House elves and WW ethics

[guardianapcelt]

No: HPFGUIDX 58150

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, jazmyn <jazmyn at p...> wrote:

 Jazymyn wrote: 

>We should not pretend that the WW is a happy little place, whose 
>people 
>are superior to humans in every way. They can be just as evil as 
>muggles.. even more so as 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'. 
>Making 
>non-humans into slaves, cutting up what we might see as intelligent 
>or 
>rare creatures for potion components or as foodstuffs, turning 
>fellow 
>humans into toads or experimenting on house pets could be quite 
>normal 
>for them, even if it might shock most muggles. However, magic can 
>often 
>repair the damage to some of the above, so it may not be seen as a 
>problem. Magic can make happy slaves and turn toads back into humans.


    I hear a lot of complaints about the ethics in the Wizarding 
World...and while I agree that the WW is by no means a perfect 
paradise, I believe that it *does* ethically have a few points of 
higher ground compared to Muggle society (though I'm refering to laws 
and policies of America, due to a lack of knowledge of the law 
systems of other countries). In GOF (pg 217), Crouch-as-Moody 
states "...those three curses, Avada Kedarva, Imperious, and 
Cruciatus - are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one 
of them, on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in 
Azkaban." 
    So in other words, it is illegal to kill someone, no matter the 
circumstances. Now may I direct your attention to the *delightful* 
Muggle invention we like to call the 'hand gun'. It is a weapon, pure 
and simple, useless for both targeting and hunting. It has one 
purpose, and that it to kill. 
    I'm not trying to get into a gun/anti gun debate here, and I hope 
I didn't offend anyone with the above remarks. The point I'm trying 
to make is that, in the Wizarding World, according to the law, it is 
unethical and illegal to kill. And it doesn't matter what the 
circumstances are, if you do the deed, you go to jail for life. Thus, 
the WW has a lot higher value of human life then does the Muggle 
world, even if it's values on the lives of other sentient creatures 
admitably need revolutionizing. 
    Muggle society has a lot of flaws...so too does the Wizarding 
World. Each has its pros and cons.
                                 - Joe S.