Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Harry Potter books provide an easy escape from life JOSHUA HANLEY GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Harry Potter books are fine entertainment, but don’t forget newspapers Children used to learn to read so they could read the Bible. Now they do it for Harry Potter. Don’t get me wrong, I don't be grudge them their fantasy; I've in dulged in the genre by the back pack-full almost since I could read. But still, aside from any discus sion of their literary merit, the current craze concerns me. It’s not the frenzied pitch of the mobs that descended upon book stores all over the world last Friday night that is worrisome. Believe it or not, this type of craze over a book is nothing new, al though modem technology allows it to take place on a greater scale than ever before. More than 150 years ago, there were riots on the docks when the first shipments of the next part to one of Dickens' se rialized novels arrived from England. Now those books are on high school summer reading lists, which, ironically, provided the only motivation many kids had to read before Harry Potter. If, as many hope, the series sparks a new interest in the satis fying recreation of reading, so much the better. I know the books are condemned by many as shameless escapist fic tion, and while I can't disagree, al most all fiction is shameless es capist fiction. No, the only problem I have with Potter is not so much a problem with him as it is one with so many of those who read about him. I am concerned about the fact that more children can name the headmaster of Hogwarts than can name the vice president of the United States. I am concerned about the fact that so many who say they don't have time to keep up with current affairs — which are directly rele vant to their lives — are willing to blithely hury their heads in an 870 page book. I am concerned that so many who can’t make it to the nearest vot ing booth will stand in line for hours to be one of he first to read the latest Harry Potter novel. As hungrily as people might have devoured fiction in the past, they rarely did so to the exclusion of the events and issues that affect ed their lives. In contrast, many today turn off the news and cancel their newspa per subscriptions because it is all just too depressing. Even the lives of celebrities have ceased to pro vide enough catharsis; the E! chan nel can only dish out so many juicy bits before we must look elsewhere if we are to keep our heads in the sand. And so we hide in Harry, among other things. Consider: until April of 1974, no work of fiction had ever appeared on the New York Times trade pa perback bestseller list That month, “The Sword of Shannara,” by Terry Brooks, appeared there and leaped to number one, where it remained for five months. The book was the first major work of fantasy to ap pear since J.R.R. Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings,” and it marked the beginning of the sci-fi/fahtasy revolution. . In many bookstores, the space allotted to this genre is now almost as large as that devoted to all other fiction combined. But what did people read so much of before 1974? Histories? Biographies? Certainly. Self-help? Probably. Diet books? Maybe. Dr. Spock's “Baby and Child Care”? Unfortunately. They read about things that mat tered to them, subjects and issues that impacted their lives. Why is it that so few do now? Without rail ing against modem public educa tion, could it be that we are simply too comfortable? Iraq is so far away; Washington nearly as dis tant. The nearest ballot box? Still too far away for more than half of the country’. Not to say that all or only Harry Potter fans are initiative-impaired zombies; the ranks of muggles are rife with the blissfully ignorant too. If we can't put Potter do wn for a moment and leave the La-Z-Boy to put out small fires from time to time, we will soon have to abandon both to flee a house ablaze. Joshua Hanley is a fourth-year philosophy student. IN THEIR WORDS “Apparently some mean-spir ited Republicans didn't include tax breaks for those who pay no federal income taxes in their lat est round of tax cuts.” STEVE SKUTNIK IOWA STATE DAILY (IOWA STATE U.) “What most of us have only recently realized is that there are hundreds, likely thousands, of men who are looking to de stroy us with every breath we take. The peace that we find in our everyday activities is under attack, and it would take little more than a sinister suitcase to • destroy it all.” NATHAN BORST IOWA STATE DAILY (IOWA STATE l'. " “Yet, while racial profiling must be discouraged, we should n't confuse itwith the legitimate actions of law enforcement. For patrols on the Mexican border, it makes sense to target Hispanic-looking individuals for possible border violations? And if officials are tipped a white male is going to fire bomb a black church, should n't Caucasian males be scrut inized more carefully? In the end, these actions aren't con sidered racial profiling; just good police work based on credible, specific evidence.” WAYNE MA DAILY ILLINI (D. ILLINOIS) “There are some command ments by which everyone at tempting a long-distance rela tionship must abide. First, a relationship cannot work if one person is always paranoid that the other is cheating—al though not actually cheating helps too.” GEMMA LEWIS DAILY BRUIN <U. CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES) Agree? Disagree? Send letters to the editor. Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecocKviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. ONLINE This week’s question Do you think value-centered management will help USC? Vote at www.dailygame cock.com. Last week’s question Do you think students should be able to smoke in the dorms? See other poll results at www.dailygamecock.com. NO WAY! 43% NOT IF I LIVE THERE 20% IF ROOMMATE AGREES 26% OF COURSE! 4% SMOKE: GOOD FOR YOU 7% Winners and Sinners USC ENGINEERING Finally, somebody’s doing something about education in South Carolina. ^ MICHIGAN STUDENTS OF EVERY COLOR r Supreme Court recognizes race as a factor in education, but denounces mechanical fixes. VCM Could drop foreign language programs • like a bad outbreak of monkeypox. m USC SPORTS Nothing going on here. No wins, losses, or arrests. Gamecock Quotables “Some kids don’t know what an engineer is... To some high schoolers, an engineer is the guy who drives the train.” STEVE MCNEILL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT USC “Implementation is kind of tricky.” JOHN SKVORETZ DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS. ON THE PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW VALUE CENTERED MANAGEMENT BUDGETING SYSTEM. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.