[HPforGrownups] Re: muggle baiting vs. muggle torture

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 155678

festico:
> Hm, I don't think it has anything to do with the level of harm. I
> would expect Muggle-baiting is using magic maliciously on Muggles
> because they are Muggles. From the examples we get from canon
> (shrinking keys, Willy Widdershin's toilets) quote often not even
> specific Muggles but any Muggle will do.

Magpie:
But how can they legislate based on motivation?  Willy Widdershins could 
have said he didn't prank the Muggle because he was a Muggle, but because he 
was annoyed by him, or disliked his hair.  It seems like Muggle-baiting must 
be wrong by Wizard standards either because they actually think it's wrong 
to Prank Muggles (like the way they presumably disagree with the Black who 
likes to hunt Muggles) or because it causes danger to Wizards.

steven:
IMO this further undercuts the
argument some have made here that the Twins are just opportunists who gave 
Harry the Marauders Map and the "free stuff" from their shop only because he 
is rich and famous and because they were calculating that they would 
eventually get something back from him
in return.

Magpie:
I don't think that was the argument.  It's not that the Twins either love 
Harry to death as a little brother or they're just using him.  It's that the 
Twins can genuinely like Harry a lot while being opportunists.

Steven1965aaa:
Lets' look at the evidence:  How many examples do we have in the books of 
the Twins pranking Muggles who are NOT gits?

Magpie:
No one has ever challenged the fact that the Twins don't Prank Muggles all 
the time, or that they don't like the way Dudley treated Harry (they also 
wanted to try out their candy).  The point is that for many it's not an 
issue of what motivations were in their heart, what matters is that this was 
an abuse of their greater power.  No one would deny that Snape picks on 
Harry because he dislikes him personally and disliked his father personally. 
That doesn't make not a teacher abusing his power.  A Muggle parent in 
Arthur's position would perhaps be telling their child that no, it's not 
okay to steal a kid's wheelchair to laugh at him crawling around as long as 
you weren't doing it just because you hated people who couldn't walk.

a_svirn:
They always prefer weaker targets for
their "jokes": it is OK to bait Ron or Percy, but they didn't care to cross 
Charley, did they?

Magpie:
Yes, the Twins are pretty open about their pragmatism.  It's usually played 
for a joke that they know who not to cross-far more often than we see them 
holding back because someone else is weaker.

-m