Here We Go Again: Media Trash Potter
Joel Stein didn’t even wait until Friday to start trashing the new Harry Potter book in his latest humor column:
Hogwarts fans, you’re stupid, stupid, stupid
Next Saturday, when the sixth Harry Potter book comes out, at the very least I want you to stammer excuses when I see “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” on your nightstand. I want you to claim you’re reading it to make sure it’s OK for your kids, or your future kids, or even, if you have to, for kids in general.
I make no such excuses. I enjoy reading them. Initially I thought they would be for my kids, but I found I actually liked them (unlike some of the other stuff for their age).
After a generation of boomers choosing to remain in a state of stunted adolescence — wearing jeans, smoking pot and cranking their BMW stereos to blast Eminem songs they clearly don’t like — the next generation has opted for a stunted toddlerhood … When we share our entertainment palette with the Wiggles set — watching comic book movies and teenage singing talent shows — we deny an attempt to understand human emotion.
Maybe you’ll feel better Joel, when you realize that not only am I reading Harry Potter along with my kids, but that they are reading things like “Romeo & Juliet” and watching things like “Phantom of the Opera” with me. Dumbing down of entertainment is certainly a problem, but don’t assume that enjoying Harry Potter means that you ignore the important works of our society. A little balance is a good thing.
Joel Stein: Moron
A culture that simplifies its entertainment down to fairy tales is doomed to simplify the world down to good and …
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