Reaction to MAGIC DISHWASHER (TBAY INTRO)

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 81191

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bluesqueak" <pipdowns at e...> 
wrote:
> 
> Pip!Squeak:
> There we have a clash of philosophies, because I do not believe in 
> Good and Evil as Yin and Yang. My philosophy is that evil cannot 
> create, only destroy. It is a parasite, a cancer, a destructive 
> force. It takes what good has created and tries to destroy or 
> corrupt it. If good sometimes seems to come out of evil, it is only 
> because good is so powerful that it can repair what evil has done.
> 
> Death is not necessarily evil; it can be a transformation. 
> 
> This is the canonical view of death, incidentally. Sir Nicholas 
> talks about lacking the courage to `go on'. [OOP Ch. 38, p. 759]. 
> Dumbledore talks about death as `the next great adventure' [PS/SS 
> Ch. 17 p.215] Luna is convinced that she'll meet her mother again 
> when she dies [OOP Ch. 38, pp.760-761]
> 
> Making someone choose is not evil. What is evil would be to force 
> them to choose a particular path. Voldemort is evil partly because 
> his philosophy does not allow for choice. Follow him or die. 
> 
> And yes, if the WW is irredeemably evil, it is better to sacrifice 
> it for the future. That is a decision that has been made before. 
You 
> may well be right that the new society won't be perfect (people 
> being irritatingly inclined to choose `those things which are worst 
> for them'). But a society set up to disapprove of evil, and which 
> believes in actively opposing evil is going to be a lot better for 
> people to live in. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is 
> for good people to do nothing. [I apologise that I don't know who 
> originally said that]

I don't understand how the WW can be "irredeemably evil". You [Pip] 
described the racism and prejudice rife in the WW; this you see as 
the background, or rather, breeding ground for Voldemort(s). But if 
so, then any and every human society is irredeemably evil - since all 
societies have (varying levels) of ethincism, xenophobia, economic 
exploitation, despotism, oppression of women, oppression of 
minorities, ... sadly, the list is, in its way, infinite.  

Scientific racism did not originate in Germany. It was much more an 
English and American creation. Moreover, practically everybody in the 
Western world took for granted the division of humanity into a few 
major races, reflecting a ladder of evolutionary progress (white 
being, of course, the top rung). Anti-semitism was born of Medieval 
Christianity, and used extensively by secular and religious leaders 
in many countries during many centuries to deflect political unrest. 

You say that "if the WW is irredeemably evil, it is better to 
sacrifice it for the future." But the WW is no more irredeemably evil 
than the examples I gave above. Would it have been better for the 
entire social structure of Britain and the USA to have been 
destroyed - since it was riddled with so much evil? And the current  
Muggle world - does it have no potential for breeding Voldemort(s)? 
And if so, should it be also destroyed? 

The fact that WW is rife with racism does not put it on a par with 
Nazi Germany. It puts it on a par with human societies in general. I 
think that JKR means Voldemort to be seen as the logical outcome of 
the darker aspect of human *nature*, not a product of a certain time 
and culture. I would think a whole lot less of her if the books' 
message would be less universal than that. 


Naama