All religions have it’s own myths, own stories, own set of values. And these are/were good stories, I mean, even though they are not true, they are certainly interesting. You won’t feel bored by it.
Harry Potter has the same effect on people, like, why should I take Harry Potter seriously, why do I care what happens after Dumbledore dances with Snape (won’t give actual spoilers :')
I mean, it doesn’t make sense to me. Why do I care so much about a soap opera that I am watching. Harry Potter is the product of just one brilliant woman’s imagination. It has no real value on my life. I have no real motivation to read that other than the fact that I like it and I want to know. Harry Potter is somewhat irrelevant to my life, than why does it or any other good story capture our imagination?
Why do I care what the next season of House M.D. entails? Why? What should I care if he dies or lives? Why :')?
The world is complicated and difficult to navigate. Stories usually give you a simplified world where it’s easier to understand and relate to. Just think of most religious stories and myths, they exist to explain something unexplainable (how the world was created) or how to behave in a society (cautionary tales and parabolas)
Empathy and projection.
You can understand how they feel, and by doing so, you can place yourself in their situation.
In philosophy, what you’re asking about is called the paradox of fiction.
I would say the simple answer is in why we still teach “story problems” in math.
The “story” of the math problem gives us a way to contextualize knowledge in how it can be applied to real life.
Most stories impart social knowledge, not math knowledge. Stories are primarily about relationships and how to (or how not to) navigate them.
Harry Potter is the product of just one
brilliantbarely literate woman’s imagination.
she’s good though! I don’t know about her education but after all this, I am sure it doesn’t matter. Why do you say barely literate, I don’t think I found anything wrong with the books
Her writing is awful, wooden, and stilted. Her dialogue is painful. Her characters are boring at best and outright racist stereotypes at worst.
She either doesn’t know how to write skillfully or chooses not to. I figured the former was more charitable.
This is a bad take. I’ve never read Romance novels, but I’m not enough of a book snob to tell people that things that get them reading or brings them joy is awful, wooden or painful to read.
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.
-Maya Angelou
Harry Potter was valuable in getting millions of people, especially children, interested in reading. Not everything needs to be high art, and not everything needs to appeal to you. You’re clearly not the target audience, so don’t shit on someone because they enjoy a thing that you don’t.
If there is something offensive in a book, it can and should be discussed, and readers can become aware of representation and other issues this way, but you’re not trying to have a good faith discussion with your comments above.
