Anti-Harry Mom Invades MySpace After Court Defeat
by irishwitch
Sun Jun 10, 2007 at 11:42:22 AM PDT
A sane and rational Gwinnett County Superior Court judge told Laura Mallory on May 29th that the Georgia Board of Education did the right thing when it ruled against her crusade to remove Harry Potter form school library shelves.
Ms. Mallory had argued that the books would lead children to convert to Wicca, which would lead them into the Oh-Kult and possibly turn them into serial killers or school shooters.
irishwitch's diary :: ::
"These books have unprecedented amounts of witchcraft and occult practices and, she said, they are marketed to our children because sorcery sells. The money that's made off of these books is enormous. It's astronomical. And it's not right. It's at our children's expense," said Mallory.
One of the passages Mallory read was from page 247 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (by J. K. Rowling, Copyright 1999 by J. K. Rowling, published by Scholastic Press, a division of Scholastic, Inc.).
"They call it the Dementor's Kiss," Mallory read, verbatim, "it's what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly... suck out his soul. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just –- exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever... lost."
She looked up from the book and told Judge Batchelor, "That's just one example, Your Honor, of the violent, spiritual filth that our children are reading" in the Gwinnett County public school classrooms.
"In these books, it's cool to cast spells and it's cool to do wrong and if you’re not a witch, you're not cool."
Mallory said, "We don't want our children to grow up to be murderers, but we can't teach them that in our schools anymore. 'Thou Shalt Not Kill' was thrown out... I have a dream that God would be welcomed back in our schools again. I think we need Him."
http://www.11alive.com/...
The attorney for the State Board of Education pointed out that she took passages completely out of context and that this was a first amendment issue—that what Laura Mallory was demanding was censorship. The judge agreed.
Ms, Mallory says she may take her fight to federal court. For now, she has settled for invading MySpace with her personal blog, which makes some very interesting reading.
Here is a sample:
I find it interesting that so many people like to slander my name, whether it'll be in the news, on the internet or through a person with a God like following. This person is Sue Upton who is one of the co-host of the popular podcast; PotterCast. From time to time she would insult me and my faithful efforts in getting these wicked Harry Potter books ban from my school system, as a protection for the children of my county. She does it on her blog, on that so-called Harry Potter fan site (which is a danger to America and the world, since it is supporting terrorist activities by featuring these books) and worst, on that PotterCast. Where she is reaching millions of people around the world, and that is a danger for those lost souls who have not found their way. Our morals and values are at risk because of these books, which is causing our children to distance themselves from our savor. Mrs. Upton has some kind of a cult following which will lead people down a dangerous path filled with more terrorist attacks on this nation. Leading to more pain and suffering to people who have resisted Sue, PotterCast from their brainwashing terrorist propaganda. They must be stopped; this is why I'm organizing a massive protest during their tour of major .US cities. Together we can make a difference protecting the American people. I pray that Sue would see the light and help others who have been brainwash by these books
http://blog.myspace.com/...
Never having heard of this Sue Upton, I cannot comment on her cult following, but I did find the claim that Harry Potter and terrorism are linked fascinating. I am still trying to figure out just how they are linked, unless the Not-So-Divine Ms. M considers disagreeing with her a form of terrorism.
Oh wait. She DOES explain in another post. It seems Harry Potter fans are letting terrorists use their websites to communicate—in other words, Harry Potter fans support al Qaeda. Sure, they do.
America is on a path to a greater threat then we thought. It is those wicked Harry Potter books. The reason why Harry Potter is a terrorist threat, for the spells in the books are speical codes for terrorist groups in the middle east. The characters represent well known terrorist who have attack our borders. This is why we should ban these books from our schools. So, that no child would be
influence by these materials of mass killings on a free country. There is also popular podcast like PotterCast, MuggleCast who are spreading words of prasie to this horrible book of evil. And they must be stop, so that they won't brainwash anymore children with their terrorist views and support. They are the reason for the VT shooting, causing that boy to commit an act of mass murder all because of a internet show that talk about the evil that is in Harry Potter.
http://blog.myspace.com/...
It’s the content that bothers me, not her complete lack of knowledge of basic grammar (I won’t say anything about spelling; when I am tired and angry, I sometimes don’t use spellcheck). Reading Harry Potter leads to school shootings? Harry Potter fans are allowing al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to use their websites to communicate via a "special code"? She is now officially in Tin Foil Hat Space-ALiene-Are Beaming-Pornography-Into-My Brain territory.
When I began chronicling her misadventures, I actually had some sympathy for her desire to protect her children from books which she sincerely believes go against her faith and her values. Why sympathy? Well, had I children other than furry, four-footed feline sort, I wouldn’t want them being forced to read Left Behind for Kids as a class assignment. Where we parted company was how to achieve this. Now, however, she has revealed herself to be a raving lunatic who will believe anything, no matter how improbable, so long as it gibes with her prejudices against Wicca and Harry Potter. Sh
When one poster on her blog asked the following question:
. If you do not like Harry Potter then take your poor children out of school and home study them.
,
here was sweet Laura’s reply:
Sorry I can't I don't have the resources to homeschool my kids, I put my kids public school so they can defeat and overcome the evils that are in the other children.
Oh great. She wants her kids to go to public school to overcome the evil in other children. Why is it all too easy to imagine her children walking up to a Wiccan kid wearing a pentacle or a Jewish kid with a star of David or a Muslim girl wearing a head scarf and saying, "If you don’t love Jesus, you’re going to hell"? Why is it easy to imagine that Wiccan or Jewish or Muslim child becoming the butt of everyone’s harassment for the rest of the year? She is raising her children to be religious thugs, Christian bullies. And bullying for any reason—religion, appearance, sexual preference, race, ethnicity—is flat-out wrong, and, to put it in terms she might grasp, unchristian. Maybe we need to send her a bracelet that says "Who would Jesus bully?" to get the point across to her.
The poster had this to say:
Resources are available all over the place, for free, to homeschool your children. Complete free curriculums and support is available online with the touch of a mouse. In your community, resources and homeschooling groups exist; they even have areas of expertise for each parenting team so if there is an area you are not proficient in- math or sciences, for example.
I've been a teacher for too many years; your excuses ring as falsely as the "dog ate my homework".
What you mean to say is - "I cannot be bothered to oversee my own children's education." That's honesty, and more than likely the truth of this situation.
But it IS good that your children go to public school- there they gain social skills and are exposed to other families, so they know that not every Christian family in their community spews hatred as much as their mom does.
I agree with the poster. If Laura wanted to homeschool her children, she’d have plenty of time—if she gave up her crusade against Harry Potter and stopped telling other people’s kids what they should read. But then she couldn’t launch her pint-sized bigots into the public schools to bully kids who belong to a different religious tradition. And she wouldn’t get national publicity and lots of ego-boosting support from similarly crackpot members of the Lunatic Right.
Here’s yet another post from her:
As you brainwashing terrorist can see by the link below, I have lost my case against the Gwinnett County School system in banning those wicked Harry Potter books. Well I hope you are happy, but on the other hand you will not be happy when I take this case another step. I also have something in the works that involves a certain Harry Potter podcast. The fans have been talking about some kind of Army in the books; well I'm building an Army of my own. These fans are making me weak and tormenting my faith, and I am not going stand for this. The Lord has called to me and he told me that I must fight against the fans who are promoting Harry Potter. Fight against the wickedness they are promoting, the terrorist feelings they have and made. But I am not telling you what I am going to do, for this is a secret mission between me and my "Myspace" friends. I am determined to fulfill what the Lord as told me. For I was chosen by him to save this country and even the world from these wicked terrorist known as the Harry Potter fans and even the books themselves.
http://blog.myspace.com/...
Oh, boy, how terrible that Harry Potter and his friends called themselves Dumbledore’s Army as they ready themselves for the fight against Voldemort, who is the embodiment of evil in the books—a wizard who has intentionally chosen to follow the path of evil, a Darth Vader figure. This woman hasn’t even read the books so she had no clue as to the context in which the term is used, yet she uses it to condemn the books. And she views anyone who disagrees with her as a terrorist and is building her own Army to take them on-- wonder what they'll bomb? And she is SOOOOOOO sure that the Lord is on her side, which smacks of hubris. Silly me, and I thought that humility was a Christian virtue.
And here is a classic example of her "proof" that Harry Potter will ead kids to Satanism:
While I was preparing to fight my case against the Harry Potter books and the Gwinnett County Public School system, I received an email from a faithful but once troubled woman. She told me that her daughter not to long ago was a sick, twisted teenager who was a tricking time bomb of danger. Once I got the right contacts with the girl and her mother, I made it a point to ask the girl to write to me about her frightening ordeal with Harry Potter. Read this letter and you be the judge of what your kids are read.
"It all started about two years ago, when a friend gave me the first Harry Potter book. I took an interest in the books after reading the first book. Me and my friends would recite all the spells and even tried to make potions like they did in the books. Well, our activities went too far, we would sneak out of the house and meet in the middle of the forest. We would join hands then chant some of the spells, after that we would then take a very sharp knife and slit our arms. We then would process to suck the blood from the person sitting next us. It was so cool at first, but I started to get sick. I would chant the spells to make me feel better, but I was getting worst. Thankfully I got better, but I was still reciting spells from the book which cause me to take an interest in terrorist groups. I felt that I had a connection with these terror groups and the Harry Potter books that I started to slightly turn against my own country. Somehow my mother figured out what was going on with me. She notice the cut marks on my arm and the fact that I had a sudden interest in terror groups. My mother put me up with a mentor who happened to be a youth leader at my church. He shed some new light on what I have gotten into. He said that I was brainwash, for the books were causing me to do strange things like slitting my arm with a knife and having sudden interest in terrorist groups who were killing our troops. After many weeks with my mentor, I got on my knees and finally praised God for all his glory. Then I burned all my Harry Potter books into a fire, once I have done that I was free from the torture and was able to come back into the arms of my Lord. I am now determined to help other kids in breaking free from those wicked books that have done so much damage to my life. And that is why I am helping Mrs. Mallory in testifying in front of the courts to let them know how much pain those books have cause me. Maybe this will save all those children from the horrors that I have suffered."
http://blog.myspace.com/...
Sounds a lot like the claims made in the 70s and 80s tht D&D would send you straight to hell,and that playing Judas Priest would make you suicidal. And it has as much credibility--not that Laura cares about credibility. ANYTHING that marches with her obsession is considered credible.
Let's see. Reading Harry Potter made him play around with chemistry to mix potions (since a lot of the potions have fictional ingredients, I have to wonder what he thought he was gonna accomplish). He and his pals would chant spells and slit their arms. Interesting. Spells in Harry Potter are usually no longer than two words---so they couldn't have been doing a whole lot of chanting there. As for the cutting, I suspect it has more to do with Borderline Personality Disorder than with Harry Potter's spells, which have no connection to blood rituals at all (Voldemort, on the other hand, DOES use blood). And the spells made him want to join a terrorist group. RIGHT.
If I were this kid's parents, I'd have checked him into an in-patient facility for some in-depth counseling and meds. And as I did with the D&D parents, whose kids were usually depressed and unhappy at school and whose teachers recognized this and even tried to warn them of a coming meltdown, why didn't they notice their child was cutting himself? Why weren't they paying attention to his morbid interest in al Qaeda? It's a bit like Kliebold and Harris's parents not noticing the kids were making bombs int he garage. Maybe, just maybe, what this kid needed wasn't an exorcism,, but some parental attention and supervision and some therapy, not an exorcism.
With this blog, Laura Mallory has lost what limited credibility she possessed. As an old shrink friend once phrased it, "We in the shrink biz have a technical term for that. It’s gonzo nutjob wacko."
I think that about sums up Laura Mallory.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/10/141546/194Tags: Laura Mallory, Harry Potter, censorship, Georgia Politics, school libraries, Recommended (all tags)
