Dudley. Was Re: Are we abusing the concept of "abuse?"

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 124696


 
Steve:
Dudley is overindulged. He is sheltered from every responsibility
whether that means acting responsibly or being responsible for is
actions. He has a excessive sense of priviledge, he has been taught by
his parent that a tantrum will get him anything he wants.
 
snip.

Dudley is completely unprepared for the real world. He is very likely
to become a very disfunctional adult who is convinced that he is OK
and it is the rest of the world that is screwed up. 
 
Not to mention the fact that he will probably be dead of heart disease
and/or diabetes before he's 40. 

snip.

I'm not trying to minimize in any way what happened to Harry. I'm
simply pointing out, as JKR tried to do, that the Durselys are harming
Dudley by the way they treat him. They aren't /abusing/ him in the
strictest sense, but they are harming him.



Alla:

I agree with you absolutely that Dudley is overindulged and 
unprepared for the real world . I also absolutely agree with you that 
Dursleys are harming their son.

I am just not sure if I can call what they do " abuse" even in a very 
general sense of the world.

Maybe because to me is the intention is what counts the most and no 
matter how hard I try I cannot find anywhere in the books that 
Dursleys intend to harm Dudley. I mean, harm can come even from the 
best intentions, but I cannot call such person an abuser.

That is why I can only attribute the disregard of weight problem to 
the abuse, sort of.

I suppose I can call Dudley spoiled in a very worst sense of this 
word, but I am not sure about "abused"


JMO,

Alla