I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan. That is to say that I didn't get dressed up like a wizard last night and wait in line with giddy children and giddier adults in order to procure my very own copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. No, I merely ordered a copy from Amazon.com, which arrived in the mail this afternoon. I like the series. In my opinion, they are well-written and richly plotted books. That aside, I should make it clear that the words "my fandom" have never and shall never cross my lips, nor did I count down the days until the release of this book, though I have been admittedly anticipatory of its release, as I am with any upcoming publication, film or album, which is of interest to me.

I'm slightly baffled, albeit amused by people, who are so excited over such things that they create costumes, wait in long lines and spew forth geeky jargon. It seems excessive to me, personally, but whatever floats your goat. What's far more baffling to me are those on the other side of the spectrum: The naysayers, the scrooges, the muggles, if you will, who find it pertinent to mock fans and aficionados of this and that.

This is especially prevalent today, and moreso on the internet than anywhere else. It's that favorite of beasts: The automatic renunciation of anything popular, which reeks of smug insecurity and a gilded, decoyish envy. It's the "Psh – I'm too good for that tripe" mentality, which – were it actually true – should suffice to go unspoken.

You hear a lot of "These are books for CHILDREN! Any adults reading them should be ashamed!" coming from the mouths and keyboards of people, who more often than not read comic books, play video games and lest we forget – socialize on the web. Physician, heal thyself. The nature of negative criticism is generally in the realm of the oblivious more than it is in the real of the informed. Compare those staunch Republicans, who refuted, yet refused to view Fahrenheit 9/11 to today's magniloquent masses, maligning a group, myself included, who are simply keen to read some well-crafted, escapist literature. How many of them have actually read one of these books in an effort to arm themselves in their war against what they see as the infantilization of the adult public? Very, very few.

The irony in their accusations is that most adult devotees of Harry Potter are exceptionally literate people. They may be reading Half Blood Prince today, but chances are that they were reading The Canterbury Tales or Leaves of Grass yesterday. Adults like Harry Potter not because they can't read anything more sophisticated, but because it is genuinely good reading. In the words of C.S. Lewis;

"No book is really worth reading at age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty...Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a timetable."

In the end, it is the grumpy, reactionary and venomous defamers, who are missing out, apprehensively calming the acrophobic shakes acquired on their high horse, fearing a fall from an unjustified height.

M-A