This thread discusses the Content article: Outcry Follows Dumbledore's Outing

That's just.....silly.

Banning books is a dangerous thing. Set a precedent, and then the gate might swing the OTHER way...and what will be banned next?

Just peachy.

Seriously -- banning a book because the author revealed information after it was published about one of the characters?

Absurd.

worldmag.com


What's the significance of "outing" someone who doesn't actually exist? Plenty, apparently, if the character in question is Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and headmaster of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. And if you are J.K. Rowling speaking to fans at Carnegie Hall. Harry Potter's mentor "is gay" she told the crowd on her first U.S. book tour since 2000, to wild applause. Rowling then acknowledged that not everyone likes her work (a reference most media took to mean Christian groups that have objected to its witchcraft), and this, she said, will give them one more reason not to.

But if characters only exist in words, and no words ever defined this imaginary wizard as gay, then what's the point? Rowling spent much of her book tour spinning out the imaginary future of characters whose story was over with the July publication of the final Potter installment. Sharing plot twists in this fashion seems showy, pointed, and precious—like George Lucas coming out and saying, "Well, Darth Vader was against the war in Iraq."

Actually, it's more like an author leaving something out a detail about a character's hair color, and then later saying, "Oh, she's a redhead."

Kevinlucia wrote:
This thread discusses the Content article: Outcry Follows Dumbledore's Outing

That's just.....silly.

Banning books is a dangerous thing. Set a precedent, and then the gate might swing the OTHER way...and what will be banned next?

Ooh, I'd have to say the Bible, perhaps? Some of these overly-vigilant hyperfundies, unfortunately, do not possess the ability or insight to "connect the dots." In their unwise desire to ban everything that does not fit in with their particular worldview, they might very well rub themselves out of existence (at least as an influence for good).

BTW, glad to see you on here, Kevin. Big fan.