I find this subject to be fascinating really. It seems that a lot of the things being spread right now by, unfortunately, a small sect of religious nuts about Pullman’s The Golden Compass, in light of the recent film adaptation, have been flat out lies. It actually amazes me how gullible people are to believe a lot of the things being said. Here’s an example:
In the words of the author, “I want to kill God in the minds of Children…. I want them to decide against God and the Kingdom of Heaven.”
I got this quote from here, but you can see it everywhere in this Google search. What? When and where did he say this? As the original link points out, the author, as far as we know, never actually said this. There’s no proof. No citation, not nothing. It was spread through an email as propaganda against the author and the movie.
The way it seems to me is that these people, rather than allowing their children to make their own decisions, are attempting to cloud their children from reality. This is just as bad as what they propose Pullman is doing (even though he isn’t). Kids are not idiots. I think adults have this illusion that children can’t understand matters that are adult. We think of them as these fragile creatures, when really they are not stupid or fragile. Kids can handle a lot, if you give them the opportunity to do so.
If you read this snopes article, you’ll get an even more elaborate idea of how crazy the propaganda really is. I particularly liked the part where the author of some email or post said they had found a synopsis of The Golden Compass that said the story talked about castration and female circumcision. Where exactly is this magic synopsis? It doesn’t exist. It’s made up. A load of bologna. I tried to find it, using the powerful Google, and came up with nothing consequential. I haven’t finished the book, but I don’t remember there being castration or female circumcision in it.
Sadly…people believe this crap. Anyone know of any other similar propaganda schemes against literature? I’m curious what other books were lambasted with such comments.
4 Responses
You know, it’s hilarious that these books have been out for a few years and NOW they’re a big scandal. What’s really hilarous is that I went to see the movie. It had about the same feel as Narnia. I don’t know how this got started, but it’s amazing how fast this got spread, it’s actually pretty funny. The only book in recent memory that got it this bad was Harry Potter. The DaVinci code got blasted pretty good, but not really as bad as Harry Potter.
You know, even if I didn’t want to read it before, all this stuff makes me want to read it now.
I find it funny too :P. It’s amazing how people throw a fit over something that’s not real. The Da Vinci Code made me laugh. There were documentaries made that refuted the stuff in the book…
It’s fiction :P. Not real :D.
Actually, I just googled and so, and I found a very interesting interview with Phillip Pullman. The quotes everyone keeps quoting and such, when viewed in context, aren’t nearly as bad as everyone’s making them out to be.
Here’s the link if you want to read it:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23371-2001Feb18?language=printer
I think I’ve seen that one. The worst thing he’s said is that his books are about killing god. But from my understanding, you could see the god of Pullman’s books not as a real Christian god, but as a faux god. The ‘real god’, can’t be killed, so if you look at the theme of religion, it’s just about how organized religion can get out of hand. For the religion of His Dark Materials, god just isn’t a real god. It’s a killable god, a god that thinks it’s a god. But that’s from my limited understanding :P.