What's the point of hating Harry Potter?
More specifically, what's the deal with hating the people who like Harry Potter? If you read any of these rants (and I don't feel like linking to them--they're easy enough to find), you'll usually find that the ranter hasn't read Harry Potter. But it's children's literature, they say. And adults are reading it. And enjoying it! That can't be right. The rant usually ends with--why can't they read stuff I like (or at least stuff I say I like).
First of all, if you're going to whine about it, read it.
Second, here are the two things I like about Harry Potter (and I've read them :-). So far, Harry Potter books have at least been among the very few books that I know when I buy them I'm going to be able to relax and honestly enjoy. I won't hate the characters, I won't fall asleep waiting for something to happen, I won't end up cross-eyed with boredom from pages and pages of too many words that don't do anything, and it won't be a story that ends up illustrating the uselessness of modern living and the despair of the comfortably well-off. I could tell you about all the big books with big words that I've read, but, you know, assume instead that I have a tiny brain because I like different things in my books than you do. Jeez!
The second thing I like about the Harry Potter books is that, taking the series as a whole (through book 5, since I haven't read book 6 and won't for awhile), I would describe them as subversive literature masquerading as phatic discourse, which I think is cool.
So, read Harry Potter books or don't read them. But if you don't read them, don't rant about how you know that they're ruining civilization and turning adults into extended adolescents who have no responsibility for anything and don't know the world is, like, all complex and stuff.
Hey, guess what, I watch cartoons, too.