Appalled Emma is Appalled

     As I was eating in the Leonard Caff today, Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, somehow came up into the conversation. I mentioned that I thought it was appalling that, in the summer, the mayor didn't speak at, or even attend, any gay pride festivities and instead chose to go to some Toronto Maple Leafs conference. One of the people I was sitting with stated "I wouldn't blame him." I was literally so appalled that as I'm typing this, I'm still in a angry rage. He then proceeded to comment "Oh come on Emma. If you were the mayor and you could chose to go to the gay pride parade or meet Sidney Crosby, you'd pick the latter." I was, and still am, at a loss for words. I'm so insulted that he, who I've known since I came to Queen's, would seriously think I would do that. Obviously, I love Sid the Kid with all of my heart, but if I was the mayor, and it was my duty to support and represent all of the citizens of my city, I would go to the gay pride parade, no questions asked. Obviously this 'friend' of mine does not believe in gay rights and is some sort of corrupt, ignorant, hick conservative that can't appreciate human rights. Like, fuck. Sidney Crosby, dare I say it, is just a person. Gay rights effects thousands, and are extremely important to the future equality of all of mankind. That is all.

Harry Potter and Religion: Not as Different as One Might Think

It was a Sunday and I had just finished my underwhelming Sunday dinner. I was walking towards the exit when something was mentioned that made me want to throw up my dinner (actually, I still want to throw it up. It was gross.) A person, who shall not be named, commented on quite possibly my favourite series of all time: Harry Potter. When the shocking utterance of, "Harry Potter is very anti-christ", occurred, my eyes  were bulging and I was ready to attack. I'm a practising Christian. I go to Church. I believe in God and Jesus. But there is absolutely no excuse for claiming that Harry Potter is "anti-Christ" when one hasn't even read the books. I,  having read all of them 16 times over, will now explain how they are far from "anti-Christ."
       The first major argument would be about the "witchcraft" practiced at Hogwarts. Sure, the bible does highly forbids the use of witchcraft and paganism. I understand that, but the thing is, it isn't real. Magic spells, potions; they don't exist. Some of the book were even burned because they contained witchcraft. So what? If your going to burn a book because of the mention of witchcraft, you should just burn Cinderella, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, any books about King Arthur, The Wizard of Oz or even Macbeth. And of course, there's the argument that the characters do things that God himself does. But, in novels, that isn't exactly true. Sure, the witches and wizards do things that normal human beings can't even dream of doing, but the things are mostly used for good. Even the "Unforgivable Curses", that are used to kill, are not meant for wizards to use. They are forbidden and illegal. Sure, characters use them, but all of the characters that do pay for it in the end. As well, in reality, people kill other people. Those people are put in jail and have sinned, much like the characters put in Askaban.
                As well, J.K. Rowling, a practising Christian, uses so much symbolism to represent the Christian religion, that's it's almost funny to read. The serpent, used as the symbol for the house of Slytherin, clearly represents the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Now, Rowling is in no way saying the house is good. In fact, she alludes to the exact opposite. Everyone from Slytherin is evil. And everyone from Slytherin who acts upon their evil thoughts, dies in the end. As well, the symbol for the house of Gryffindor, is a lion. Obviously, it is seen that lions are brave and good creatures, so most people from Gryffindor are good. The entire series is clearly a battle between good and evil.
        Even in the last book, the Crucifixion is alluded to. Voldemort, who is clearly winning the battle, calls out to Harry from the forest saying if Harry doesn't come and die, he will kill everyone fighting for the good side. Harry realizes that "he [is] not supposed to survive"(Rowling 554), goes into the forest, and is killed by Voldemort. However, after being in a sort of dream-like trance, Harry awakens and eventually, saves the Wizarding world. Now, some might say that comparing a normal human being to Jesus is wrong, but many, many authors have done it before. I mean, C.S. Lewis compared a lion and J.J.R. Tolkin compared Frodo to Jesus . Using a character to represent Jesus is not a terrible thing whatsoever. Obviously the character is not Jesus, but they possess qualities that are the true meaning good, similar to Jesus.
                What really baffles me, is the idea of censorship in this whole "anti-christ" argument. Some Christian parents won't even let their children read the books because they are afraid of them becoming "corrupted" or something ridiculous like that. When I was little, I loved Harry Potter. I wanted to go to Hogwarts and live in the world of magic. But in no way did I see the allusions to the Bible. Most children don't understand things like that, and would let alone act upon them. Obviously certain Christians are afraid that people will stop believing in their faith because of a novel. If people are afraid that, after reading a book, they will stop believing in something so important to them, the foundation of the religion probably isn't exactly strong to begin with.