Scoop’s Views

There is an incredibly stupid “disclaimer,” if you will, on the Today Show site, which reads:

Spoiler alert: This story reveals some key plot points in the final Harry Potter book. So if you’ve haven’t finished the book, J.K. Rowling asks that you not read this story.

J.K. Rowling wants visitors to the Today Show site, or to the MSNBC site hosting a mirror version of an article about the “last in a seven book series” Harry Potter book, to not read the story they obviously clicked a link to read? Talk about an asinine comment or “request” — no matter who makes it.

It seems the author, J.K. Rowling, wants people to buy her book if they want to learn anything about the life and death of Harry Potter — or did Harry Potter survive his venture into the woods to kill someone who was evil?

Since I never read any of the books, nor do I have any compulsion to read them, I could care less about Harry, his life, death, or anything else. I do, however, do a lot of reading, including about people who are shaping minds of others, such as J.K. Rowling.

In reading the MSNBC article, I had a good laugh when I read the comments by the article’s author, Jen Brown:

“The Deathly Hallows” is the climax to the last 17 years of Rowling?s life, a time when she has gone from a single, divorced mother living on public assistance to a happily married mother of three and one of the richest women in the world.

I love how Jen Brown jumped right in there, tooting the horn for J.K. Rowling and her amassed fortunes. It’s wonderful that she’s been able to ride the Harry Potter series to such great wealth. In fact, it’s great she’s become one of the richest women in the world. Now she’s right up there with Oprah. It’s great she’s gone from being a single mother to a happily married woman, but, if the marriages of many others who took the marital plunge after the fortune’s been made is any indicator, the happiness may turn as ugly as any of the nasty scenes Rowling talks about in her interview with the Today Show host Meredith Vieira. That would be sad, especially for the children.

In looking at the Today Show site, the menu on the left sidebar actually has a Harry Potter link. It isn’t a gratuitous link, if you will, that some sites add in a “special section” at the bottom of the menu. The Harry Potter link was the fifth item from the top of the menu!

Sure, the Today Show isn’t a true news show. It is mostly entertainment, but when a fictional book series ranks higher than what should be permanent links in the site menu structure for “Health” and other items, it makes me wonder. For one thing, I wonder where — and when — did society get so screwy that a series of books, fictional ones at that, drive such a large economy? Perhaps more importantly, even, when and where did society misplace its values for true knowledge that Harry Potter should top the items listed on the site of a quasi-news show?

For more than two weeks, since July 13, actually, there’s been at least one major news story a day about Harry Potter and his possible demise. Now, if Harry Potter, the character isn’t dead, tell J.K. Rowling to write me into her next book and I will wring his bloody neck. In fact, I will write the scene for her!

I am not against anyone making money, and I am certainly now against anyone becoming as wealthy as they can in any legal venture. What bothers me, when you get right down to the nitty gritty, is that J.K. Rowling is hawking a fictional book. She’s gone from dirt poor to one of the richest women in the world in the process. It makes one wonder, nay, it makes me wonder: where are the movers and shakers, the thinkers, the leaders in society? Where are the people bringing a wealth of knowledge to the masses?

Sadly, those people take a back seat — until plunged into the spotlight like author Rick Warren with his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, when Ashley Smith was taken hostage by Brian Nichols. If you recall, Nichols shot his way out of an Atlanta courthouse, killing four people. He eventually ended up in Ashley Smith’s apartment, where he held her hostage.

Initially, Smith said she pulled out her copy of The Purpose-Driven Life and began reading to Nichols a chapter called “Using What God Gave Me” to gain his trust. Nichols later released her, she said, and that’s when she called 911, telling authorities where to find him.

In her own book, however, the story changed. In it, she tells how Nichols had her bound on her bed, having used masking tape and an extension cord. She says he asked her for marijuana, but told him she didn’t have any. She gave him an option: she dug into her own illegal stash of crystal meth instead.

According to Smith’s updated story, the seven-hour ordeal led her to the realization that she was a drug addict. At the time she came clean with her updated story, she said she hadn’t used any drugs since the night before she was taken captive, saying that she had thoughts that “If I did die, I wasn?t going to heaven and say, ?Oh, excuse me, God. Let me wipe my nose, because I just did some drugs before I got here’.”

Well, I’m not sure her thoughts about getting into heaven were on-the-mark or not, as I am not God. Had I been in her shoes, thinking something like that, it would have been something along the line of, If I die, I’m sure as hell not going to get into heaven being a junkie!”

In the end, though, it seems Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life, won out the day. That’s a good thing. The book is something positive and reinforcing. It has helped many people, including, it seems, Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols turn their lives around.

Now, back to the thought that brought about the discussion of The Purpose-Driven Life in the first place: Warren and his book are the pieces missing from this puzzle. Where are more positive, real-life works in our lives? Where are positive role models in life?

It’s becoming more and more evident that it’s far past the time to put aside all the supposed “heroes” and “role models” many want to hold out in today’s society, such as basketball and football players. People respect them and, if I dare, idolize them for what reason? Oh, yeah! They are held in such esteem because they toss a ball, carry a ball, run around, sweat a lot, and act like jackasses — and get to command salaries that are often calculated in the millions.

Half of the players in professional sports in the United States can’t even speak proper English, let alone the players who are not even American citizens. Has the U.S. really run out of talented kids wanting to toss a basketball, baseball, or football? If you tell them they can get paid for tossing the ball, you will have a line five miles long, easily, in any major city. Back in the day, my kid brother wanted to play baseball. My son wanted to play football and baseball. Instead, supposed talent scouts for these “national” leagues and “professional” teams feel the need to find players in other countries. That is so … forget that thought — that is another topic entirely.

Nope, that isn’t a hero. That isn’t someone to idolize. That isn’t someone to look up to, holding them in high esteem. Over the past several years, there have been more and more reports — and arrests — of these supposedly “professional” players for crimes ranging from rape, driving under the influence, and more. Where is the professionalism in that?

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