[HPforGrownups] The Nature of Cowardice (was Fudge is not evil)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48334

In a message dated 14/12/2002 19:44:27 GMT Standard Time, jferer at yahoo.com 
writes:


> Melody, diagreeing that Fudge is evil in any way:"Cowardice is not
> evil.  If it is, then Ron is evil too for being a coward around spiders."
> 
> Not at all. Ron is terrified of spiders, but he went, stuck with his
> friend, and did what he had to do in spite of his fear.  That makes
> him courageous, the opposite of fear.
> 
> >Melody:"Yes that [cowardice] is not a good thing, but it does not make
>the person innately evil.  It just deems them "not the hero."


Heroism is a curious thing, isn't it, because (and I am in no way wanting to 
discredit those who perform heroic acts) often acts of heroism are 
instinctive, not thought out, not necessarily *brave*. People under fire 
often do amazing things under the influence of adrenalin, endorphins and the 
effect of being put in a position where they feel they have little option but 
to follow a particular course of action. Now, that isn't the same as saying 
that there is no difference between the person who will, for example put 
him/herself at risk to rescue a colleague and the person who decides to save 
his/her own skin, but simply to acknowledge that many *heroes* don't regard 
themselves as heroic, but merely to have followed the only course of action 
they thought was available to them at the time. But this perhaps speaks more 
of their underlying moral principles (or of their emotional attachments - 
which parent in this group, however timid, doesn't *know * that they would 
put themselves between their child and anyone seeking to harm them?) than of 
their courage per se.

Yes, I agree that *courage* involves fighting one's fear and in this way, Ron 
*is* courageous. It is also, as a side note, the reason I have never been 
able to stand Siegfried, the great Wagnerian hero who literally does not know 
what fear is. What Brunnhilde ever saw in him, I'll never know! As far as I 
am concerned, if you cannot fear, then you cannot be heroic; there's a 
difference between courage and stupidity.

As for Fudge... well, my views are well known if not well understood.
As a *self-interested* coward who will not recognise the threat posed by 
Voldemort, I view him, if nothing else, as the embodiment of the 
institutionalised evil of a government which will not face up to the truth 
and act.

As Burke said (and as has been quoted here before), "It is necessary only for 
the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph."

~Eloise

~~~~~~~~~~~
You think that just because it's already happened, the past is finished and 
unhangeable? Oh no, the past is cloaked in multi-colored taffeta and every 
time we look at it we see a different hue.

(Milan Kundera, Life is Elsewhere)


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