JK Rowling denied top US honour

[Sinisterspider]

That's pretty stupid, seeing as witchcraft doesn't exsist. :/

 

[aruseusx]

I'm sorry but trying to promote sorcery is awesome, I mean who wouldn't want to shoot lighning out of their hands.

 

[Sazazezer Mililpili]

Actually, i think that was exactly what she was doing.

So, presumably George Lucas is promoting usage of the force.

Well yeah, in that it has brought up an awareness of a concept called the force and people has gone off with it to chase their own ideas on the subject.

It's not direct promotion, but the method is still likely to get people in the mood for looking it up.

Hence why we now have a Jedi religion.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

[Source: BBC News [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8282356.stm]]

Harry Potter author JK Rowling missed out on a top honour because some US politicians believed she "encouraged witchcraft", it has been claimed.

Matt Latimer, former speech writer for President George W Bush, said that some members of his administration believed her books promoted sorcery.

As a result, she was never presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The claims appear in Latimer's new book called Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor.

He wrote that "narrow thinking" led White House officials to object to giving Rowling the civilian honour.

The award acknowledges contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours.

Past literary recipients of the award include John Steinbeck and Harper Lee.

Others denied the privilege under the Bush administration included Senator Edward Kennedy, who died in August this year.

Latimer claimed, in his book, that the veteran politician and health care activist was excluded because he was deemed to be too liberal.

Looking back at the Bush era, I can't believe that all this happened only a few years ago. To accuse someone of "sorcery/witchcraft" is really keeping with the times, assuming of course we are in the middle ages.

I cannot believe that this was actually a valid concern amongst US politicians. How on earth did they manage to get elected?

Edit:

It seems that a lot of you have focused on the issue that she was up for an award in the first place. Well honestly, if you have managed to overlook the "encouraged witchcraft" part then I may have to spell out the main issue here:

a) Do you think the people responsible in taking away her honour had a valid claim by saying "she encouraged witchcraft" in her books.

b) Even if she was encouraging witchcraft (by some stretch) is it justifiable to deny someone of an honour/award because of their beliefs.

Or you know, you all can continue discussing the fact that she was not worthy of the award in the first place.

I loved the HP books (except seven: Harry Potter and Plagiarised Textbook on Nazi Germany) but I don't think she deserved an award. Then again, I think Steinbeck was a hack, so maybe I'm less than impartial.


Heres the point: the award was taken away for a very stupid reason, but I myself know several "disenfranchised young adults" (idiots) who attempted to take up Wicca and various other popularized versions of the practice of "Fuckin' with the way things be" after reading the novels.
I don't think it's hard to see why Harry Potter and his gaggle of magical lunatics pose a threat to a conservative idea of good christian values.

Oh, right, because THOSE KIDS ARE IDIOTS AND WERE EITHER GONNA DO IT ANYWAY OR GO OUT AND HUFF PAINT!


...Jackasses.

I'm putting Discordian on any religious surveys I get from now on

 

[PhiMed]

[Source: BBC News [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8282356.stm]]

Harry Potter author JK Rowling missed out on a top honour because some US politicians believed she "encouraged witchcraft", it has been claimed.

Matt Latimer, former speech writer for President George W Bush, said that some members of his administration believed her books promoted sorcery.

As a result, she was never presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The claims appear in Latimer's new book called Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor.

He wrote that "narrow thinking" led White House officials to object to giving Rowling the civilian honour.

The award acknowledges contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours.

Past literary recipients of the award include John Steinbeck and Harper Lee.

Others denied the privilege under the Bush administration included Senator Edward Kennedy, who died in August this year.

Latimer claimed, in his book, that the veteran politician and health care activist was excluded because he was deemed to be too liberal.

Looking back at the Bush era, I can't believe that all this happened only a few years ago. To accuse someone of "sorcery/witchcraft" is really keeping with the times, assuming of course we are in the middle ages.

I cannot believe that this was actually a valid concern amongst US politicians. How on earth did they manage to get elected?

Edit:

It seems that a lot of you have focused on the issue that she was up for an award in the first place. Well honestly, if you have managed to overlook the "encouraged witchcraft" part then I may have to spell out the main issue here:

a) Do you think the people responsible in taking away her honour had a valid claim by saying "she encouraged witchcraft" in her books.

b) Even if she was encouraging witchcraft (by some stretch) is it justifiable to deny someone of an honour/award because of their beliefs.

Or you know, you all can continue discussing the fact that she was not worthy of the award in the first place.

I think the issue is that just because someone wrote it in some sort of expose' doesn't mean it's true. I think it's entirely possible that Mr. Latimer is a liar. He did work in Washington, after all.

As far as her having her award "taken away", did she really? She didn't meet the criteria for the award anyway. You listed a description of the qualifications for the award, and she doesn't meet a single one of them.

I'm not a Rowling hater. I've read all the Potter books at least twice each and I've seen all the movies. That being said, this guy is clearly saying this to sell books. There's absolutely no reason to believe this happened, and even if it did the only result was that someone who didn't deserve a particular award failed to receive it.

Bush sucked, but some of the things that are being "revealed" about him lately are hyperbole. Someone could write that he sacrificed babies to Jesus, then ate their hearts to gain their strenght so he could fight against "abortioners", and a lot of people would believe it. Most importantly, though, even more people would buy the book.

 

[The Bandit]

Comparing J.K. Rowling to Steinbeck is like comparing a giant pile of shit to ice cream.

No, that's not the most creative metaphor, but it's certainly the most accurate.

 

[Chipperz]

My secondary school English project didn't get a medal in Upper Zululand on the grounds that they'd never heard of it. I was pissed for a while, but I got over it.

That said, they had a valid reason. Witchcraft isn't.

 

[lawgiver]

WITCH! WITCH! BURN HER!!!!

 

[Iampringles]

Well that's retarded.

 

[The Cheezy One]

if making millions of kids wave sticks about shouting is witchcraft, then so is walks through the woods
BURN THEM!

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

As far as her having her award "taken away", did she really? She didn't meet the criteria for the award anyway. You listed a description of the qualifications for the award, and she doesn't meet a single one of them.

Well she was denied the honour. The specifics entailed in that statement is never mentioned in the source so we can only speculate what "taken away" means here.

You do raise a valid point though, just because it was reported by the media does not make it the truth. Somehow though, there is this lingering suspicion in my mind about the what if....what if it is true?.

Can someone be preposterous enough to claim witchcraft?. I wouldn't put it past anyone I met on the street let alone a politician.

 

[jboking]

Great, another overreaction. Promoting witchcraft in a fictional story. I really don't think she deserved a medal or anything, but I also don't think that she was promoting witchcraft by writing a FICTIONAL story about them.

I'd have to agree, I don't see how she is promoting witchcraft. However, I don't see why she really deserved it.

 

[Veylon]

The award acknowledges contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours.

Given this, I scarcely see how the Harry Potter series would qualify anyway. This is the same kind of carping about how Creationists are supposedly "denied" the Noble Prize.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[McHanhan]

Who cares? Seriously, she's British. She shoudn't care about an American award. She made plenty of money selling to Americans (me included, loved those books) but why does it matter if a country she doesn't live in or ever will doesn't give her an award? For example, I really don't give a damn if my Science project from Senior year doesn't get an award from Bangladesh (which, by the way, it didn't).

Anyway, I can't imagine that this would effect her in any way, she knows she's a good writer.

Why exacly does she deserve it in the first place?

She's:

1) british
2) just wrote a popular children's fiction book.

Doesn't seem to me like major requisetes in earning an American medal of FREEDOM.

What did J.K. Rowling do that was worthy of the Presidential Medal of Freedom? She wrote some books that got kids reading, whoopdee doo. Were their alleged reasons for denying it stupid? Yes. Did she deserve it? No. Next you'll be wanting to give one to the lady who wrote the Twilight books.

And Ted Kennedy? Seriously? Yeah, he totally deserved one for crashing his car and leaving a woman to die. The man was hardly the saint that everyone is remembering him as.

Okay first of all should Rowling receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Doubtful, her books were good, but yet they don't seem to meet "Highest possible honor for a civillian" standards. If the Bush administration had denied the award to her for that it would be understandable, but to deny it BECAUSE it promoted witchcraft is well idiotic.

Also I find it humorous that so many of you are acting shocked at the notion that the people in the Bush White House were a bunch of morons. That is all.

Wow that's quite a list of people awry...anyway!. While I agree it seems odd for a British person to be up for an American award for "contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours" I would think that the fact she got tons of kids to read (something that kids tend to do less of these days) all over the world is quite a feat. Sure some of you are going "so what?" but consider this: Sheila Mccullagh and Diana Wynn Jones may be better writers or more original with their ideas but you don't see them been mentioned in the media do you?. Their books are popular..but somehow, not!. Ask a kid on the street what was the last Diana Wynn Jones book they read and chances are they won't know any of the series written by her. The chances get even slim when you leave the British demographics. However, you could be in Poland or dead-smack in Russia and ask someone on the street about JK Rowling and they are very likely to thrust the preserved copy of The Goblet of Fire in your faces.

She did something right, something that the others couldn't do and that's an achievement, no matter how shitty it looks to you. Very few authors can pull off international success, and the few that do should not be scoffed so easily. I put it to you to see if any of your literary masterpieces can garner that much attention. So don't brush aside the point that "she got kids to read" with "who cares?" "Whoop de doo" or "just wrote a popular children's fiction book because that's something that none of you can easily accomplish and it's not something even the professional writers can easily achieve.

More importantly though, at least in the context of the award, she she used her money for philanthropy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling#Philanthropy

In 2000, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of GBP 5.1 million to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one parent families, and multiple sclerosis research. Rowling said, "I think you have a moral responsibility when you've been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently."

You don't see that everyday, at least not from authors!.

Maybe she at least deserves some credit for the "cultural endeavours" category in that award, as opposed to everyone jumping down her throat for not being original or British. God knows why everyone hates someone that manages to break away from the pack.

 

[Crossborder]

She's a Witch!

 

[Kazturkey]

Harry Potter kind of sucks anyway. Although accusing her of witchcraft is downright silly, she doesnt't deserve the award in any case.

 

[Captain Pancake]

well, that's a bit silly. Promoting a fictional theme or ideal isn't really promoting a threat to national security, is it?

but on another note, I don't think Rowling deserves any award. Her writing seems pretty basic to me, and the story got really tedious towards the end.

 

[LeonLethality]

I thought the salem witch hunt ended I thought they burned all the witches.

 

[PhantomCritic]

"Matt Latimer, former speech writer for President George W Bush, said that some members of his administration believed her books promoted sorcery."

Why is it when I hear this all I can imagine are people who have been taken from the middle ages or just a bunch of chimps and given a job for the administration? Ah Bush, how you never fail us with you and your administration's stupidity...