The new
Harry Potter book came out
last night/
this morning, and the
media attention is just killing me. Not because of
Harry Potter fatigue, but because the
sugar-coated, kid-driven
spin they put on it. In today's paper, recounting the
midnight sale of Harry Potter books, the reporter wrote of "
work-weary parents" being dragged to the bookstore by their
kids; this just made me laugh.
I happened to be outside the bookstore where one of my friends work to pick him up at closing last night. Unlike the reporter, I didn't see any work-weary parents. I saw a bunch of fad-crazed parents dragging their half-asleep kids in capes and hats into the store so they could be part of whatever they thought they were going to be part of. I could just imagine the scene earlier...
Kid sleeping in bed, mom walks in.
Mom: Hey Johnny, wake up... we're going to the bookstore!
Johnny: Why, mommy? I'm tired. I wanna sleep..
Mom: Don't give me sass boy! And here, put this towel around your neck.
It's the same-old suburban soccer mom, ritalin-popping, enrolling the kids in every possible structured activity without giving them time to play bullshit that kids have to put up with now. Like George Carlin talks about in his "Fuck The Kids" routine.