posted on June 17, 2003 10:36:32 AM new
Amusing, but impossible. The Gideons alone give out 59 million KJV Bibles a year.
Interesting note on Harry Potter: My brother works for FedEx and he says it's "all hands on deck" this weekend for the shipment. At least one major bookseller (Amazon, I think) is delivering all their pre-ordered copies FedEx 2-day.
------------------- We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
posted on June 17, 2003 11:09:09 AM newMore copies of Rowling's last book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were sold in a year than any other book in the history of publishing.
I think "sold" in the operative element. Printers may be interested, but Publishers aren't too interested in how many books are given away.
posted on June 17, 2003 11:34:30 AM new
I don't know if you can fairly include the Bible in this. Most people are "given" Bibles. I alone have three that were given to me through the years. My daughter has two and my son has a couple. Yet, we have not one Harry Potter book among us and don't intend to have. We're all more into the classics like Moby Dick, A Call to Arms, etc. I just gave my son a leather bound copy of Moby Dick.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
posted on June 17, 2003 01:03:57 PM newCheryl, I agree they really shouldn't be compared. I think the person who wrote the story REAMOND refers to was just trying to be provocative .... the far right is already up in arms about Potter (the series is No. 1 on the American Library Association's Challenged Books list) It seems like the person who wrote the article was trying to pour gasoline on the flames and get the right-wingers all riled up. Judging from the traffic on the main rightist-rant sites, he succeeded.
But even if he was making an honest comparsion, I think he's wrong. I could not find a figure for single-copy sales of Bibles, but then again, if you wanted to make a fair comparison you'd have to subtract out the number of copies of Harry Potter books that went to schools and libraries.
------------------- We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
posted on June 17, 2003 03:26:18 PM new
msincognito
I think you are so right (or is that left). LOL! The right-wingers are always riled up about something. But, about a book? Now that's a real "give me a breaker".
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Jun 17, 2003 03:26 PM ]
posted on June 17, 2003 06:25:05 PM new then again, if you wanted to make a fair comparison you'd have to subtract out the number of copies of Harry Potter books that went to schools and libraries.
Why?? Those copies got paid for just like all the rest, in the case of schools, they usually pay absolute retail price, too, not the Amazon discount.
I'm driving to the Big City to the release party Saturday that my kid has a pass to, to pick up his copy and deliver it to him at his riding camp. Whatta-dad
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on June 17, 2003 06:29:06 PM new
By the way, I've spoken with 4 or 5 concerned parents since that series began who didn't want their kids reading books that encouraged "satanism". Not a single one of them had read even a snippet of the books. They had all been listening to radio preachers railing about them....Ignorance is it's own reward
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on June 18, 2003 07:02:40 AM new
That's OK. Most people only know what's in the bible from what another person related too.
If you counted the number who actually have READ the book Potter might be ahead. For most people a Bible is an iconic decoration.
posted on June 18, 2003 09:59:44 AM new
I remember when I was younger that Falwell and crew were burning Snow White because she ws living in sin with seven men and Bridge over Troubled Waters because it was incouraging leaning on someone other than god.... Seems some forms of stupidity never go away.
Mario Andretti - “If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.”
posted on June 18, 2003 10:02:35 AM new
Don't forget the great Tinky Winky controversy
------------------- We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
posted on June 18, 2003 05:09:19 PM new
My personal favorite was the phallic symbols on the videotape label of Disney's "Aladdin"
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on June 18, 2003 05:23:06 PM new
Oh, I almost forgot about Tinky Winky. LOL! I still have a Tinky Winky hanging in my car. I hung it there to show that I support all Teletubbies no matter what their sexual preference may be.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Jun 18, 2003 05:23 PM ]
posted on June 18, 2003 05:29:53 PM new We're all more into the classics like Moby Dick...
cBlev, if you really "enjoyed" Moby Dick, you ought to try "Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West", by Cormac McCarthy.It's a "quest" also, but set in the mid 19th century American west. Like Moby Dick, I am compelled to read it over and over, but I would be hard pressed to say I enjoy it. One I DO enjoy reading over and over, but only in little bites, like a very rich, spicy sauce, is "Love in the Time of Cholera", by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The english version is fairly well done...That's where the Harry Potter books come in, there's no work, excellent characterizations and setting, and they're just plain FUN
___________________________________
What luck for the leaders that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
posted on June 18, 2003 07:56:36 PM new
I never understood Teletubbies but I do remember making a few bucks on ebay off the talking one that cursed
Mario Andretti - “If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.”
Shortly after Mattel (MAT) releases its Nimbus 2000 Harry Potter Vibrating Broom as part of its line of Harry Potter toys, the vibrating device begins getting the wrong sort of customer raves. "I'm 32 and enjoy riding the broom as much as my 7-year-old," says one enthusiastic mother on Amazon. "My only complaint is, I wish the batteries didn't run out quite so quickly." Mattel stops making the toy, but denies that the unintended value-add is the reason. Says a spokesperson: "It's just not a continued product in our line."
posted on June 19, 2003 10:20:23 AM new Paganism, witchcraft on rise in UK
TV shows, Internet, Harry Potter boost membership
LONDON, June 19 — Paganism and the ancient art of witchcraft are on the rise in Britain, experts said on Thursday as the summer’s most celebrated Pagan festival approached.
TELEVISION, THE INTERNET, environmentalism and even feminism have all played a role in the resurgence, they say.
Soaring Pagan numbers have churches worrying and calling for stricter controls on cult TV programs and films that celebrate sorcery like “Harry Potter,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
Record attendance is expected at dawn on Saturday morning at the mystical megaliths of Stonehenge, where Pagans have celebrated the summer solstice for thousands of years.
The trend has worried some of the Protestant church’s more traditional elements.
“The rise of interest in Paganism is damaging because it normalizes spiritual evil by presenting it as mere fantasy and fiction,” said Reverend Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance, a grouping of some one million UK Christians.
“The Evangelical Alliance calls on government and TV regulatory bodies to monitor programs which promote or glamorize Pagan issues,” he told Reuters.
Thirty thousand are expected to dance in the sunrise on summer’s longest day at Stonehenge, says English Heritage, which manages the site — nearly four times the number in 1990, when it re-opened to the public after many years.
Scholars believe the ring of 20-ton stones was built between 3,000 and 1,600 BC as a sacred temple. Many of the revelers will be there just to party, but among them will be druids, who believe in spiritual enlightenment through nature, and witches who practice Wicca — harnessing nature’s power as magic.
At least 10,000 Pagan witches and 6,000 Pagan druids were practicing in Britain at the last estimate in 1996, said history professor Ronald Hutton at Bristol University. He too suggested the number was rising.
‘Traditional religions have so many prohibitions: Thou shalt not do this or that. But Paganism has a message of liberation combined with good citizenship.’
— RONALD HUTTON
History professor at Bristol University Both the witches and the druids were always heavily outnumbered by what I’d call non-attached Pagans,” he told Reuters. “There are perhaps 100,000 to 120,000 in Britain.”
Paganism has been rising in the UK since the 1950s, Hutton said. “It’s a religion that meets modern needs,” he added. “Traditional religions have so many prohibitions: Thou shalt not do this or that. But Paganism has a message of liberation combined with good citizenship.”
He pointed to the ancient Pagan motto: “An (if) it harm none, do what you will.”
Matt McCabe of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD) said his order had grown from a few hundred in the late 1980s to 7,000 worldwide today. Much of the growth he put down to the appeal of remote learning via the World Wide Web.
“People are very reassured by the structured learning we can offer via the Web,” he said.
The 1970s environmental movement also had an impact, said McCabe, with a lot of environmentalists attracted to Paganism because of its veneration of nature.
Hutton said feminism in the 1980s had a similar effect, with women drawn to the female god-figure that is also worshipped. Then in the 1990s came the TV programs “Buffy” and “Sabrina,” about teenagers with supernatural powers.
“Anything that makes teenage girls feel powerful is bound to go down well,” joked OBOD’s McCabe.
Kevin Carlyon, High Priest of British White Witches said “Harry Potter” in recent years had continued the trend, helping create what he called “the fastest growing belief system in the world.” But it was not all good, he added.
Fresh back from a trip to Scotland to lift an old hex from the Loch Ness Monster, he warned teenagers against joining witch covens too young.
“There are some bloody weird people out there,” he said.
Kevin Carlyon, High Priest of British White Witches said “Harry Potter” in recent years had continued the trend, helping create what he called “the fastest growing belief system in the world.”
posted on June 19, 2003 10:39:15 AM new
Harry Potter is a fictional character in a book, is he not? I hardly think a make believe character can be held responsible for the demise of stong religious beliefs. Or am I missing something? A lot of people are disillusioned with traditional religion and are searching for other things to believe in. I would more blame the priests that molest children, the pastors that preach fire and brimstone, the collapse of the nuclear family and the growing poverty in this country than Harry Potter, for crying out loud.
The UK has long had a large Druid and witch population - for centuries. I think the difference is is that they are making themselves more visible now. With everything else going on in the world today, they seem rather mild in comparison.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
posted on June 19, 2003 10:54:13 AM new
My minister talked about the whole controversy this week. He thinks it's silly, and recalled that the same kinds of accusations were thrown at "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie." (Yes, I'm sure that show corrupted thousands of young women: "Mama, I want to grow up and wear a chiffon bikini, live in a bottle and say 'Yes, Master' all the time!" )
-------------------
We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
[ edited by msincognito on Jun 19, 2003 10:54 AM ]
posted on June 19, 2003 06:44:54 PM new
Speaking of Moby Dick I recently finished writing a science fiction novel and at a party we went to an older lady sneered at me and said her son had told her I gave him a copy to read and she thought I was an ass to think I could write a story about a teenage girl being a man.
I told her I supposed she thought Melville was a n ass for writing Moby Dick when he wasn't a whale. She didn't appreciate it but my wife liked it so well she sprayed beer out her nose in her napkin laughing and about drowned.
