion and some people were even building bomb shelters.
When I was a young woman, 1,000s of our young men were dying in Vietnam, and I saw firsthand antiwar demonstrators being clubbed bloody in L.A. and saw them on TV being shot at Kent State.
Actually, when I think about what's going on in the world today, an argument about Harry Potter books is sort of a respite from all that, by comparison.
Ah, the point! Why are we still so compelled to prove our point of view is the correct one. Why do we feel as though we won't rest until we "win one"? Is it the fear of losing a friend or potential friend or this entire pseudo support system? And wouldn't that only reveal where we are living in a state of illusion anyway? Or are we just a bunch of angry people who like to shame others?
It's human nature. But some folks seem to be more human than others.
It seems that many folks with a strong and rigid belief system (eg. Harry Potter is Evil) are not satistifed with holding that belief for themselves. They seem to be compelled to feed it to or force it upon others.
While GS may have a few "angry people who like to shame others" I think it is more the exception than the rule.
quote:
With the recent bombings, and cops putting 5 shots into a guy at point blank range, our children being scooped up of the street and all the real horror going on around us, doesn't fighting for your right to like or dislike Harry seem well, insane?
I wouldn't take the Potter debate here too seriously. I could be wrong, but I doubt that anyone involved is losing any sleep over it.
I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from an ex-wayfer who recognized my name from one of the ex-way sites. Actually, I got the feeling he was really looking for a future mrs. wash my shorts
ha ha ha ha ha..
But you know, your feelings could be pretty right about stuff like this..
Lets see. Need a life, or psychoanalysis..
Personally, I could perhaps use both. Only working on one though, can't afford the price of the other.. by the time I can, it probably won't make a heck of a lot of difference!
But as far as human nature is concerned, I think I get it.. seems little things, little opinions are far more important to some than a million or so people on the other side of the world sick or dead. I'm not speaking for everybody, but those kind of things are just, inconceivable- unless you see it, or if it happens to you.
Maybe personal opinions on small matters are more important to individuals because in that category, they have a little more control. Can't stop the car bombing in Lebanon, or equally bad things, but the person can "pin the devil's ears back" in their own little world, so to speak..
I was surprised to see the Harry Potter debate still raging. I thought after all the movies to date and and how everyone had been exposed to it, most folks resigned themselves to accepting it as relatively benign.
I got to thinking that the debate will likely never go away because Harry Potter books are a symbol. They're symbolic of a greater cultural war going on that's affecting the most primal parts of our psyches...A war for the hearts and minds of our progeny.
People take their symbols very seriously. Remember when a great number of Way folks slapped that green logo or a dove on their Bibles, bumpers, windows, lapels, walls, etc. etc.? Then they faithfully attended fellowship, ABS'd, listened to their leaders, obeyed them and directed their lives to be what that symbol represented. There were other symbols like VPW's voice, LCM's style etc. (How many read their Bibles and had the words they read go thru their minds in VPW's voice with his delivery? or LCM's?)
People also despise, with equal passion, symbols they perceive as "opposing"? I remember a fellowship one evening in a suburb of San Antonio when, after the coffee and cookies, the guys walked to a nearby construction site where a church was being built, and relieved themselves on a cross that was laying on the site waiting to be put up on the roof of the church.
Harry Potter books are symbolic of the pagan/secular/progressive worldview which is seen as dangerous to those who hold an opposing worldview.
They're written for children making them not only symbolic of that worldview, but symbolic of the much more deeply felt assault on young minds.
They're symbolic of all the evil mentioned in the lead post, in many peoples minds, and for that reason, this debate probably won't end, but rather escalate as the other evils increase.
Length of a thread is not an indicator of the importance we place on a subject. It's usually a sign that there's an "argument" going on, and nothing more. Threads that are "important" to us often have a short shelf life, if only because "important" doesn't necessarily translate into "I have a lot to say about this."
If everyone agrees on a certain subject, a thread on the subject usually dies pretty quickly.
Then you talk about blowing bubbles in water and WHAM! 25 pages. Is that because the subject is so dang fascinating? Nah.
Show me a long thread, and I'll show you an argument.
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Shellon
HEEEEEE
Oh my goodness, don't duck, just run. Fast.
Naw, you're right; a voice of reason.
mrs.wash my short......ROFL
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Linda Z
Oh, I don't know, karmic. I see your point, but if I spent my days thinking about nothing about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then I think I'd need lots of psychoanalysis.
I do agree that there seems a to be a lot of need to prove oneself right around here and that in the grand scheme of things, Harry Potter books seem pretty inconsequential. But obviously some people are passionately for them and some are passionately against them.
I don't see that particular argument as any different from the prochoice vs. prolife or the right vs. left political debates. Because of conflicting religious beliefs, it pushes people's buttons.
Yes, the world is a scary place. I can't remember when it wasn't, though.
When I was a small child, we had A-bomb drills in grade school (duck under your desk, the commies are coming!). When I was a teenager we were pretty sure Russia was going to bomb us to oblivion and some people were even building bomb shelters.
When I was a young woman, 1,000s of our young men were dying in Vietnam, and I saw firsthand antiwar demonstrators being clubbed bloody in L.A. and saw them on TV being shot at Kent State.
Actually, when I think about what's going on in the world today, an argument about Harry Potter books is sort of a respite from all that, by comparison.
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Goey
It's human nature. But some folks seem to be more human than others.
It seems that many folks with a strong and rigid belief system (eg. Harry Potter is Evil) are not satistifed with holding that belief for themselves. They seem to be compelled to feed it to or force it upon others.
While GS may have a few "angry people who like to shame others" I think it is more the exception than the rule.
I wouldn't take the Potter debate here too seriously. I could be wrong, but I doubt that anyone involved is losing any sleep over it.
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Ham
ha ha ha ha ha..
But you know, your feelings could be pretty right about stuff like this..
Lets see. Need a life, or psychoanalysis..
Personally, I could perhaps use both. Only working on one though, can't afford the price of the other.. by the time I can, it probably won't make a heck of a lot of difference!
But as far as human nature is concerned, I think I get it.. seems little things, little opinions are far more important to some than a million or so people on the other side of the world sick or dead. I'm not speaking for everybody, but those kind of things are just, inconceivable- unless you see it, or if it happens to you.
Maybe personal opinions on small matters are more important to individuals because in that category, they have a little more control. Can't stop the car bombing in Lebanon, or equally bad things, but the person can "pin the devil's ears back" in their own little world, so to speak..
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TheManOfa Thousand ScreenNames
In answer to your thread title, yes.
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Ron G.
I was surprised to see the Harry Potter debate still raging. I thought after all the movies to date and and how everyone had been exposed to it, most folks resigned themselves to accepting it as relatively benign.
I got to thinking that the debate will likely never go away because Harry Potter books are a symbol. They're symbolic of a greater cultural war going on that's affecting the most primal parts of our psyches...A war for the hearts and minds of our progeny.
People take their symbols very seriously. Remember when a great number of Way folks slapped that green logo or a dove on their Bibles, bumpers, windows, lapels, walls, etc. etc.? Then they faithfully attended fellowship, ABS'd, listened to their leaders, obeyed them and directed their lives to be what that symbol represented. There were other symbols like VPW's voice, LCM's style etc. (How many read their Bibles and had the words they read go thru their minds in VPW's voice with his delivery? or LCM's?)
People also despise, with equal passion, symbols they perceive as "opposing"? I remember a fellowship one evening in a suburb of San Antonio when, after the coffee and cookies, the guys walked to a nearby construction site where a church was being built, and relieved themselves on a cross that was laying on the site waiting to be put up on the roof of the church.
Harry Potter books are symbolic of the pagan/secular/progressive worldview which is seen as dangerous to those who hold an opposing worldview.
They're written for children making them not only symbolic of that worldview, but symbolic of the much more deeply felt assault on young minds.
They're symbolic of all the evil mentioned in the lead post, in many peoples minds, and for that reason, this debate probably won't end, but rather escalate as the other evils increase.
/phsychobabble mode off
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Raf
Length of a thread is not an indicator of the importance we place on a subject. It's usually a sign that there's an "argument" going on, and nothing more. Threads that are "important" to us often have a short shelf life, if only because "important" doesn't necessarily translate into "I have a lot to say about this."
If everyone agrees on a certain subject, a thread on the subject usually dies pretty quickly.
Then you talk about blowing bubbles in water and WHAM! 25 pages. Is that because the subject is so dang fascinating? Nah.
Show me a long thread, and I'll show you an argument.
Except for THE.
Which, we all agree, just...won't...die....
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