Arguments Against The Harry Potter

In the bible it says that wizards, devils and demons exist and are powerful and dangerous. People have a fear that any books with good witches, wizards and good magic will lead people to take the bible’s teachings lightly and may convince them to become witches. Another reason that Harry Potter is banned is that it sets unsatisfactory examples for kids reading the book by Harry and his friends disobey, lie and break rules. People think that kids reading the books will think they can get away with things that they normally would not get away with. A third reason that Harry Potter is banned is it is too eerie and dark. The battles that the characters are required to go through and how the characters die is too

Many school districts do not have “manga”or “anime” banned (Debate.org). This style of literature is often considered non educational. Books should at least have censorship when profanity or have sexually explicit content are used. Reading this content as a student is 100% unnecessary. In a study done in 2000-09 by the American Library Association, about 1,250 books were challenged because of offensive language. Around 1,600 books were challenged in that same study for being sexually explicit (Butler.edu). During this, almost all books that were banned were either in school libraries or schools. A common example of a banned book is Harry Potter by J.Kk. Rowling. This book has a “presence of witchcraft”’(Butler.edu). In many people's’ minds, witchcraft is extremely bad, and completely unnecessary to discuss those topics. Since many people are against witchcraft, if that was to be discussed in schools, awful consequences for teacher as well as student could result.

When people grow up a certain way, thinking in a certain way it’ll inevitably come to affect them later on in life. This is especially true in the cases of personal philosophy, religion or any moral code of ethics. But sometimes, one’s religion starts negatively impacting the education of one’s child and the education of the nation's youth as a whole. In Nancy Flanagan Knapp's article,“In Defense of Harry Potter”, she makes the argument that although the Harry Potter series has come under flak, and even been banned in places, it’s still a very useful tool in furthering the education of young people. Knapp analyzes this point using a plethora of well thought out, well researched, and exceedingly well worded rhetorical strategies, and in the end she uses ethos, logos, and pathos to effectively convey her arguments.

Sending kids to school knowing that they are going for educational purposes and then restricting them on what they can and cannot learn is hypocritical. Schools should be allowed to keep Fahrenheit 451 in their curriculum. Controversial issues are brought up everyday in and out of school and issues, like profanity, included in a book gives the story emotion and sets the tone. Timothy Jay, a psychologist and linguist, argues,

The book Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince, is part of the Harry Potter book series by JK. Rowling. This particular book is about Harry learning more about Voldemort’s past, and trying to unfold a plot that Harry believes is happening inside of Hogwarts. “Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince” by JK. Rowling has been tossed back and forth about being banned over the years. The book was banned in many schools and libraries, due to the fact that many Christian parents and teachers believe that their children should not be exposed to the acts of sorcery and witchcraft. The book should not have been banned because there is nothing truly bad in this book, it will just make kids think more.

In addition, they believe that the content of the book could corrupt their kids’ moral sense. However, there are people that argue against the idea of censoring books in schools.

They think that matters such as racial themes, alternative lifestyles, profanity, sex, violence, negativity, witchcraft, unpopular religious views, unpopular political views, and basically and theme that is labelled as ‘unsuitable’ for a certain age group should be banned. However, our day-to-day life proves that things like these are unavoidable. 1. “In a media-flooded world, where information travels exactly as fast as your Twitter feed loads, it would take the shield of Captain America to keep the unpleasant facts of reality at bay. And more important, these bullets of candor don’t injure young people. They simply open up their minds, or even offer them something to identify with,” says Jamie Leigh for Punchnel. From driving in your car, listening to the radio, watching TV, walking around your community, one thing is clear – you can’t dodge these topics forever. It’s just part of life. In addition, people may feel as though bad content found in books could encourage bad behavior. Let’s consider violence for example. Violence in the media seems to be a bit of an argument currently going on. 2. According to the Luther College’s article, Does Violence Have a Place in Children’s Literature?, “…this fear and panic rests on the assumption that boys cannot tell the difference between violence in a story and the violence in real life (p. 512).

On the other hand, parents fear that reading this novel will give their children ideas to rebel against them, and consequently cause them to lose control of them. Ultimately, it is the counter-culture attitude and the distaste for any kind of authority that governs the novel that leads many to shy away from exposing the material to teenagers.

Parents have called for Harry Potter, a children’s fantasy story, to be removed from schools. The main argument these concerned parents have is that the magic-filled books encourage involvement in the occult and the practice of satanic worship. They are scared that the exposure their children experience through the books will cause them to accept this as normal and will “view the occult in a favorable light, abandoning any thought about the very real and present danger that interaction with the occult realm can and does bring” (Barger, n.p.). Adults are automatically assuming that something as simple and entertaining as harmless, magic spells will encourage young readers to start sacrificing animals to Satan himself, when really they are just simply amazed with the Latin-based words. Religious families in particular say that Rowling’s works confuses kids and draws them away from their faith that their parents have installed into them since birth (Dunne, para. 9). Many of the actions that Harry and his friends take clash with religious practices, but other parents say that they are setting a bad example by lying, breaking rules, and disobeying teachers then eventually getting rewarded for their rebellious actions. Parents seem to think that heroes are entirely good people, follow every rule in place, and show respect for every person. As the media has shown in the past years

"Harry Potter has been in the 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 “Frequently Challenged Books” lists and currently is on the “Frequently Challenged Children’s Books” list." (bannedbooksweek.org). “When it came out, some people said the book was about Satan and promoted witchcraft.” (LaRue, 2016). This reasoning cause parents to file complaint to schools asking them to remove the books from their libraries. Some school even had to require a permission slip from the children’s parents. Now not all parents were like this. Some parents did not see the comparison with magic as Satanic but as another fantasy book like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Other parents thought the censorship was absurd and a few of them took actions to voice that opinion. For example: Counts v. Cedarville School District. In this case, Cedarville school board voted that the Harry Potter books would require a permission slip if a child wish to check it out. This vote infuriated some parents so much that they took it court. The parents argued that this vote was against the First Amendment and won the case requiring all libraries in that district to get rid of the permission slips. Even though the book series has ended, there is still controversy over it

The youth spend a majority of their time on the Internet or social media, rather than being active participants in their community. Studies of fan communities have increased over the past few years, as being a fan has become more digitized. There has been a focus on the Internet as a place of communal activity for participants. Fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, and so on, are generally a part of a larger “fandom” that is regarded collectively as a community or subculture. However, we are seeing the younger generations move towards new forms of civic and political engagement - ones that are closely tied to their personal interests and social network.

J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which have reached worldwide popularity have an effect on children has not been matched by any other book. The novels have encouraged children to read for entertainment instead of turning to television or video games. When a piece of literature inspires children as the Harry Potter novels do, limiting a child’s access to the novels seems ridiculous. Unfortunately, this is what is happening with Harry Potter. The books are challenged and banned in schools and libraries all over the world because parents contend that the content is unsuitable. The content, which revolves around a world full of wizardry and witchcraft, has some parents actively

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become one of the most popular children’s series in the world over the past decade. Through these books children and young adults alike have delved into a fantastical world in which they explored the problems that their protagonist, Harry Potter, has faced. In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth book of the Harry Potter series, Harry dealt with the challenge of proving to his peers and professors that Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape were no longer trustworthy. Even so, Harry failed to realize that the author of the notes in his Advanced Potion-Making book was corrupt. In this book, J.K. Rowling uses point of view, style, and irony to demonstrate the need for people to be more analytical

Author of the book Judy Blume argues that, “students are the losers if teachers are afraid to cause controversy” (cited in Aronson, 2013, p.11). I agree with this statement, by discussing topics that are controversial creates great discussions that children can gain insight and knowledge from an alternative view that they may not have otherwise. By using literature to discuss controversial topics allow students to have natural conversations that they may value for the rest of their life. Tunnel and Jacobs (2016) states, “Avoiding the harsh and often unsavory realities of life does not make them go away. In fact, a child may be more susceptible to the effects of controversial material by being totally unprepared” (2016, pg. 217). I also agree with this statement, as I mentioned previously that discussion topics related to sex, drugs (peer pressure), and death are all topics that are apart of life that every individual will go through or experience. By not discussing these topics can leave a child unprepared for when these experiences happen to them in real life. Discussing these topics in literature first, is not only informative, but also will better prepare a child for when they may face this reality. Therefore, I believe that children should be reading books that are controversial (but appropriate to their age group) because

In my mind it is no different than so many other fantasy stories I have read. I can honestly say I had not read Harry Potter until this assignment, if for no other reason than it just didn’t interest me. Did I feel like the talk of wizards and spells affected my Christianity belief system? Absolutely not. I think those that worry their children will want to learn more about witchcraft after reading the book should be more concerned with prepping their child. My daughter is not old enough yet to read the book, however, when she is we will have an open honest conversation. I would hope that the ideals and beliefs that my husband and I have instilled in my child are far stronger than the power of a book. Yes, books are powerful, but more powerful than parents? When I took something away from my daughter when she was little it made it that object even more desirable. If we ban these books, are we not doing the same? We are infringing on their intellectual freedom to have them decide for themselves what they would like to learn more about. As parents it is our job to help guide them to what is right and wrong and then pray that we have done our job effectively. We give them out experiences and help them to identify between reality and fantasy. Maybe that is why some parents so strongly oppose Harry Potter. They are concerned they have not given their children the faith system that can sustain an outside perspective. I