[HPforGrownups] Re: muggle baiting vs. muggle torture

[Pamela Rosen]

No: HPFGUIDX 155361

>If Vernon/Petunia were willing to impose a diet, you know then that he
really was in _dire_ need of one. Having no immediate consequences for
going off it would have almost certainly been much worse for him in
the long run. But we can't really give the twins credit for that,
since there's no way that was anywhere in their motives.<

Pam now:

Diet or no diet, muggles or wizards, I have often wondered about the wizarding popularity of some of the items sold in the Joke Shop.  Fred and George are amassing a small fortune with their inventions, and some of them seem  downright   dangerous and cruel, even to other wizards.  Why do wizards think turning their child's tongues into 4-foot monstrosities is hysterical?  Because they can just make it go away?  That's fine, but it crosses the line, I think, from funny into cruelty. I mean, in the WW, how long is one the prankster going to let their victim choke on their own tongues?  That  scene has always bothered me; not because Dudley is a nasty Muggle, but because it didn't wear off on its own; Arthur had to fix it. So many of Zonko's and Weasley's "jokes" seem like they'd be better used on DE's. Or BY them.  Anyone?