Dudley the Victim

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 43141

Jenny wrote, quoting and chastising me:

> > First, I think the connection between "he got what he deserved" 
> > and "it's her fault she was attacked" is faulty.
> > 
> > The latter is typically used in describing a rape victim. I do 
not 
> > know if that is the connotation you are trying to put forward, 
but 
> if so, it is quite unfair.>
> 
> Actually Darrin, if I believe Dudley is a victim, than my opinion 
is 
> not faulty.  You really need to watch the way you express yourself 
> here and find ways to disagree with others that aren't so... fautly.
> 

Do I believe your opinion of Dudley as a victim is faulty? Certainly 
not, and I apologize for using a word you took as offensive. What I 
believe to be problematic is the linking of the two phrases.

I do believe there is a difference between "he (Dudley) got what he 
deserved" and "it's HER (emphasis mine) fault that she was attacked." 

And that difference is the crux of my objection. I simply believe 
they are not on the same level.

My objection was, and still remains, linking a phrase commonly used 
derisively toward rape victims with a phrase that I and others have 
used to describe Dudley and Draco. 

I consider it unfair to link the phrases because I feel it insinuates 
because I don't feel as much sympathy for Dudley as I should, I 
therefore would blame a rape victim for wearing a short skirt in a 
bad neighborhood or getting drunk at a frat party. 

Unfair and, by the way, speaking for myself, untrue. 

Further, in my description of the unfairness, I took pains to qualify 
it. If you meant it a certain way, then I considered it unfair. I did 
not know -- and still do not know -- if you truly meant the rape 
connotation.  Please enlighten me as to whether you do or not.

It IS a fairly common use of the phrase "it was her fault she was 
attacked" and you made the switch from "he" to "her" in the phrases, 
so I do not believe I am making an hypersensitive jump in logic here. 

Dudley is the product of horrible parenting, but that does not make 
Harry any less of a victim of Dudley's actions, nor, in my opinion, 
Dudley's actions any less reprehensible, nor any more justified. 

Harry is also the product, in a different way, of horrible parenting, 
and we have yet to see these kinds of behaviors from him. 

Perhaps he would not be hard-wired to be a Dudley-type bully, because 
he is definitely not a child of priviledge, but whatever emotional 
scars he received in 11 years under the cubboard -- coupled with what 
is strongly suggested to be physical abuse -- have not yet seemed to 
manifest themselves in negative ways. 


> He has only been given boundaries because his school nurse had a 
chat 
> with Vernon and Petunia, and my guess is she told them that his 
weight 
> could kill him at a young age.
> 

If I may disagree in a way that I do not believe weakens your case, I 
do not even give Vernon and Petunia that much credit. I think they 
were humiliated at the nurse telling them there were no bigger 
uniforms. Vernon and Petunia, keepers of all that is normal in their 
world, would be aghast at the notion of the great Smeltings having to 
take the step of custom-making a uniform for their son.


>I'd say the  real "great bullying gits" here are his parents, and 
Fred and George know they wouldn't get away with dropping Ton-Tongue 
Toffees at Vernon and Petunia's feet.  
>  

First, would the prank have even worked had they targeted Vernon and 
Petunia? Vernon and Petunia have more self-control and would not have 
gobbled up the toffee, especially since they knew it wasn't their 
toffee, and therefore must be the magical peoples'.

Second, doesn't saying "Fred and George know they wouldn't get away 
with dropping the Ton-Tongue toffees at Vernon and Petunia's feet" 
imply that they know who the true culprits are and are deliberately 
avoiding them?

I'm not sure the boys deserve that much credit, for spotting the true 
creator of Dudley's behavior. They are 16-year-olds who have not 
shown an inclination toward such probing. 

Darrin
-- Maybe this isn't the time for a funny tagline