Writer Emil Steiner takes anti-Christian bigotry to a new level by labeling a Georgia woman, Laura Mallory, the Idiot of the Year because she defended her Christian beliefs and spoke out against a Harry Potter book that was being used in her child’s classroom. In Steiner’s scathing ad hominem attack, she accuses Mallory of fighting to undermine education and mocks her Christian beliefs about the dangers of witchcraft. Under a photo of the cover to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the caption reads, The Deathly Hallows Of Ignorance. For her bigotry and blatant ridicule of Christian beliefs, Ms. Steiner has earned her place in our Hall of Shame. We induct The Washington Post as well for determining that such bigoted remarks are fit to print.
Laura Mallory v. Harry Potter 3: This Time It’s Idiotic!by Emil Steiner, Washington Post Like a demented Phoenix rising from the ashes of idiocy, Laura Mallory has returned once again to battle her old foe Harry Potter (and commonsense). The suburban Atlanta mother and OFF/beat’s 2006 Idiot of the Year will soon resume her quest to protect America’s children from the dark arts by banishing all J.K. Rowling books from school libraries. On May 29th Gwinnett Superior Court will hear her appeal of the Georgia Board of Education’s decision that Harry Potter is, in fact, safe for juvenile consumption. The hearing will serve as a review of that ruling from last December, which effectively determined that the books’ merits (such as encouraging kids to read) far out-weighed any perceived thaumaturgy. Mallory, despite never reading the books herself, still vigorously contends that Harry Potter literature is an evil attempt to indoctrinate youngsters in witchcraft. During an earlier hearing, she pointed out that the stories encourage children to perform spells and that the books’ good characters lie, cheat and steal, without repercussion (heaven forfend!). Moreover, because the Bible states witchcraft is an abomination to God, in her opinion these texts have no place in our school libraries. Since we awarded her last year’s Idiot of the Year Award, I have gotten countless comments and e-mails about this case. One blog entry though caught my eye and I think it raises an interesting point. Jason Pitzl-Waters, writer of The Wild Blog Hunt, lamented her continuing coverage and opined that she might, in fact, be some phantasmic liberal creation: Maybe we will find out that Laura Mallory is really the stage name for a liberal performance artist who is commenting on our modern culture by constructing a stereotypical ignorant evangelical to wage a Sisyphean struggle against the inevitability of Harry Potter. While such a Borat-worthy accomplishment would make me laugh till I sprouted wings, it appears that Laura Mallory is unfortunately real. And though Mr. Pitzl-Walters does make a valid point — that ongoing media coverage only stokes her attention-yearning flames — the fact that a mother of four would actually fight to undermine education because of such thinking merits coverage for the same cautionary reasons there are no smoking signs at gas stations. And besides, the 2007 awards are less than nine months away, and she has a title to defend. Source: The Washington Post