I am curious as to why it is necessary to "defend" Harry Potter? If the presumption being made is "Harry Potter is bad because it leads to the 'evil' of Wicca" then shouldn't the response be that this isn't a bad thing because Wicca isn't evil?
It sounds to me like responding to the statement "You can't give women the right to vote, then they will want to run for political office" with "Don't worry they won't run for office." as opposed to "so what's wrong with women running for office?"
Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc is indeed a logical fallacy. However, in using it to dismiss concerns about Harry Potter, you have set up a strawman, which is yet another logical fallacy.
Those of us who are thoughtfully concerned about Harry Potter are NOT committing the loigical fallacy you cite. Instead, we are saying other things that you apparently missed in your rush to find a logical fallacy.
1. you quote me as saying: "Many real-world occultists and Wiccans are using the popularity of Harry Potter to bring kids into their practices." But this, my friend, is not a logical fallacy, it is a statement of fact—big difference. If you were to do a little research, you would find that Wiccans, occultists, and assorted neopagans have now produced books and other non-fiction (and fiction-based) materials that target children and use Harry Potter as a lure of curiosity (explicit references to HP, etc.). Documentation is in my book "Harry POtter, Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings" (I assume you DID read it before commenting, right?).
2. It is a well-known fact that children emulate what they see (or read about) if think somethng is cool, fun, or exciting. For example, we already have seen boarding school registrations in England sky-rocket because of HP; there was a mad rush to buy owls because of HP; and some children had to be taken to a hospital for mixing potions and drinking them a la HP. Now, it is not absurd to suggest that PERHAPS—just PERHAPS—some kids might also (out of curiosity) want to start delving into astrology, numerology, divination, occult lore, and other aspects of the HP stories. Is that paranoid? I don't think. And it is not a logical fallacy (again). It is a plausible outcome of actions and response, especially in light of a 2002 national survey found that after seeing HP, 12% of teens surveyed were more interested in witchcraft than before seeing the film.
3. as for being paranoid and frothing a the mouth, there are a vast number of evanelicals who would fit neither description. The ones who are frothing at thge mouth and are paranoid are those on both extremes of the spectrum. Rapid fundamentalists who burn boooks represent one extreme. The other extreme is represented by poeple like you, who do not have any of their facts straight, resort to name-calling, and have preconceived prejudice against those who may hold a different opinion (especially if they happen to be religious).
Anyway, suffice it to say that you are the one here who committed error: 1) the logical fallacy known as a strawman argument; and 2) lack of facts on another's arguments.
And BTW, you should actually read statements from actual pagans and wiccans and other occultists about what THEY see inn the books. I quote dozens of them in my volume.
thanks,
R. Abanes
author, "Harry Potter, Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings"
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