Debatable ethical issues in OotP and HBP

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 142396

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:

<snip>

> To begin with, he talked James Potter into making Wormtail the 
> Secret Keeper. 

I have to bring this up, although I know it's a point I've flogged 
any number of times:

What is Lily Potter, chopped liver?  Is she some doormat who's going 
to roll over and do something that she's not comfortable with, when 
it involves the life of herself, her husband, and her son?  If you 
really want to throw around blame for this, at minimum, given the 
present state of information as well as our knowledge of the 
character of the persons involved, it has to be spread evenly.  JKR 
hasn't given us much on Lily, but what little she has practically has 
her wearing the pants in the family.

> And he brings Snape's taunts on himself with his incivility. In 
> fact, I think bickering with Snape is one of his few pleasures.

I wouldn't disagree with the last point too much, but I wouldn't 
exactly point to Snapeykins as being a model of civility and 
restraint here, either.

> In any case, living at 12 GP is his own decision. He still has 
> Buckbeak. He could fly back to his tropical paradise at any point. 
> Instead, he chooses to remain, drowning his sorrows in self-pity 
> and firewhisky (or whatever he's drinking) and living in the past. 
> At this point, his only hope for a useful life lies in Wormtail's 
> arrest, or, if he's unwilling to wait for that, a new life in some 
> other country. Yes, his is a tragically wasted life.  But the 
> responsibility for that wasted life, like the decision to go
> to the MoM, is primarily or entirely his own.

Of course, if Sirius *had* taken off with Buckbeak and headed to a 
tropical isle, I am sure that any number of readers would be 
commenting upon how cowardly and utterly self-centered he is for 
putting his own safety in front of the cause.  He really can't win in 
this situation, can he?

Not that I want to invoke anything too personal onlist, but I try to 
put myself into the shoes of someone overtly suffering from 
depression, which JKR has talked about the Dementors as, someone who 
was stuck in that situation for years...well, I've fought the black 
dog myself, and it's not fun and it's not a case of 
willpower 'snapping' someone out of it, either.  I couldn't imagine 
being somewhere that I couldn't go outside and smell the air and feel 
the sun upon my skin without the shadows of glass in between.  I go 
crazy if I'm stuck in one place for a few days without being able to 
take breaks (done that, too).

Some points here--certainly well taken, and largely snipped.  The 
others--blaming the victim, IMO, with an equally negative answer to 
any assertion.

-Nora notes that her own black dog is, happily, currently far at bay