Advice, and the guilt of taking it [Was: Is Harry a Murderer...]

[coldsliversofglass]

No: HPFGUIDX 151404

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sugaranddixie1" 
<sugaranddixie1 at ...> wrote:
> That doesn't really apply to the question of whether he's a 
murderer 
> (or has it in him to be one).  I think the element of his trust for 
> the prince does apply, however.
> 
> If someone you trust gives you advice, are you guilty for taking it?


coldsliversofglass:
Yes, I think Harry is guilty for taking the advice even though he 
trusts the person giving it to him.  I mean, you have to figure that 
Harry is trusting a book...well, actually, no: less than that, he's 
trusting the notations a person made inside of said textbook.  He 
doesn't know who the person is and he doesn't know anything about 
them other than the fact that the person is good at potions.  

He didn't put enough effort into verifying what he was being told.  
He acted on a generalized comment, knowing nothing about the context 
of what he was being told, and he has to accept the consequences of 
that.  One has to be careful of assuming that everything written is a 
hundred percent true: textbooks, and anonymous advice written in said 
textbooks by another student, are no different.  Harry should know 
the dangers of trusting books and the stuff written within them by 
now: the textbook echoes right back to Riddle's journal.  

Also, if Harry had taken the advice of The Prince, and the Prince had 
turned out to have been an awful potions student, who would have been 
guilty when the potion exploded?  I'm thinking Harry...and I'm 
thinking Harry knew that when he first decided to take the advice.  

The fact that some of the advice The Prince gives is good, and some 
of it bad, has no bearing on Harry's guilt.  Even the people we know 
and love and trust give us bad advice on occassion: we have to know 
when to take it and when to leave it. 

coldsliversofglass