Laura Mallory’s Newest Venue?
This afternoon, I did a Blogdigger search for Harry Potter Podcast and this blog post came up announcing that Laura Mallory has started a myspace page.
Here is a link to her page: http://www.myspace.com/crusaderoflove
So here are my questions:
- 1. Do you think this page is real?
- 2. Assuming it is real, do you think that the myspace audience will be receptive to the anti-Potter rhetoric that Mrs. Mallory has been spewing for years, or do you think that the Potter fans will collectively try to flame her out of social networking?
- 3. If you read her myspace blog, Mrs. Mallory has some particularly cutting words for a fellow Potter Podcaster (Sue Upton from Pottercast)- and she goes as far as to say that that HP Podcast is “a danger to America and the world, since it is supporting terrorist activities by featuring these books.” - Should the HP fans be going after this woman and her ridiculous assumptions or should they (we) collectively take the proverbial high road and ignore her unbelievably false, yet (thanks to freedom of speech) constitutional right to make these allegations? I opine that we should ignore her and not feed her particular brand of troll (yes, the troll I am referencing here is somewhat similar to the troll in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom-extremely large and scary yet mostly just a stupid beast)?
I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Penny:)
May 14th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I’m guessing it’s a hoax, but even if not we should ignore her. A flame war will be a pointless waste of time for all concerned.
May 14th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I think ignoring her is the best method. It is very difficult to argue with her without emotionally responding- which is something she wants.
The way i understand her argument is since the Bible can’t be allowed for study scholastically then Harry Potter shouldn’t be studied as it’s a peagan religious text. The inacuracies of it aside this is a straw-man argument. I think the bible should be studied scholastically but calling it the “devine word of God” gets in the way of scholastism, does it not?
What really bothers me is that, historically, the early church of Europe embraced much of the Peagan practices, joining them with Christian precepts to unify much of Europe into a cohesive community for defense, against outside Islamic forces, and internal harmony with each other. Mallory is calling Harry Potter Peagan and contrary to Christianity when Christianity embraced Peaganism to become Harry Potter- something that unifies lots of different people.
This is common to the brand of Chrisitanity she follows, it is historically revisionist, and intollerant of others. This shouldn’t be contested with Harry Potter Fans but the Christian Community was a whole who is losing followers and good publicity to the extremists who make the most noise.
May 14th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Because I like to act like I’m five years old and thinking this MIGHT be real, (im not sure though) I sent this to her in a message:
“I think you are a horrible person. Harry Potter, or any book for that matter should be optional to read for each person. You have no right to try to get these books banned from schools. As a fellow Georgian, I am ashamed to say that I live in the same state as you. Also, as an Atheist, I would like to say that you need to chill, Harry Potter is a way for thousands of people to escape from the world, and if they take that too far, it’s their problem. When people (children and adults) read these books they can imagine a world away from reality. You shouldn’t think that you can take that away from people.
It’s not godly.”
It might not be the nicest thing I’ve ever done, but I just thought I would share that with you.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I took a look at this page and although I have little exposure to myspace pages this seems fake. (A Christian wouldn’t include themselves as their hero.) However, I agree with those who stated it would be best to ignore her. Let her do her thing and we’ll do ours. There is room for all opinions. To write hate mail, etc. would be stooping to her level.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
It’s really hard to take this woman seriously for one thing, I only fear for the tyranny she is inflicting upon her children and her future aspirations to become an “educator”. I don’t know if this site is a hoax, but the ignorant crap spewed on her site is very much in league with all the press we have heard on her thus far. Her antics do not deserve much of our attention and her rhetoric does not have leg to stand on. While I believe that the bible speaks many fundamental truths, I do not believe it remains the only conduit/medium we have for examining moral and ideological truths which relate to the human condition.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Well, wat can I say… I don’t have to stop myself from sending hate-mail fearing that I will be treated like a kid cause, after all, im 17. I just have to say…Poor kids! (her children)
May 15th, 2007 at 6:53 am
yes ignore her. Im a Christian and I’m proud to say so, but its people like this that is the very reason that Christianity has a bad name. yes its hurts but fake or not, its best to ignore her. Id have thought it was real but Terrorist codes? Thats extremely left field for me. Im sure the last thing terrorists are doing is reading Harry Potter….
May 15th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Laura who?
May 15th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Hey Greg and Penny,
Been listening to you guys for the last month or so and have just caught up on all the podcasts. Actually spent grades 3-11 in Gaithersburg, now in Tokyo for the last 11 years, but good to hear some home-folk over here. Love tha’ podcast guys . . .
This was too funny not to respond to - check out what she writes in her myspace blog:
“America is on a path to a greater threat then we thought. It is those wicked Harry Potter books. The reason why Harry Potter is a terrorist threat, for the spells in the books are speical codes for terrorist groups in the middle east. The characters represent well known terrorist who have attack our borders. This is why we should ban these books from our schools. So, that no child would be influence by these materials of mass killings on a free country. There is also popular podcast like PotterCast, MuggleCast who are spreading words of prasie to this horrible book of evil. And they must be stop, so that they won’t brainwash anymore children with their terrorist views and support. They are the reason for the VT shooting, causing that boy to commit an act of mass murder all because of a internet show that talk about the evil that is in Harry Potter.”
Special codes for terrorist groups?!?! Harry Potter is the reason for the Virginia Tech shooting?!?! WTF . . .
I wouldn’t waste anymore time on this one except to provide some comic relief . . .
By the way, Harry is NOT a horcrux. Not possible for all the reasons everyone posted. I think the only mystery one is the Gryffindor item really . . . V never had access to the sword and there’s no mention of other Gryffindor artifacts really . . . guess that’s something we’ll need to wait for. I also think destroying a horcrux is not meant to be a big deal. By investing part of his soul into an object, doesn’t make the object intrinsically difficult to destroy, necessarily, but as a part of his soul resides in the object, the object becomes evil and is invested with some of his power I think. I think the protections V places ‘around’ the objects or perhaps the resulting power in the object are the “tasks” if you will, the magik that killed Dumbledore’s hand, as I reckon JK doesn’t necessarily operate under any set of rules . . .
Anyways my two cents. Oh and Harry has to die - he’s damaged, like Frodo and as she’s set it up with the breakup with Ginny, it’s inevitable. His fulfillment will come in reuniting with moms and pops, sirius and dumbledore and becoming an obi-wan like source of wisdom to his comparatively dull earthbound friends . . . wish JK let him get it on with Cho though, would have liked to see more of her in the remaining movies
my two cents . . .
May 15th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Her comments remind me somewhat of the now late Rev. Falwell said.
May 15th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I said that I was acting like a 5 year-old, I said that at the start. So, it’s not like I think I’m getting to her by that I was just putting my thoughts out.
=]
May 16th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Phew. I can only conclude that our listeners are a smart bunch of level headed people. Well done.
Vince- have we mentioned that Greg grew up in Gaithersburg? Where did you go to school?
May 16th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Let’s do a podcast about Christian symbology in the Harry Potter series.
How about Jewish symbols and story parallels in HP.
I’m of the mind that the Harry Potter series is very Christian. It is authentically Christian, not the party-line. There are extraordinary forces of magic that anyone would want, but they pale in comparison to love. What could be a more Christian message than that?!
May 17th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Penny,
I went to Stedwick Elementary, Mongtgomery Village Jr. High and Gaithersburg High through 10th grade (lived in Montgomery Village obviously), worked at the “Carvel Ice Cream” as a 12year old for a summer and took guitar lessons across the street from there - forget the name of the music store now, but great place to grow up . . . Gregs about 8 years younger than I am so we probably didn’t know each other but if he’s got an older brother/sis or something then ya never know eh . . .
By the way - there are all these analyses/analysts out there calling the books a clear allegory to Christian dogma . . . I’ve heard it compared to the Narnia series, but I think that’s a reach . . .
Oh and Mallory needs a big bad (in a lewd way) man in her life I think - seems she is screaming for attention and for some reason americans (generalised) and media (accurate) always tend to pick up on people yelling and screaming absurdities. The passing of our dear Jerry Falwell is a reminder of that . . .
May 17th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I can’t even put into words how stupid that sight is and to attack Sue Upton!! I listen to both Mugglecast and Pottercast and they are very careful to not really say much about her personally. I think it just really ticks Mallory off that Sue is a mother herself and is a big HP fan. I live in Kansas and we have our own religious psycho family,that claims to be a church but the only members are related. They are anti-gay and have spiraled into making everything that is wrong with the world is Gods wrath because of gay people. Laura Mallory is much the same. As someone said before, people like this and those getting rich off of their television broadcastings etc is part of the reason America has lost interest in religion. I am a Christian and it sickens me to see this. I love Harry Potter because it is a great story of a boy and yes it has a great theme of love and friendship and loyalty, but overall in my opinion it is an adventure. I guess we HP fans just need to realise is that if someone wants to take something and make it bad they will. That “letter” is so ridiculous it can’t be real. If it is it goes to show how American parents aren’t willing to acknowledge their own mistakes as parents. Ok rant over, I could go on forever about this but I won’t. Ignore her and let her waste her money trying to do this.
May 18th, 2007 at 10:26 am
I guess its good I dont know who this chick is then ….
May 25th, 2007 at 6:41 am
I find it interesting that Laura actually listens to PotterCast!
Read her “Down with Sue” post, and it is quite interesting.
May 28th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I’ve been trying to comment on this thread for several days and each time I do it, the post gets lost. I’m sure the problem is on my end, we’ve had other similar problems recently. But here I go again, because this is a subject I’m rather passionate about.
I’m a born-again Christian: Baptist, Bible-thumping, conservative evangelical Christian (I’m even a homeschooler). I’m also an obsessed Harry Potter fan. I’m currently re-reading PoA for probably the 10th time, that’s not really an exaggeration. It’s at least the 8th. I’ve read all of the HP books aloud to each of my sons and to myself several times in addition. I probably share a lot of the same beliefs that Mrs. Mallory holds, but I don’t believe Harry Potter books are bad for you. I even own a magic wand (shh, don’t tell my pastor!)
So, now that you know where I’m coming from, I have to say I think this site is a hoax. Or at least that it wasn’t written by or probably even with the direct input of Mrs. Mallory. The give-aways for me are two: First, the profile. A conservative Christian like Mrs. Mallory wouldn’t list her zodiac sign in her profile, if she even knows what hers is. She wouldn’t list anything under “orientation” either, rejecting as she does the validity of anything other than heterosexual, she might not immediately even realize what the form was getting at in asking that. Second, I think the verse that is chosen is so ironic as to almost have to be something chosen to make fun of Mrs. Mallory rather than be a verse she would choose for a site where her primary purpose is to bash Harry Potter. I think Mrs. Mallory would choose a verse about how Christians are to stay away from sin an sorcery and witchcraft, or at least a verse that says Christians are “in this world but not of this world”, something like that. She doesn’t get the irony that she’s not showing Christ’s love by bashing a children’s book. Third, I would hope Mrs. Mallory would realize it’s not a very Christian thing to say she wants to shake the evil out of our beloved author. I don’t think she thinks about the author at all, nor would she want to meet her. She wants the books to go away, but she hasn’t read them, she hasn’t considered they come from a person with a heart and soul, a person Christ also died to save, or she’d write something to that effect. She’d either want to save Jo or she wouldn’t want to meet her, I don’t think she’d write that she wants to shake the evil out of her or that she wants to meet her at all. Fourth, mentioning a person from a Harry Potter podcast specifically makes me think it’s not Mrs. Mallory, because I don’t believe she’d ever listen to a podcast about the subject she thinks is so evil, nor would she even visit The Leaky Cauldron or Sue’s blog or anything like that. She’s probably got some net nanny program that allows her to put phrases in that, if the site has that phrase in it anyway, the entire site’s excluded from being viewed on her computer, and she’s probably entered Harry Potter and Jk Rowling into that program to make sure her kids aren’t corrupted.
I wrote to Mrs. Mallory once; well, I filled out an email form on a site she has that I can’t remember the name of right now. I wrote and told her that Jesus told us to go and make disciples, not to go and take children’s books away from them. But I bet she never read my letter. She’s not going to change her mind about these books. I just keep hoping that there’s something so overtly Christian about the symbolism in the Deathly Hallows that it makes the mainstream news that Rowling is a Christian and Mrs. Mallory has to at least recognize that she might have judged too hastily.
I’d love to know if this site was written by someone even more anti-Harry Potter than Mrs. Mallory, or if it was written by someone who hates Mrs. Mallory and wanted to make her look bad. She’s doing a pretty good job of that all by herself, I don’t think she needs help. If you find out the answer, I hope you put it on the podcast.
May 29th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Another reason to think it’s a hoax: today, reading about today’s court decision, I stumbled upon a newspaper article from April mentioning Mrs. Mallory and using the same photo as the one on the blog, the one of her sitting on a front porch. I can’t believe that’s a photo she would submit to a blog site, but maybe . . .
May 29th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I have heard this woman has issue’s… Wonder if she has a swimsuit issue?