As I was reading this article today I was amused that the general public thinks that they have the ability to tell an author what to do in terms of character development or mortality. Do we really want the authors to kowtow to our whimsical reader wants? Children will be ok. It’s not going to hurt them as much to see Harry Potter die as it would hurt them for their primary guardian to die, leaving them penniless with mean aunts and uncles. Rowling is amazing when she says:
“When fans accuse me of sadism, which doesn’t happen that often, I feel I’m toughening them up to go on and read John [Grisham] and Stephen’s [King] books,” she said. “I think they’ve got to be toughened up somehow. It’s a cruel literary world out there.”
I barely know her and yet I love her literary mind. If only the rest of the world could be so rational.
I know that there are many well intentioned people out there who genuinely believe that if they do their hardest to fight crime they can stop all bad things from happening in the world. The fact of the matter is you can’t. You can be prudent and you can be rational but that’s not going to stop the irrational and unexpected things of the world. Congress has introduced legislation to ban social sites from schools and libraries. Schools are one thing. At the elementary and high school level you should probably be doing schoolwork at school and not playing on the internet. I firmly believe that by banning these sites from the libraries they are being overzealous and reactionary instead of thoughtfully pragmatic. For some people, libraries are the only places they can go to access the internet. Are we really going to allow Congress to tell us that we can not check for messages from Friendster at the library? Education begins in the home. Parents need to talk to their children and educate them as to the proper behaviours on the internet. If they don’t know, the parents can enlist support from all those wonderful resources out there. Saying that one doesn’t know anything about the internet and then allowing their children to travel all over it unchecked is ludicrous. Take the time to talk to your children when they are young so that they grow up trusting you and make sure to always take an interest in what they are doing. But don’t prevent me from doing something because you can not take the time to talk to your kids.
Lastly, hoorah for the ultimate diet vaccine?!? Scientists are awesome. They have found a vaccine that prevents rats from gaining weight even when overeating. I think the best use of this is Thanksgiving time. Maybe Christmas. For the other 363 days a year. Please, eat in moderation.
PS for those of you who don’t know, one of the best “diet pills” are peppermints. Eating one will curb your appetite as well as help to wake you up. Pretty awesome, eh?
