Flooding the Market
October 30, 2001
7:33 a.m.
I made a day trip to Nashville, Tennessee yesterday--meaning I did about 10 hours of driving for a two hour working meeting. Lots of fun. I really don't mind doing these things every now and again, but it's getting to be a little, uh, more than every now and then. Among the "positives" about doing this, however, is that it gives me a long span of captive time to listen to various talk radio formats. I hear them all--sports call in shows, Limbaugh, financial advice, technical advice, psychology, NPR, news casts, and several different religious programs. It gives me an opportunity to dwell on exactly how diverse in nature people in this country really are. Mostly I like listening to everyone--especially those I don't agree with, though this may be because it gives me the oddly satisfying feeling of being "tolerant" where I know the other side isn't. Self-serving of me to think that way, I suppose. Oh, well. However, there are moments ... I was listening to an obviously fundamentalist Christian station. They were talking about Harry Potter. Wow. Let me tell you, these people are pretty serious. Let's just say I learned a lot by listening to them. I learned how to cling tightly to a belief and how to put it above all other things. These people view children reading Harry Potter as kids who are actively learning how to cast spells--they view it as an accurate representation of the Wiccan religion, which, they say, is an evil opponent to their own existence because it places worship of nature and the earth above worship of the one true God. That's cool, I think to myself at one point early in their conversation. I don't agree with them for a minute, but I can understand that point of view, especially if you think like them. I also find a bit of respect for people who decide they are going to live their lives in accordance to a single set of rules, no matter how strict or odd I find those rules. (Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I know, I know ... just let this one alone for a moment, all right? I'm NOT saying I admire or respect these people when they press their strict assumptions on anyone else ... which is kind of where this is going). But I mean, these people went so far. So far. There was no room for discussion in their viewpoints. They read various passages from the book, totally out of context, of course. They used J.K. Rowling's education in the field of mythology against her in every possible way. They brought in quotes from a Wiccan website that basically said "It's nice to see a popular book that actually shows witches and wizards as positive, likeable people." And, of course they criticized this. Again, I shuddered at this rigidity, but I found it an interesting conversation, and I could almost find the entire thing admirable--you know ... this collection of people fighting to hold onto their beliefs before all others, the noble putting of the inner core of what they perceived as goodness above all else. But ... One of the omnipresent themes in the conversation was how much money Harry Potter was making for the franchise. This was a Bad Thing. Money, bad. Faith and goodness, Good. This Rowling chick, I mean, she was totally just flooding the market. At the end, though, it turned out that these folks had a little video, and a little book, and of course any good parent would have to have it because it contained the clips they had been playing throughout their conversation, and a lot more in-depth discussion and education about the content of this Harry Potter thing and why it was all the work of the Great Evil One. The tape is titled (I think) "Harry Potter -- Making Evil Invisible." The Book is titled "Pokemon and Harry Potter -- A Fatal Attraction." Since they hadn't mentioned Pokemon any other time, I was left to wonder about that. Anyway, you can get the tape for a $25 "donation." The book is $10. You can get the pair for $30.   After that I can hardly comment on hearing Dwight Yokum sing Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me," except maybe to say that I'll never be able to watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High the same way again.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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