HP in witchcraft controversy in South Africa

[Big Brother]

Harry Potter is in yet another school-censorship/witchcraft flap, this time in Johannesburg, South Africa, of all places:

www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=AFZWNWUM1ONNSCRBAEKSFEY?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6676548

Amusingly enough, a politician involved in the controversy is named Dudley. Well, there's a surprise...someone named Dudley is offended by the HP books...

[mooncroww]

While many remarks come to mind... all I can do is shake my head.

[Lorpius Prime]

African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley said South Africa needed a clear policy to avoid other pupils facing moral dilemmas during exams.

"I have read (Harry Potter books), I have researched them thoroughly, and my personal opinion is that they are witchcraft manuals," Dudley told Reuters.

[Lolua]

mooncroww said:

While many remarks come to mind... all I can do is shake my head.

Lorpius said:

African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley said South Africa needed a clear policy to avoid other pupils facing moral dilemmas during exams.

"I have read (Harry Potter books), I have researched them thoroughly, and my personal opinion is that they are witchcraft manuals," Dudley told Reuters.

Oh, South Africa is fond of banning books. I'm pretty sure that in the past they've banned Cry, the Beloved Country and, if I'm not mistaken, Alex Haley's Roots.

And Harry Potter books are witchcraft manuals just as much as, say, Anne McCaffrey's The Dragonriders of Pern books are manuals for riding dragons on the planet Pern. You can't ride dragons because they don't exist, and you can't learn how to do magic because there is no such thing.

Note to Mr. Dudley: Look up the words "fiction" and "fantasy" in the dictionary. It might help.