Sex, Lies and the Potterverse Re: Lupin, (him only, really)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 117987


> > > Pippin:
> > > If Remus is also called Wormtail, then JKR has not lied, 
she's   hidden behind a double meaning. She is, after all, the 
person  who had Dobby explain that  telling Harry the diary  plot 
didn't  have anything to do with "He Who Must Not Be Named" 
was supposed to be a clue. <<<
> 
> Erin:
> It's a good thing you're not a politician, Pippin!  The world would 
 be in some serious trouble if you were arguing the meaning of 
the  word "sex", what exactly was meant by a "lie", and who 
"Wormtail"  really was.  <

Pippin:
Equivocation has a more honorable  (and Potter-related)   history 
than you might guess.Catholics in England and Scotland during 
the late sixteenth century were instructed in ways to evade 
interrogation without, in the church's view, violating the 
prohibition against lying. "A Treatise on Equivocation" was found 
among the papers of Henry Garnet, one of Guy Fawkes' fellow 
conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot.

The treatise allowed several ways to give misleading answers 
including ambiguity ("a priest lyeth not in my house"), 
incompleteness ( "I went to see him for dinner" omitting that you 
had attended mass afterwards), and  hidden gestures and 
pronoun references("He went that way" while pointing the other 
way with your finger in your pocket.)

The most controversial recommendation of the treatise was that 
one could give an answer with "a secret meaning" that went 
against the common meaning. It instructed that a priest who was 
asked the question, "Is your name Peter?" could answer "No" 
with the mental reservation,  "so as I am bound to utter it to you, 
since you have no lawful jurisdiction over me."  

information from 
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel110501.shtml

I don't think JKR is going that far, but it is interesting that the 
example used is Peter. We have examples of Dumbledore using 
the first two means of equivocation as he answers Fudge in 
OOP.

Modern ethicists don't see anything wrong with the butler saying 
that the master is not at home, because everyone understands 
that this is a polite evasion.  Most of us understand that the 
questions we have no business asking  are not going to get a 
full or truthful response -- in fact readers have posted about 
taking this into consideration when deciding which poll question 
to vote for at jkrowling.com.

JKR is not under oath, has admitted that she doesn't want to give 
full and frank answers,  and has openly said that she tricks her 
readers. She has fairly warned us of the tricks she is likely to 
use, and has no less than Albus "epitome of goodness" 
Dumbledore, whose conspiracy is named The Order of the 
Phoenix, use such means to deceive his interrogators.

I consider I am under no more obligation to consider her 
answers full and frank than I am to believe that the forward to 
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them was actually written 
by Albus Dumbledore.

Pippin
(not lying about the topic of this message as  Erin did mention 
sex in her post)