Real child abuse

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 145856

> Betsy Hp <horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:
> I'm really uncomfortable with that sort of philosophy.  Rather 
> than using rules fairly applied to everybody, some rules are 
> made for one sort of person and other rules are made for 
> another sort.  So, Draco deserves to be physically tortured 
> because of who he is.  But Neville should never be challanged 
> because of who he is.  Hagrid is allowed to physically endanger 
> his students.  Snape is not allowed to emotionally endanger his.
 

Yep, you are pretty much right on the money.  The Potterverse is not 
an impersonal one.  Who you are matters an enormous amount.  As we 
have touched on in another thread, JKR just doesn't like authority and 
organizations very much, and in large part this is reflected in her 
intense concentration on the individual and the individual's 
particular circumstances.  

So, within the boundaries of the Potterverse, how "rules" are applied 
or not is very much influenced by the people involved.  Lupin gets a 
pass, by and large, for his faults, as does Hagrid.  Snape and Draco 
do not.  Dumbledore gets a pass.  Tom Riddle does not.  

Now, would all these people and their actions be seen as equivalent 
even in a more bureaucratic, impersonal world such as our own?  No, 
they would not, but that is really beside the point.  Who you are 
matters a very great deal in the Potterverse.  Once again, this, I 
think, is JKR's basic conservatism coming through.  She just isn't a 
classic liberal and doesn't always seem to hold with the liberal idea 
of the level playing field, particularly when it comes to morality and 
the moral judgment of characters and their actions.

This is illustrated in many ways, but consider one of the more 
controversial passages in canon -- the final scene with DD in OOTP.  
While Harry is waiting in DD's office, one of the former headmasters 
engages him in a benign conversationa and says "Dumbledore thinks very 
highly of you, as I'm sure you know.  Oh yes, holds you in great 
esteem!"  He doesn't say "Dumbledore speaks well of your 
accomplishments," or "Dumbledore thinks you have done very well indeed 
here at Hogwarts" or "Dumbledore often praises your deeds" or 
even "Dumbledore thinks you are a wonderful example," but "Dumbledore 
thinks very highly of YOU.  Yes, holds YOU in great esteem."  That is 
ist is not Harry's accomplishments that primarily impress Dumbledore, 
or Harry's achievements, or his adherence to a particular set of moral 
laws, it is who Harry is that DD finds important.


Lupinlore