Harry and Morality

[Ersatz Harry]

No: HPFGUIDX 57351

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Troels Forchhammer
<t.forch at m...> wrote:
> When pedophiles find the prohibition against sex with children 
> immoral, should we just accept that they break the 'rule'?

Let me gently suggest that we are venturing a bit into OT territory
when we get into larger discussions of morality that are purely
outside the canon.  I'm not dismissing the validity of the question at
all, nor the value of posing a provocative question in general, but
this particular one runs the risk of touching off some flaming since
it does not seem to  tie in to the books in any way, unlike, say,
historical comparisons of Voldemort to name-your-favorite-dictator,
etc.  Feel free to respond to me off-list if you disagree (or even if
you agree).

I will hazard a guess that JKR would herself consider pedophilia
verboten to introduce, and one could only imagine the uproar otherwise
-- and there are certainly numerous other forms of abuse within the
books that strike me as entirely fair topics for discussion.  People
can (and do) argue, for example, that the Dursleys' treatment of Harry
should be considered a form of child abuse, that Snape's meanness to
the students should be considered a form of student abuse, and so on.

 In fact, vices/sins in general don't seem to be a problem -- we have
gambling (notably at the World Quidditch Cup), drinking (notably
Hagrid's), theft, murder -- and if any neighbor had a spouse, or a
horse, or an ass, I don't doubt that there would be a bit of coveting
going on as well.

And speaking of favorite dictators, I don't think I've noticed in any
posts (or in those parts of the archive that I have perused) that
Salazar was the name of a long-time dictator of Portugal.  Perhaps we
will eventually learn that S. Slytherin was heavily involved in the
formation of Gringott's or something like that (the Portuguese Salazar
was a Finance Minister prior to becoming Prime Minister).

Ersatz Harry