Llyr's Daughter: Postscript

Damn computers.

I lost most of the entry for today, and recreated it, but it's just not as good.

Can any writers tell me why it is that revising makes things better, but recreating doesn't?

And since I'm here, a comment on the deplorable state of the world.

No, not politics.

Certain literary bigwigs (I'm fairly certain this is one) have said (in essence; clearly literary bigwigs use much, much better language to say it) that it is not enough that children read tripe like Harry Potter, they must be reading literature to assure the continuation of the intellectual species.

Well, I'm here to tell you that said literary bigwigs are wrong.

I was listening to the radio (yes, I listen to pop radio of various species) driving home today. It's the station that carries a certain morning shock jock who has just declared he will move to one of the satellite broadcasters when his contract is up. Not only does this station broadcast him, it is, in fact, from where he broadcasts. All across the country. The afternoon format is, when it turns to talk, equally appalling: discussion of "hot chicks" and their sexual habits, or with them about their sexual habits, or why David Letterman is a sleaze because he sponsored the woman NASCAR driver. (I flip to it because I like some of the music; since the station plays music approximately just over half the time, the odds are that I hear some of the talk occasionally. No, I haven't learned my lesson to flip away.) Today, they did a "dramatic" recreation of something* on one of the morning "news" shows, using two "hot chicks." The first line included the word "pseudo-science;" the girl pronouced "pseudo" as "p'-see-you-doh." She was asked to confirm she was in college. The producer was accused of prompting her to read it that way; he denied it. The next line had "psychiatric." That girl said "sigh-kigh-ah-tric" (instead of "sigh-kee-a-tric"). (She was not asked to confirm that she was in college.)

A joke? Maybe. Producers, when allowed on air, have been known to lie.

And some people may claim that this is what Harry Potter hath wrought: ignorami who don't even know how to pronouce fairly common words.

But.

Even if the producer lied, this was set up because somebody thought it would be appealing to their listeners to have "hot chicks" who couldn't read. And as for the anti-Harry-Potterites: I'm expecting there are very few H.S.-station-worthy "hot chicks" who are reading Harry Potter.

And anti-Harry-Potterites? I think you'll agree that the world might be a better place if they had.

Last, I have lots of e-mails to answer, and I will get to them... um, soon. I promise!

*See if you can guess what it was just from the key-words!