Harsh Morality

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 121103


Valky wrote:
"Ohh Del, sometimes I find it hard to believe that you are a *fan* of
 the HP series. :P"

Del replies:
Being a fan of something doesn't necessarily mean enjoying all parts
of it. And frankly, the top of my fan-ness was after PoA. Since then,
I've been less of a fan with each book. Ah well...

Valky wrote:
"Realising the emptiness of his selfish existence and following the
example of an altruistic like Dumbledore are two different things, and
the first *must* come before the latter, or else it is the platonic
divide that we all seem to agree is pretty lame. Frankly, I don't see
JKR separating them, do you?"

Del replies:
No I don't see her separating them, which is precisely what bothers
me. I don't think Draco considers his life to be empty, and as a
consequence he doesn't see the need for a more altruistic lifestyle.

I was discussing something similar with my husband yesterday. He was
bothered by those people in our church that say that they are so glad
they have the Gospel, because otherwise their life would be so empty.
That's fine but it becomes problematic when they also say that they
wish other people would accept the Gospel, because this way their
lives wouldn't be so empty. We feel that it's a very insulting thing
to do, to pretend that someone's life is empty because they don't have
some higher spiritual knowledge and cause, or, even worse, because
they don't have *our* higher spiritual knowledge and cause. We can
think that their lives lack *in one area*, but that doesn't mean their
lives are empty, even if we feel that this one area is the most
important of all.

Similarly, I feel that Draco's life is indeed quite empty and lonely
without real Love, real friends, and a higher cause similar to mine.
But I strongly doubt that Draco realises that. In fact, I suspect that
he considers such things as Love and Higher purposes to be unnecessary
and even cumbersome. As such, I don't see how he could join the side
of Good out of an inner desire to serve its cause. He would have to do
it for reasons that would be consistent with his inner priorities : he
would have to have a *material interest* in it.

Del