Hermione must be stopped, ...-Hermione's Crimes

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 149391

> >>bboyminn:
> I can't help but notice that you are very selectively missing the
> point. This is about 'right' and 'wrong'. 
> If Hermione did the 'right' thing in turning Rita over to the adult
> authorities, then the effects would have been crushingly          
> devestating to Rita. It would have been prison and the ruin of her 
> career. That is no small thing.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
You've just described blackmail.  If you don't do what I wish, you 
will be hurt.  If you don't pay me X amount of dollars, I'll tell 
your wife about your mistress.  So yes, Hermione gives Rita a 
choice: go to Azkaban for your crime, or give up your career for a 
year.  Obviously what Hermione wanted Rita to do was a better choice 
than prison, otherwise the blackmail wouldn't have worked.  (That 
Rita had no income for a year is, of course, not something a high 
school girl would really think about.  Especially a high school girl 
of Hermione's comfortable background.)

> >>bboyminn:
> Further, Hermione isn't backmailing Rita for personal gain. She is
> trying to stop Rita from telling lies. That's hardly blackmail in 
> the traditional sense; 'be a good moral person, or go to prison'. 
> Isn't that the same 'blackmail' that all laws put on all citizens? 

Betsy Hp:
This is a nice way to spin it.  But Hermione stops Rita from working 
for a year as a *punishment* to "break the habit of writing horrible 
lies about people."  Instead of saying, "don't lie".  She's, in 
effect, sending Rita to her room without supper.  For a year.  So 
Hermione *is* acting as a judge here.

Funnily enough, I've seen plenty of B-movies where the blackmailer 
makes a big point out of the sins of his victims.  "He's cheating on 
his wife or company!"  "He's gay!!"  "I'm just exacting a little 
moral justice here!"  In those movies, that sort of equivocating 
never really works.  People are never really fond of self-appointed 
morality police.

> >>bboyminn:
> Let's use the example of the Philosopher's Stone. What Harry did   
> was 'wrong'. McGonagall specifically told him to go to bed and let 
> the adults handle it. If Harry did the 'right' thing, he would have
> obeyed. He would have been snug in his bed being an obedient little
> boy, and the Stone would like have been lost. 

Betsy Hp:
Ooh, bad example, Steve!  How would the Stone have been lost?  Harry 
doesn't *save* the Stone.  He frees it from the mirror and puts it 
within Voldemort's grasp.  *Dumbledore* saved the Stone, and Harry's 
life.  If Dumbledore hadn't shown up... well, it would have been a 
short series.

If, on the other hand, Harry had stayed in bed, Quirrell!Mort would 
have remained stuck in front of the mirror for Dumbledore to catch.  
And neither Harry nor Ron would have sustained any injuries.  (And 
it would have been a very boring series. <g>)

However, to go towards your main point that Hermione was just trying 
to save the world here just like Harry always does, I have to 
disagree.  Hermione twists the knife.  Harry does what he had to do, 
but Hermione *ruins* a womans life.  For no other reason than 
Hermione has decided (all by herself) that she deserves it.  I'm 
having a hard time seeing the heroism here.

> >>bboyminn:
> Back to Hermione, I don't see how anyone can say that Hermione     
> wasn't merciful in her actions regarding Rita.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Out of curiosity, if you were told to not work for a year, starting 
immediately, how would you do?  Any house payments you'd have 
trouble making?  Any bills that might start piling up? Any 
dependents? You're healthy, I hope?  This is the sort of stuff a 
wealthy and sheltered girl like Hermione would not think about.  She 
probably thinks she's just keeping Rita out of nail polish.

Rita looks a bit ragged in OotP.  Hermione is not only uncaring, 
she's very strict about Rita working without payment.  The rage Rita 
was barely keeping back suggested, to me anyway, that Hermione would 
not want Rita to ever get her alone to throughly "thank" Hermione 
for her "mercy".  

Actually, what Hermione does to Rita parallels what Umbridge does to 
Lupin quite nicely.  (I think Redhen has an essay on this.)

Betsy Hp