Harry Potter and the Problem of Ignorance
I'm currently watching a Harry Potter marathon on television while folding laundry and happened to come across a commercial for Christian music CD's. I'm not sure what it is about the whole thing that is such a turn off for me because I generally don't have problems with the religion by itself. Perhaps I'm just jealous that it's yet another way that I'm in a minority and I guess you could argue that this one is of my own choosing, but is it really? I don't know that even if I really wanted to, I could all of a sudden start believing in God (and doing so just to fit in would most definitely be wrong).
I got to thinking, though, about things in my life that I've refused to experience. Harry Potter and Christian music? There are two perfect examples. I wonder what it is about the whole thing--I've never really developed an interest in Potter and I've had bad associations with Christianity growing up. I think that it comes down to the fact that I feel that I'm supposed to like these things (or at very least be interested in them) when I'm just not. I think it's part of me rebelling against what everybody else is doing and what's expected of me. This is not to say that I don't conform in other ways--I just have weird standards.
I have to admit that there was a certain warped pride in being somebody who never read Harry Potter. I often wondered if it was akin to the pride that people have in being virgins or having some other sort of moral choice upheld. I mean, I often say that I've never used a drug while it was illegal for me to do so and there's a certain amount of pride in that? I guess, again, it's just knowing that I've stood by my own set of values through the years. It's not to prove a point or in reaction to others (consciously), but it's just a choice that I've made.
But where do you draw the line between maintaining your pride in something and just maintaining ignorance? Is it this whole mentality that causes people to be proud that they've never left their hometowns or learned about other cultures? Does this kind of thinking lead down the path to being conservative with politics, economics, or social habits? I'm not sure if the two are even related, but it does give me pause. I mean, I'm all for pride in having traditions and for doing what you think is right, but there must be a balance? Perhaps one has to ascribe to the philosophy that my parents had with food--try it and if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it again.
I have many more issues with Harry Potter (first among them the fact that kids routinely seem to encounter danger but that this is accepted--and yes, a case could be made for the fact that they'll face magical dangers in their world and that they need to be prepared but nobody seems overly concerned that their Quiddich game causes comas?) but that'll have to rest for now. I do find it highly amusing, though, that there is a commercial for Christian stuff given the whole outcry a few years ago. Perhaps the advertisers are trying to nudge the pagans a little closer? =P
Oh. And the actor who plays Longbottom looks like Ellen Page if she were a boy.
And, finally, the school needs some kind of crazy background check system. The "Defense Against the Dark Arts" teacher is always evil!
I got to thinking, though, about things in my life that I've refused to experience. Harry Potter and Christian music? There are two perfect examples. I wonder what it is about the whole thing--I've never really developed an interest in Potter and I've had bad associations with Christianity growing up. I think that it comes down to the fact that I feel that I'm supposed to like these things (or at very least be interested in them) when I'm just not. I think it's part of me rebelling against what everybody else is doing and what's expected of me. This is not to say that I don't conform in other ways--I just have weird standards.
I have to admit that there was a certain warped pride in being somebody who never read Harry Potter. I often wondered if it was akin to the pride that people have in being virgins or having some other sort of moral choice upheld. I mean, I often say that I've never used a drug while it was illegal for me to do so and there's a certain amount of pride in that? I guess, again, it's just knowing that I've stood by my own set of values through the years. It's not to prove a point or in reaction to others (consciously), but it's just a choice that I've made.
But where do you draw the line between maintaining your pride in something and just maintaining ignorance? Is it this whole mentality that causes people to be proud that they've never left their hometowns or learned about other cultures? Does this kind of thinking lead down the path to being conservative with politics, economics, or social habits? I'm not sure if the two are even related, but it does give me pause. I mean, I'm all for pride in having traditions and for doing what you think is right, but there must be a balance? Perhaps one has to ascribe to the philosophy that my parents had with food--try it and if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it again.
I have many more issues with Harry Potter (first among them the fact that kids routinely seem to encounter danger but that this is accepted--and yes, a case could be made for the fact that they'll face magical dangers in their world and that they need to be prepared but nobody seems overly concerned that their Quiddich game causes comas?) but that'll have to rest for now. I do find it highly amusing, though, that there is a commercial for Christian stuff given the whole outcry a few years ago. Perhaps the advertisers are trying to nudge the pagans a little closer? =P
Oh. And the actor who plays Longbottom looks like Ellen Page if she were a boy.
And, finally, the school needs some kind of crazy background check system. The "Defense Against the Dark Arts" teacher is always evil!