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Harry Potter and the Slanderous EmailBy Kent d Curry I
suppose it’s my own fault because I should have been paying closer attention.
The signs certainly were there. Still, I was caught completely unaware
when the email
arrived. An
Apostolic parent forwarded a host of us a long email from another Apostolic who
warned everyone about the incriminating information about Harry Potter contained
within. Everyone was advised that this story should be forwarded to anyone who
had been duped by the children’s book series. Of
course, I knew that conservative Christians of all persuasions had voiced
objections to the books¾specifically
the story line of Harry being a young wizard who is sent to a school of magic
for special training by adult teachers who were wizards and witches. The charges
against the books ranged from promoting witchcraft to opening dangerous
avenues into darker domains. The
new email contained much more than vague uneasiness. Below the sender’s
warning was a long web story about the series causing Satanic churches to fill
up with children now wanting to learn witchcraft, a picture of children reciting
an ancient Satanic incantation and a filthy quote by Rowling concerning Christ
and Satan. There was only one problem¾none
of it was true. The
attached URL (http://theonion.com/onion3625/harry_potter.html) The
email horrified me.
The first rule they
beat into us at Journalism School was to "know your source." This
triple-forwarded email was oblivious to their source; well-meaning Apostolics
were unintentionally
talebearing, proclaiming misinformation truth. I
had some knowledge of the boy wizard. Actually, it’s been difficult not to
know too much. As J.K. Rowling’s first three Potter titles towered from the
peaks of The New York Times Bestseller list for months, media attention
exploded, with political columnist William Safire, a Newsweek cover story (July
17, 2000), a Time cover
story (September 20, 1999) and radio book reviews (National Public Radio's
"Fresh Air" program on April 30, 1999), among numerous others, sharing
their discriminating thoughts on the matter. The
general media covered the Christian critics, published reviews that claimed the
books weren’t near the caliber of Alice
in Wonderland and treated the release of the fourth title as the biggest
event in book publishing history. (Its first printing was an unprecedented 3.25
million copies.) Knowing
all of this, in as diplomatic a tone as possible, I wrote everyone about The
Onion, then¾since
I had read the first two books and a large portion of the coverage¾added:
“And, the Harry Potter author does NOT promote witchcraft and Satanism. The
only magic she believes in is the wonderful effect well-written fiction has on
readers.” I signed off with “Respectfully” and left it at that. Or
so I thought. Responses
soon arrived. Some thanked me. Others did not. I didn’t know any of the
respondents; they were just addresses on the forwarded email list. One
thanked me for speaking out, another apologized for “perpetuating falsehood
and slander,” and a third, my favorite, was from a stranger who said, “I
love you, Kent Curry, whoever you are.” What had I done to receive these
thanks? Others
weren’t as supportive. One person replied to everyone that a local city paper
and many web sites had the same true stories as The Onion. Another said I wasn’t listening to “the kids,” but
didn’t tell me what the kids were saying. They then said witchcraft wasn’t a
game and asked
why we should take a chance with children. A
friend emailed me for my sources (after all, that was the standard I had set),
so I dug up an interview I had heard on National Public Radio's “The
Diane Rehm Show”. On October 20, 1999, Rowling
discussed Pottermania and her amazement that anyone would draw occult
inferences from it. Then
I cut out some paragraphs from an article in CNN.COM Book
News, similar to many I had read, and forwarded those on as well. It stated: “And
what of the controversy raised by some parents who worry the tale of a young
wizard promotes witchcraft and the occult? Her answer is direct and unforgiving.
"I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into
witchcraft," she says with an uncomfortable chuckle. "I'm laughing
slightly because to me, the idea is absurd." "I
have met thousands of children now, and not even one time has a child come up to
me and said, 'Ms. Rowling, I'm so glad I've read these books because now I want
to be a witch.' They see it for what it is," she emphasized. "It is a
fantasy world and they understand that completely. "I
don't believe in magic, either," she said. --------- (I
might mention that I have never seen any quote by the author that contradicted
this statement. Nor have I seen claims that she has.) That
was a week ago Friday. On Monday I was spammed. I had 635 emails from every two-bit operation on the web because someone had submitted my address to one of these “services.” Evidently, an Apostolic had taken umbrage at my statements and decided that this was my just reward. Perhaps it was. Still I would have preferred debating the issue rather than be the target of a coward’s attack. At
some point during this odd period of disparate emails something else occurred to
me. When new readers began exploring our zine archives, many had thanked me for
my rather innocuous review (Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(January 24, 2000) of the first Harry Potter
book. (In fact, I just received another one, from a former
librarian, last week.) I was never quite sure why. Now I am. Monday
also brought a long, measured reply that felt I was completely wrong in my
assessment of the books. I disagreed enough with this reply to write a long answer, but never sent it.(Sidebar) The week was uneventful after that. Then we received a double-or-triple forwarded “Harry Potter” email this past Friday from a different Apostolic to a different crowd of names, once again proclaiming the same The Onion story as truth. This missive also contained concerned messages from different forwarders about this disturbing news. Brethren these things ought not to be! As Christians we are held to a higher level of truth! The apostle Peter insisted “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” (I Peter 2:9) Just
because an email was forwarded by a friend doesn’t mean it’s true. This is
the Internet¾verify everything first! Then send it if you must. If you spread gossip,
you are a gossip. If you forward slander, no matter how inadvertent or innocent
or well-intentioned your intent, you are sinning. Scripture is clear in this
matter. The
ease of email can create a certain brainlessness among everyone. (And if
you’re feeling smug about these forwards, your pride is showing. Everyone has shared incorrect information¾either
verbally or electronically¾at
some point in their lives.) In this case, the information could have been easily
put in context by visiting the home page of the forwarded The
Onion link. It’s
almost as if our technology has superceded our discernment, or spiritual wisdom.
It’s said that developing countries are often given the latest modern farming
equipment, but it stays untouched because the natives are still using plows and
can’t conceive of using this massive machinery for the same purposes as a
plow, no matter what its benefits. When we’re told a dubious story about
someone at church, we consider the source, tone of voice of the speaker and
actual content before deciding whether it should be repeated. When we receive an
email, evidently many Christians believe there are no rules worth considering¾everything
is in the public domain, nothing is off limits. This is especially poisonous because
they often cited studies at Journalism
School proving that few people actually remember their information
sources. Thus, the
originator might be The New York Times
or The National Enquirer, but most
people don’t make it a high enough priority to remember the difference. They
just remember the broad generalities. When Apostolics mix The Onion with truth, everyone’s witness is compromised. Indeed, if our standards of truth are so loose, how can we complain when sinners don’t believe The Truth we share? Our actions are always more effective witnesses than our words. If we don’t each adopt the highest standards possible on what we email, to whom we email and what we are willing to spread, we have no one to blame but ourselves if the world looks askance at our tarnished witness. (And if we accidentally send incorrect news, it is our job to tell the truth to everyone we misled.) J.K. Rowling is a real person. She’s a child of God, just like everyone else. Thanks to this email story, she’s been repeatedly slandered by our careless and imprudent actions. (“The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” Proverbs 18:8) It’s
time to rethink our scriptural responsibilities¾because
scripture doesn’t change with technology. It remains firm, and in some cases
it is unforgiving with those who transgress it. ninetyandnine.com © Kent d Curry, 2000 -------- Kent
d Curry is an Executive Editor of ninetyandnine.com.
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