HP and rules

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 37468

I do not see it's about following or not following the rules at all. 
It's about making choices. Making the Choice between Right and Easy. 
Responsible, adult Choices. Yes, HP books give lots of examples where 
rule-following means bad trouble, and others when rule-breaking ends 
up with *good* consequences.

So does history. Mahatma Gandhi and non-violent resistance is one of 
the few examples disobeying law leading to something good! And there 
has been bad things coming for obeying. Wars. Torture. Death. Just 
because someone tells you to jump into a well, doesn't mean you 
should.

Harry Potter books just give the same lesson as history, with a nicer 
way. It doesn't say one is to obey all rules regardless of situation, 
nor that one is to disobey them. What it does say is that one should 
consider criticise and question.

That's what can be learned from Harry Potter, Dead Poets Society or 
history.

Compare Dumbledore's "*Professor* Snape, Harry" to his "temporary 
deafness" in Hagrid's hut where Harry calls Rita Skeeter a wench...

-- Finwitch