Theoretical boundaries

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 120376


Lupinlore wrote:
"As for it being a "problem," why so?"

Del replies:
Nothing is ever a problem in itself. But everything can become a
problem when forcefully imposed on people who have deliberately not
taken it into consideration.

Lupinlore wrote:
"People are unhappy with certain things and find them pernicious and
morally suspect, if not downright repugnant.  How is it a problem to
express that genuine feeling?  Because it is emotional?  Because it
does not follow the normal routes of academic discourse?  Because it
requires one to be firmly based in "this world" and not "that world?""

Del replies:
Agreed only if you also admit that it is no problem either if someone
desires to go at it in a totally different way. You are entitled to
your emotional approach, but you cannot *impose* it on anyone who
declares not to be interested in it.

Lupinlore wrote:
"It is true that sometimes those of us with such an outlook can be
dismissive, even cruel, towards things we find frivolous, foolish, or
morally destructive.  So what?  All mentalities can be carried too far
or expressed in problematic ways."

Del replies:
It's not the fact that you can be dismissive that matters. It's the
general tendency on this board to present this view as the *only*
acceptable one, which is a contradiction in itself, since not 2 people
have exactly the same mentality anyway.

It's also the fact that it prevents or pollutes the discussion of some
issues, like Eloise Herisson's examination of Snape as a plot device
got polluted by reminders that Snape is mean and nasty and generally
unacceptable and by the assumption ensuing from it that we shouldn't
even consider his usefulness as a plot device because someone as nasty
cannot be useful in any way.

Lupinlore wrote:
"But please don't think that those of us who, I daresay, share some of
 Vernon's values (stability, moral seriousness, and interest in a 
decent society) are like him, just as not every wealthy person is like
the Malfoys, every intelligent person like Hermione, or every  poor
person like the Weasleys."

Del replies:
And don't make the mistake of thinking that those who argue for
emotionless discussions sometimes are not just as "middle-class" as
you or Vernon in RL. This is a *discussion* forum about *imaginary*
characters, which means that I, for example, feel free to step out of
my RL morality to go and examine things from a different angle as
often as I wish. I have found that it helps me define more precisely
my own morality, it helps me understand why I adhere to it, what is
important to me and why.

Del