David Matthews 2 is a freelance writer in Alpharetta, Georgia. He is also the host of a weekly audio rant which you can hear at the main page.

Target: Moralism
Part 15: The Case of Harry Potter
– by David Matthews 2

In the world of Harry Potter, Laura Mallory would be considered a "muggle". That’s a person who doesn’t understand magic.

But in the real world, Laura Mallory is considered something else that starts with "M" that has just as much power. She is a moralist.

Harry Potter is a fictional character in the best-selling series by British author J.K. Rawling. Harry Potter is a teenage "wizard" who attends a special school of magic. He learns along with his friends about the right and wrong ways to use their talents.

Laura Mallory is a housewife and mother of three living in a bustling suburb in the northeastern part of the greater metropolitan Atlanta area. She believes in a different kind of "magic"… one that involves miracles of God, not spells and enchanted objects. Yes, Laura Mallory is a Christian, and she’ll proudly tell you that.

But there is one distinct difference between Harry Potter and Laura Mallory. Harry Potter understands and accepts "muggles" like Laura Mallory in the world. However, Laura Mallory apparently cannot say the same about fictional "wizards" like Harry Potter.

Ms. Mallory doesn’t think that the popular book series should be available on the shelves of the local school libraries. As Christian, she thinks that any references to "witches" and "wizards" are, to use her own words, "evil", and she has requested that those books be removed from school libraries.

"I want to protect children from evil, not fill their minds with it," she recently said in a hearing of the Gwinnett County Board of Education concerning her request. "The ‘Harry Potter’ books teach children and adults that witchcraft is OK for children."

Now fortunately for the community, more rational minds prevailed. Ms. Mallory’s request to remove the Potter series from the school libraries was denied. But the case in and of itself tells a lot about moralism and its destructive influence in society.

First, as was pointed out in the hearings, Ms. Mallory never read the "Harry Potter" series at all! She made a declarative judgement on the worth of the whole series based on what she HEARD about the books and then DEMANDED that local government officials act on HER judgement.

Now I want you to think about that little nugget of information. Here is a woman who was looking for government veto power over material that SHE HERSELF has not seen but has already prejudicially declared to be "evil". Facts and truth be damned! She’d make an ideal juror for any lawyer’s court case!

Second, if her prejudicial request that the "Harry Potter" series be pulled from government shelves were actually approved, it would have set a hysterical precedence for school officials. Basically anything containing references to magic or witches or wizards could be easily banished from the library shelves if someone like Ms. Mallory so requested it.

Here’s a quick list of well-known publications that would be banished because it has references to magic or witchcraft:

• "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis (ironically, the recent movie release was quickly touted by Christians)
• "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum
• The entire "Hobbit" series by J.R.R. Tolkien, including the whole "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
• "Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi
• "Cinderella" by K. Y. Craft
• "Peter Pan" by J. M. Barrie

All of those popular books would be banished from library shelves using the prejudicial criteria set down by Ms. Mallory.

Even Walt Disney’s original "Fantasia" movie would be forbidden in local government schools because of Mickey Mouse appearing as "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice". (Actually the original would also be banished because the final scene in the movie contained bare-breasted female demons, but that’s a different matter.)

Third, it should be pointed out that the books in the "Harry Potter" series were not required reading for students in the local elementary school. They were not FORCED onto any student. These were simply books on the library shelves that could be picked up and read by any student.

Now if you were a taxpaying parent in that school district, how would you feel if some other parent could wield prejudicial veto power over the kinds of books that your children would have access to? Oh sure, you can take your little tax deduction over to the local bookstore and pay big bucks for the books, if you can find them. But isn’t the whole purpose of having a public school library to prevent having to do that?

Let’s get brutally honest here… this whole matter with the "Harry Potter" series is the PERFECT example of a typical moralist crusade.

Here’s an admitted moralist in the form of this Gwinnett housewife. She’s not a preacher or politician. She doesn’t carry herself like it’s her destiny to rule the world. She just expects the world to conform to her vision of how things should be. She hears things about the "Potter" series and she decides that it’s not appropriate for her family or her children.

Now she is well within her right to be prejudicial about things like this. She can be as bigoted about the world as she so chooses. She’s allowed to make whatever judgement call she wants to about the kinds of material her children can read in the privacy of their own home. She can even tell her children not to read such material in the local government school libraries as long as it’s not part of the required curriculum.

But she doesn’t stop there. She decides that it is her responsibility to IMPOSE that same prejudicial belief onto the rest of the community in general. She’s not trying to prevent HER children from being exposed to this book series, she doesn’t want ANY child exposed to such stories, even though she has never read the books!

Now she probably didn’t just make this declaration on her own. As with all moralists on a crusade, she had help. She had witnesses that were eager to tell the local school board how the "Potter" series turn their children into little satanic monsters. They were quick to paint the "Potter" series as a literary gateway drug, leading people down the path to Tarot cards and seances. No doubt that if we weren’t talking about children, a discussion about human sacrifices and bestiality would have followed.

This is the standard tactic for moralists. Demonize and demagogue the subject; paint it into being the biggest threat to children and to families and to the community in general since the Black Plague, and then EXPECT the government to acquiesce to THEIR "expert declaration" and to heed their wishes. It’s a playbook that is used all across the civilized world.

This is how they work their will into our lives. It’s not done by guns or bombs or invading armies. It’s done by focus groups and bullet points and ten-second sound bites.

And it is here with the attacks on the "Harry Potter" series that the ultimate hypocrisy of the moralists is exposed.

What is the biggest complaint from moralists? That there is a lack of quality material teaching children about values. That children are exposed to nothing but Triple-X rated symbols and images, promoting nothing but sex and violence. That children aren’t being taught right from wrong.

And yet, here is a literary series that teaches children about right and wrong, about responsibility, about the value of friendship and honor and respect. Here is a series that shows the difference between good and evil. But more importantly, it actually encourages kids to READ! These aren’t thin books. And how many other books can you ever see people of all ages actually waiting in line at midnight just to get?

Let’s face it, this is a literary series that moralists should be PROUD to see on the shelves! That is… if this conflict was really just about values and morality.

The sad part is that while the Gwinnett County School Board considers the matter closed and done with, this is just a minor battle in the overall conflict. Moralists like Laura Mallory do not just fade into obscurity after being given a setback like this. They remember who voted against them and they work to get rid of those people so that the next time around, their demands will be better received. Who knows? Now that she’s gotten a taste of popularity and notoriety, she may decide to take it to the next level and run for office.

Much like Harry Potter’s fictional adversaries, moralists will disguise the truth with clever spells designed to cloud the mind and conceal their intentions. But you don’t need incantations or enchanted objects to defeat these real-life adversaries. As demonstrated in Gwinnett County, you just need your wits and reason and let a calm look at the truth dispel the illusions.