Land of the free

Who is Harry Potter? That was my first thought in November 2001 when my editor told me he planned to go to the newly released movie ?Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone? and write a review for the newspaper.

My editor at the time was a much bigger fan of fantasy and science fiction literature than me. I ended up stuck trying to think of a witty comeback for him when he announced he was going to the movie. Not being familiar with the boy wizard at the time, I fell back onto a throwaway line I had heard in ?The Simpsons.?

?Now you know Harry Potter is going to Hell for practicing witchcraft and if you write that review he is going to take you with him,? I said in a mock ominous voice.

This got a chuckle and the story ran as scheduled. I hadn?t been to work the following Monday for more than 15 minutes when the calls started coming in one right after the other. The calls all complained about how we could promote such a film and we were all Godless blasphemers who promoted evil to children.

It turns out Harry Potter books were banned in some schools and libraries in some parts of the United States and, in some cases, have been burned. The objections to the books are somewhat predicable: They promote witchcraft to children; they are too dark; and they set bad examples as the protagonist lies, breaks rules, and disobeys authority figures. Another irony to this story is that when I was in high school, Simpsons T-shirts were banned because Bart Simpson was not a good role model.

Every year during the last week of September - this week - the American Library Association (ALA) celebrates ?Banned Books Week.? The association?s position is that each family should be able to decide which books are suitable for children, rather than having that decision made by others. The Washington Public Library is planning a Harry Potter read-out at 6:30 p.m. today, in that spirit.

It seems as if, especially recently, there is no shortage of people wishing to make decisions about what you can or can?t do, obviously feeling you are not qualified to make those decisions yourself. I have actually, relatively recently in fact, seen people openly say that the United States has way too much freedom to do or say as we want and that greater restrictions, with the backing of the law, need to be enforced.

Here is something to think about. When I was in high school, there was a serious push to ban my preferred form of music - heavy metal. The push was lead by the wife of a former U.S. Representative named Tipper Gore. Yes, her husband is former vice president Al Gore. Take a guess who I never supported in any way in the following years? I always got a chuckle when I heard her say that she really wasn?t advocating censorship and loved the First Amendment. I actually still have a few albums in the Quad Cities that have ?Tipper stickers? ? content warning stickers ? on them.

This is the United States - the land of the free. Contrary to what some in society think, we have to learn that just because we don?t happen to agree with something, that doesn?t mean it should be banned. You don?t have to participate in whatever action it is that you don?t like. In fact, you don?t even have to hang out with people who do participate in the action. All you have to do is acknowledge that people have a right to live their lives in the manner that they choose.

In honor of banned book week, read some Harry Potter, or Tom Sawyer, or Catch 22 (I read this in high school); throw on that vintage Iron Maiden or Ozzy Osbourne album onto your stereo; and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Also, don?t forget Halloween is coming up fast. There are plenty of people who want that banned too.