Harry Potter and the Responsible American

Unfortunately I have the misfortune of living in the same state as the woman who's trying to go all the way to the Supreme court to get Harry Potter banned in schools.

I heard a discussion on the radio about a week ago on this issue. One parent (a woman) called up to say she agreed with her. And why? She said that if another parent found something that was potentially harmful for her kids, then they had the right to block it from them.

Sure, if you deem something harmful (hopefully after you have watched, listened, read it, etc first) then you have the right to block it from your child. But not to block it from another parent's child. That's basically giving someone else the right to raise your kid(s). If you don't want to take the responsibility of raising your own children, then you know what?

You probably shouldn't have them in the first place.

Hey, sometimes the truth hurts. And shame on you for trying to take away something that has encouraged more children to read. Illiteracy is a much bigger problem than Harry Potter. Read the book first, and then judge it. Religion isn't mentioned at all in them, and if anything, I have seen tons of Christian illusions and themes in them. Good vs Evil, rebirth, miracles, the little in-experienced kid defeating a huge powerful evil guy, etc...

But also on the subject of responsibility, I was reading Neal's Nuze (an email newsletter by talk show host Neal Boortz) in my e-mail today and found a hate mail that he received. In it, the angry listener stated how he wants the government to take care of him. He wants the government to have more power than the individual.

"We should trust them to make the hard decisions for us, while we put forth our energies into living life. We have many things to do in this life other than worrying about our pension plans and the minuscule tax increases that happen every year."

Good for you, buddy. I consider living my life as having control over it. If you don't want to have control over your own life, perhaps you should consider moving to Russia. Hey, everything's planned out for you there - you don't have to worry about a thing! They'll choose your job for you, how much money you'll get to keep, what you can/can't say about the goverment and more. Great plan! Let me know how that works out for you.

If people like these had their way, all of the things that we enjoy will be taken away - like books and talk show hosts. And its a horrible thought, but maybe the responsible person is in danger of disappearing as well. Or perhaps the "responsible person" is just as fictional as Harry Potter