Chapter Fourteen of HBP; aka Lupinlore's Big OOPS

[hogsheadbarmaid]

No: HPFGUIDX 128696

"greatelderone" wrote:
 >  >Barmaid now:
> > a)  While you may see the story of Arthur and the Quidditch 
tickets as corruption I do not recall there being anything negative 
in the presentation of this event in canon, in fact it seemed to be a 
good thing.
 
> GEO: Thats frankly your intepretation, but the exchange that 
occured in my opinion violated certain ethical rules that govern 
public servants like Arthur Weasley especially since he was hired to 
uphold the law in relation to muggle artifacts and their enchantments 
and then there is the whole bit about him accepting gifts of such 
value.
 
> > b)  Is there canon to support that the use of unforgivables was 
> > actually officially sanctioned??

> GEO: They were authorized by the Minister of Magical Law 
Enforcement who was the same upstanding citizen that decided to 
deprive Sirius Black of a trial and busted his own son out of Azkaban 
so I would certainly deem them officially sanctioned.


The Barmaid's reply:

Oh yes, of course, anything I have to say about the books is based in 
my interpretation -- as are you comments!  I'm OK with that.  

In regard to my point "a" what I am trying to get at is that I do not 
see anything in canon that indicates that the ticket thing would be 
viewed as "corruption" within the value system in which Arthur 
operates.  Ethics around the giving and receiving of gifts vary 
greatly from one cultural group to another.  I think there is a more 
universal argument to be made for Arthur being on ethically thin ice 
over his misuse of Muggle artifact when he is charged with upholding 
the laws on this.  However, it also seems that an argument could be 
made that JKR does *not* see even this as a real problem, but rather 
just a humorous bit of irony.

In regard to my point "b" I honestly want to know where that is in 
canon.  I am very interested in these sorts of inconsistencies, in 
particular as we enter a "war" I am very interested in having a clear 
handle on how "unforgivable" the Unforgivable Curses are generally 
thought to be.  

As to Barty Sr. and his clear lapses.... my sense (and yes, I know 
this is only MY sense) has always been that this is more of an 
indictment of him as an individual, and an exploration of how those 
fighting against "the bad guys" can lose sight of what it is that 
distinguishes them from the bad guys in the first place, rather than 
a broad criticism of "government" in general.

           --Barmaid