Monday, July 9, 2012

Freestyle Post - Don't be a Hypocrite

When the Harry Potter books came out, everyone in my immediate family became fans.  We were all captivated by the subject matter and characters.  It was so fun to read and discuss as a family.  We all devoured the books the minute we got them.  The downside was, we'd have to wait FOREVER for the next book to come out.    We all were of the opinion that these books were harmless children's literature.  I think that's why we were so shocked (and disgusted) by all the furor over how evil and harmful they were to children, especially by members of our extended family.


Certainly, people are are entitled to their own opinions.  After reading, watching or listening to something, I can respect that someone may not agree with my assessment and believe the opposite of what I believe.  However, when people we knew that came out against the Harry Potter books said that they had not read them, I was flabbergasted.  How can you know something is good, bad or evil if you have no direct knowledge of the content of the book?  I found their arguments that you didn't have to read the books to know they were full of evil to be specious at best. 

Then came the Twilight books.  My oldest niece, Charity, was obsessed with them.  I was living in England at the time and she would put comments about them up on Facebook, saying how much she loved them and was looking forward to them movies as well.  I hadn't heard of them, really, other than what friends who had read them told me.  Their reviews were not glowing and from the information I gleaned, I knew they were not my cup of tea.  My family are quite good at teasing each other and Charity got a lot of ribbing from all of us about Twilight.  Finally, she asked me if I had read them.  I had to say no.  She then shut me down by saying, "Well, if you haven't read them how can you know if they're good or not?"  Ouch.  I was put in my place.  I promised her that I wouldn't say anything else about them until I had read them.


I found the whole series at a car boot (yard sale) sale for £2.00.  True to my word, I read them all in a week.  My opinion didn't change, however my attitude did.  Though it wasn't my type of fiction, I could see how a teenage girl would like them.  I respected her opinion and her courage to call me out as the hypocrite I was being.  I really had been acting in a way that I had previously been disgusted by. It was a humbling experience, but I'm glad it happened.  It reaffirmed my position that we can all disagree and still maintain respect for one another.

4 comments:

  1. Hi, Liz. I really like this post! I refused to read Harry Potter until the second book was out, and then I stayed with a friend of mine for a weekend, and she dumped the first two in my lap. I gobbled them up before I got home. Now, I've read them twice aloud to my daughter, and she wants to start again! :)

    I've been trying to alternate books I want to read with books I "should" read, either because they are classics or because people I know have recommended them. My most recent difficult book was Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. It took me two tries to get through it and months of slow reading, despite the fact it's a pretty short book. The violence was just really difficult to slog through. But, I appreciate the writing style, and now I can talk about it with others who have read it. Nancy

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  2. Thanks, Nancy! It's funny how you started reading them. I had a similar situation with my sister. I actually read The Prisoner of Azkaban first and then went back and devoured the first two...then read TPoA again! That summer, Goblet of Fire came out and I was completely hooked. I can't wait to be able to read them with Henry. :-) We have a few years yet to wait but I have a feeling he's going to love them.

    I've never heard of Cormac McCarthy. I shall Google him posthaste. There are way too many "should" reads in my life at the moment. Mostly classics. What I love about my Kindle Fire is that I can download all the classics I can think of for free. I have just downloaded Anna Karenina as that is one I have been meaning to read for a very long time. I'm not too fond of Russian writers, but I will give it a whirl.

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    1. I'm not a fan of really big books and have to remind myself they arose at a time when there was no TV, let alone Internet! :) I loved Anna Karenina, though. I seem to remember reading War and Peace, but that could be a false memory(I also remember seeing Santa Claus in his sleigh in the sky). I have The Brothers Karamazov on the bookshelf by my bed, a gift from a woman I admire who is also working through a list of "shoulds." Maybe a shorter "should" first... :) Nancy

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  3. I'm a fan of the twilight series and many did say how the book did differ from the films. We will all disagree at some point and keep our cool.

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