Clean Harry/Dirty Harry

[Kelsey Dangelo]

No: HPFGUIDX 117369


Carol: So the end justifies the means? Isn't that the
Slytherin ethic: "Those cunning folk use any means to
achieve their ends"? Not to be trite, but surely the
path to hell is paved with good intentions. Stealing
is still stealing, even if you're Robin Hood. Also it
wasn't really up to Harry and his friends to find out
who the Heir of Slytherin was, nor did they accomplish
much (except establishing Draco's innocence) by making
a dangerous potion (look at what happened to Hermione)
with stolen ingredients. They merely (re)established
themselves as rule-breaking troublemakers in Snape's
eyes. 

Kelsey's reply:
I agree that "the road to hell is paved with good
intentions" (in fact, I think I mentioned that in a
post). That is why "the ends justifies the means" is
not a good code for conduct in all cases. I think that
the end justifies the means when someone isn't doing
it for their own selfish reasons, but for the sake of
good. In the case of stealing from Snape to discover
the heir of Slytherin, who is hurt (besides Snape's
pride)? The school is rich, won't miss a few potions.
I think its ok to break rules (stealing and lying), as
long as no one is seriously hurt and it's for good
intentions. HHR weren't stealing the potions to make
themselves school heroes or to poison Draco (who they
thought was the heir); they wanted to find out who was
the heir.

Now, on the Slytherin ethic. Not all Slytherins are
evil, and their cunning and ambitious nature isn't
evil by itself. An ambitious nature can be dangerous
(hence why a lot of them use their talents for money
and wealth and power), but ambition and cunning can be
used in a good way. For instance, it is ambitious to
try to save Ginny from Tom Riddle in the Chamber of
Secrets. Harry has some Slytherin qualities, as
expressed by the Sorting Hat, but he chooses to use
them for good, not to hurt people, but to do good.

Kelsey, who thinks that Prince John and the Sheriff of
Nottingham could afford to loose a bit of money to
feed the starving people. One of her best friends is a Slytherin.


		
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