[HPforGrownups] Re: Memory Charms

[Laura Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 38544

*big sigh* End of the year crunch here..you know.  I suppose I'll be able to post on a more regular basis once my time here in eternal damnation is spent. Until then I'll continue to reply to "ages" old posts and pray that May Term comes blissfully fast.

I'm desperately sorry if anyone is annoyed in my delay in replying or the fact that I am once dredging up topics that are considered ancient history by HPFGU standards. ^_^

Grey Wolf said:
>I do agree that taking someone's memories -completely- without his 
>consentment is equivalent to a rape, although, as I'll explain 
>latter, it could be necessary and even for his own good in some 
>cases. 

And this, my friend, I believe is the exact same place where we diverged on the House Elf topic.  I believe that the ability to *choose* is an inherent part of what makes me alive - and memories are all about choices.  To me, to wipe a person's memory is more evil than to kill him - in the same way that some people believe that things like torture and the Dementors Kiss are worse than murder.

I'm afraid I bristle at the suggestion that something that is the "equivalent to rape" could ever be "for his own good".  Perhaps Harry would have been much, MUCH happier if he had been simply given to some young couple in the Muggle world and never bothered about the wizarding world.  Or, he could have been given to a wizarding couple and never told who he was -- just lived a normal wizard life.  Except for the scar, no one would have been able to recognize him.  I would how the news of the scar got out -- I mean, at first, only people who had actually seen Harry would know about it, right?  You'd think that if Dumbledore really didn't want Harry getting a big head, he wouldn't have let the entire wizarding world in on his is one distinguishing feature.

Anyway, the point is -- we all think it's better that Harry got to find out about his heritage and his magic, right?  Even if bad things happened to come along with the good?

I guess that's one thing that gets me so upset -- anyone who is arrogant enough to say that someone is not "strong" enough to handle his/her own memories and therefore ought to be removed of them "for his own good" ought to be hung, IMO.

*sniffs*  Not that I'm endorsing lynching.

Grey Wolf:
>The star's memory is totally 
>wiped out, but he realises that and seeks a psiquic to "cure" him. We 
>discover, however, that his previous self was pretty horrible. The 
>psiquic (who looks remarkably like a politician from my country and 
>like Joda of Starwars) tells him:
>Psiquic: "Why do you want to remember?"
>Schwarzy: "To know who I am"
>P: "Our beings are defined by what we do, not by what we remember"

Again, the assumption that an individual cannot "handle" his previous actions and thoughts.  Personally, I believe we are defined by both what we *do* and what we *did*.  For instance, I just finished a rather lengthy report on Malcolm X, whose past -- before he found the "truth" -- was quite..well..evil.  But it was still a legitimate part of him.  He still *did* those things, and he still had to face the repercussions of them.  And, in many instances, his darker days helped him immeasurably in his fight for his version of right.  It's like if V suddenly turned good -- he would still be held accountable for his past evils right?

Perhaps the character in this movie would have eventually become an awful person again anyway -- not knowing that he was one before.  However, if he were told of his previous misdeeds, he would at least have a fighting chance to advert the dominance of that facet of his personality - if he so chose.

If we erased from Snape's mind the fact that he was once a Death Eater and the horrible things he must have done, aren't we really setting him up to once again fall into a similar hole?  Experience is the key to learning and improving yourself. ^_^ In fact, I happen to have a saying:

Some people can learn from other's mistakes;
Some people can only learn from their own mistakes;
And some people never learn at all.

To erase a memory because it is bad, or to prevent the reclaiming of such a memory for the same reason, is to condemn someone to forever fall into the third category. (BTW:  I made that particular saying up sometime when I was in the 6th or 7th grade, which is why, you understand, it is rather akward and unpoetic).

Grey Wolf:
>In other cases, like a muggle seing wizard acts, or a human seing 
>aliens around us (MIB), for example, it's better for protection of 
>everyone to wipe that person's memories *of the specific situation.* 
>Imagine what the poor owner of the camping would go through if he 
>suddenly realized that magic exists. If he told anyone, he would be 
>vituperated and ridiculizised in the best of cases, and thought mad 
>and locked up or even taken by the goverment "for investigation" (in 
>the typical US-conspiracy-theory fashion) in the worst.

And here I completely disagree.  I believe it is the right of such a person to rationally consider and divulge is information with responsibility, if he so chooses.  And I prefer insanity to having my mind tampered with, thankyouverymuch.  Actually, my grandmother says crazy things all the time and *she* gets absolutely everything she wants.  Crazy people are unfairly pampered. ^_~

laura


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