"Where they burn books, they will end in burning human beings."*
The Gwinnett County Board of Education is expected to make a decision this week on whether Harry Potter books should remain on public school shelves.
Laura Mallory, an evangelical Christian who has three children at J.C. Magill Elementary School, objected to the books. She said in complaint forms she objects to what she calls the books “evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells and teaching children all of this.”
The school board is expected to decide whether to ban the books or keep them in school libraries at its monthly board meeting tomorrow night.
This is the latest book appeal in the Gwinnett County system. The last came in 1997 when the board was asked to remove Ghost Camp by R.L. Stein and It’s Not the End of the World by Judy Blume.
What the hell is wrong with freaks like these? I’m sorry, I know I will offend like a gazillion of you when you read this, but guess what? I don’t very much care right now.
Laura Mallory, tell your freaking kids not to read the HP books and leave the rest of us in peace. Why must people try to force their stupid-ass beliefs on others? Why can’t they be content with being who they want/choose to be without trying to shove their self-righteous crap down everyone’s throat?
You don’t like Harry Potter? Well, who the fuck cares, lady! I love evil blood sacrifices, spells and demonic activity—and even more, I would love for my kids to read about it. I have as much right to my opinion as you do to yours, but am I going around asking school boards and governments to force YOU to read what I want?
This pisses me off in a way I cannot coherently convey. I despise literary censorship and I hate those that pursue it for self-serving or religious reasons; for any reason at all, actually. I think every time you ban a book, you kill a free soul. So, that’s what you are to me, Laura, you are an evil murdering twat!
“Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful... Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.” - Charles Bradlaugh
*Heinrich Heine
Labels: bitchy mcrant, harry potter nutter
EXACTLY!!! very well said Trollop! and for u Ms. Malloy, if u can't stop ur own kids from reading it (assuming that they are trying to) then it's ur own problem! or better yet educate them urself & don't let them get out of ur house because there are things out there that's more evil & demonic than books!
5/10/2006 10:13:00 PM
Very well said Trollop!
:)
5/10/2006 10:30:00 PM
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5/10/2006 11:10:00 PM
seriously, these people that want to ban things like that need to stop already. there's bigger problems the government needs to deal with than people who think things like fairy tale books clash with their religious beliefs. no one is forcing her or her children to read these books! she ranks up there for me as bad as those people who sue mcdonalds cos they got fat.
(sorry that was me that deleted my comment, i re-read it and it had tons of spelling errors and i wanted to fix it :P lol!)
5/10/2006 11:13:00 PM
Evil Murdering Twat - nice turn of phrase...LOL.
Anyway, well said, VT. If she thinks HP is evil, well then she should be a good enough mother to keep her children from reading the books (or at the very least point out to her children the evilness of the books), not deprive everyone else of the chance to read them.
5/11/2006 12:40:00 AM
You know what kills me about this, the same thing that kills me everytime I see these types of reports: You want to know where I got my first romance novel? The school library... it was... I shit you not... Jude Deveraux's a Knight in Shining Armor!!! That is not all, they had quite a few other popular Romance authors too... including more of Jude herself! Parents bitch about these stupid piddilly books and yet if they actually went into their kids school libraries they would be amazed at what they would find in there! Personally I do not believe that ANY book should be burned, and that parents themselves need to keep an eye on what they allow their children to read. A freinds mom took "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" from me as a kid... because it was "evil!" My mother read it and was like "WTF? WHERE?" Fabulous book by the way... I have a feeling this Mom like my friends is going on assumption based on the covers and what she has "heard!" I DARE her to read the damn thing!
5/11/2006 01:32:00 AM
Great topic Trollop !!
If you don't want your kids to read something fine, but don't tell me what MY child can read, that's my job.
Angela
BTW I love Harry and so does my son.
5/11/2006 04:59:00 AM
When I think of all the books people have tried, and sometimes gotten banned it just makes me sick!!
TOM SAWYER
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE
THE BELL JAR
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
LORD OF THE FLIES
I could go on, and on that is the worst part about the whole thing.
Angela
5/11/2006 06:01:00 AM
Here here! Keep your religious self-righteousnous out of the schools, that's what I think! I get so sick of people telling me what I can and can't read, and what my kids can and can't do. I will decide, and in MY house, we read Harry Potter. Yes, we READ. And there are far more horrifying stories and images in her Christian Bible that I shield my children from until such a time that I feel is appropriate. She can read what she likes to her kids, and I will read what I will to mine.
Here's a thought, if she wants all the Harry Potter books banned based on their "offensiveness", maybe someone else will want any books that refer to religion removed for the same reason. And how will she deal with that?
She needs to get a life and stay out of everyone elses.
5/11/2006 01:29:00 PM
If you don't want to read it, that's your thing. But don't tell what I can and can't read.
Very well said Trollop!
5/11/2006 03:06:00 PM
It is a PUBLIC school. I can understand why private, Christian schools would not carry it. I don't support it, but I understand it. But a public school? PLease. My parents monitored what I read as a child, and when it was something along the lines of Harry Potter, all that they would say is, "You know that's just pretend, right?" They said the same thing when I read Charlotte's Web. It was to make sure that I understood the difference- something a truly responsible parent would do. Ahhh, fiction-a word that apparently frightens some people.
I'll bet you anything that this woman has read her children The Chronicles of Narnia. Afterall, CS Lewis was a celebrated Christian, wasn't he? I wonder if she is demanding those books be pulled from the shelves as well.
5/11/2006 03:07:00 PM
That is priceless. It is hard to belive that in this "modern" world, where freedom of speech (as in the writen and spoken word) is somethiing that most people take for granted, that there are some small minded people out there who are trying to block their childrens imaginations.
She probably reads her children Enid Blyton books or something..
BTW, I LOVE your blog. I love reading about new books and you both def influence our reading.
5/11/2006 04:52:00 PM
>>>Everytime you ban a ban you kill a free soul.
Great article babe. Very well said. :D Though have to say, last night when you were in a snit, wanted to strangle you! LOL :P
Welcome Marge, Betsy, Hamish and Leesha :D
5/11/2006 06:22:00 PM
WHOOHOO! nice rant! i'm with ya....
have you noticed how many of these 'my way is the right way' folks there are these days? scary....
5/11/2006 07:20:00 PM
The idea of banning books is abhorrent to me. All this woman needs to do is not let her kids read them. Other parents can decide what reading material their kids can and cannot read. You know, cos it's their job as a parent, to...parent! LOL.
Seriously, this Laura woman needs to find another hobby.
5/11/2006 08:38:00 PM
I agree with you. No one wants to be governed by people who have no clue what the country was founded on. Religious persecution is what brought us here to begin with. Some people need to read history books before they open their traps.
5/11/2006 10:21:00 PM
The school turned the petition down, ladies. Thank God the board is not a bunch of idiots like that murdering twat. And to think she had never even read the HP books!!!
This is from today's Gwinnett Daily Post:
"I want to protect children from evil, not fill their minds with it" Mallory said at the hearing. "The 'Harry Potter' books teach children and adults that witchcraft is OK for children."
School board members disagreed on the relative merits of the books, but the board voted unanimously that they should stay.
District 2 Representative Daniel Seckinger and Chairman Robert McClure said they had not made their decision because it was the popular one or because the books encouraged kids to read. Their main priority was whether the books were appropriate for students.
"It really is irrelevant if the person has read the whole book or not, if there is one section that is obscene" McClure said. "Our process does pre-suppose that one person could be right and a lot of other people could be wrong."
Hearing officer Su Ellen Bray had strongly recommended to the board that the books not be removed, based on testimony gathered at the public hearing. Part of her reasoning was that the series was fantasy, not fact, and that most kids old enough to read the books would understand that.
The book appeal has attracted international attention to Gwinnett County schools. Bray wrote that removing the books based on Mallory's arguments "would open this very fine school system to ridicule by many of its citizens as well as citizens of the nation."
Ya' think?
5/12/2006 08:53:00 PM
I really hate people like that. Sometimes I wonder if they even have a life or if they spend their time looking for stuff like that so they can have something to bitch about.
It's like the Vatican trying to get people to boycot the Da Vinci Code.
I'm going a bit off topic here but I'm 8 months pregnant and I go onto a pregnancy BB and you would not believe the ppl on their trying to impose their beliefs on everyone else. All that stuff about mind over matter and that giving birth isn't really painful, but we're the ones making it painful because we're scared of the pain. Hmmm...yeah right. If I want a freakin epidural when I give birth I'll get one! Really if they want to go through childbirth without pain meds that's fine by me but hey don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do. The point of being pregnant is to have a baby how it gets here. So yes I will be one of those women going to labor & delivery saying drugs please! lol.
Sorry I guess I needed to vent lol. I'm just so sick of people trying to impose stuff on others.
BTW Tart I never did get those Tim Tams ;)
Sorry I have to post as anon. as I can't remember my darn password lol.
Marie
5/13/2006 06:00:00 AM
Yeah I don't know you and you don't know me, but yeah I agree with you 100% And correct if I'm wrong, but like didn't God like take children's lives or something like that? I would consider that a sacrifice (Bleh I'm a christian and I never read the bible...cause I'm chirsitian) Anyway fuck the bitch and I hope she doesn't get what she wants
5/15/2006 01:09:00 AM
Wonder if she's read the Bible? Now there's a book filled with all kinds of evil, demonic activity and murder. Hope she's not taking her impressionable kids to church, let alone the library!
6/20/2007 01:32:00 AM
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