The Pendragon's Hall

I'm sorry: she really is an idiot. "Idiot of the Year" for 2006 Laura Mallory strikes again. The Pendragon does not usually do double-header blogs, but the stupidity this woman has attained in her fight to censor reading material for a whole school district has provoked my wrath. First of all, it should be noted that whatever vague charges of Wicca religion have been thrown around, J.K. Rowling is herself a Christian. Second, it should be noted that the spells used in the Harry Potter books are rough translations into Latin and Greek (or in one case, Arabic) of what the spells actually do. "Expelliarmus" for example means, "Let it be expelled!" And, lo and behold, the spell ejects or expels the other person's wand! This is hardly calling on dark spirits for power--it's a mechanical phenomenon that each wizard and witch has to learn. Mallory contends the books teach that to be non-magical is "not cool." To the contrary, someone who has actually read the books (which Mallory has not) would learn that it is the role of the good wizards to protect the non-magical folk from harm. And, to top it off, the most ridiculous quote of all: "The level of violence in here is like no other. You don't find it in The Wizard of Oz, you don't find it in Sleeping Beauty." That is true: You do, however, find it in "Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia."

Bottom line here: the Pendragon wholeheartedly supports parental rights over their children's education and reading material, at least when they are young. But schools everywhere, including in Mallory's own district, have agreed that if a parent is uncomfortable with their child reading Harry Potter, the teacher will assign another book. Apparently, in Mallory's school, they even allowed parents to bar their children from using the books in the library. Mallory is upset that her son was allowed to take the book out despite his name being on the "forbidden" list. That could be something to discuss. But my guess is that the library staff assumed that Mallory had given permission for her son to take the book out. After all, parents like that usually know everything about what their children are doing. Mallory has every right to make decisions for her (young) children, but now she has extrapolated that right into being the right for her conscience to dictate to every parent in her school district and this is where she has crossed the line. Mallory has been defeated at every level of the contest, and now she is considering taking her case to federal court. Ridiculous. It makes the Pendragon long for the days when busybodies were confined to their own neighborhoods.