Wands at the ready.

[rogueslayer452]

++ Well done with the movie quote meme, I named all the correctly guessed movies along with who guessed them. And here are the reveals of the last remaining ones that didn't get guessed: 01. Saw, said by John Kramer/Jigsaw, 03. Ginger Snaps, said by Ginger Fitzgerald, 10. A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, said by Freddy Krueger, 11. Noriko's Dinner Table, said by Broken Dam, and 12. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, said by Thorin Oakenshield.

Either way, this meme was fun to participate in, on both sides. It made me miss the days when similar fannish memes were posted on the regular.

++ Hearing that a Nashville school has banned and removed the Harry Potter books from the library due to the claim that the spells and curses in them are real and can actually "conjure evil spirits" is terrifyingly hilarious. What is this, 1999? Bringing me wayyy back during the early days when religious/conservative groups would literally hold book burnings when the HP books were becoming popular, using these claims precisely. Forbidding and banning children from reading them in fear that they would be converted to witchcraft or commune with the devil. I have no doubt that people who hold these views have never stopped believing them and that these kinds of "Satanic Panics" will always happen regardless, but jfc, the fact that it's 2019 and people are still trying this? Especially with Harry Potter being one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons for many, many years now? It's just so bizarre. Yes, I know that it's said that it's a Catholic school and all, but still, it's making headlines so seriously, what the hell. But as ridiculous as it is and we all want to mock, it's still very sad seeing these kinds of controlling measures to censor things by those who cannot differentiate between fantasy and reality. It's a dangerous slippery slope, we've seen this time and again with the books that are on the challenged list, educational books that have been removed from libraries because some "concerned parent" wants to control what everyone else reads, or anything else in the media for that matter, instead of minding their own damn business.

Comments

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

You'd be surprised. There are plenty of people who actually believe that the spells in HP are real and are brainwashing children to become witches and summon up the devil. Like, sure, they'd probably ban it simply for the announcement that Dumbledore is gay (even though that isn't even present in the books, or anywhere in canon), but people will come up with stupid and ridiculous reasons why they want something to be banned.

[impala-chick.livejournal.com]

Oh man :( Sad/weird times we live in.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It's nothing really new, since many will use fiction/entertainment as scapegoats for their fears or their means of control (ex: Harry Potter promoting witchcraft, video games turning children violent, metal music and RPG games like D&D are making kids want to worship the devil, etc.) These kinds of scares happen every generation for anything unknown that adults don't understand. The religious angle is mostly to place fear into people who are deep in their faith/belief system that these things are truly evil and corrupting innocent minds, without really thinking for themselves or second guessing these accusations. We've seen this time and again, and it's mostly just the fear of the unknown and ignorance through moral superiority.