Sportsmanship in Harry Potter

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 151894

> Geoff:
> This thread is degenerating into one of those "table tennis" 
exchanges 
> where those of us looking in merely switch our bemused attention 
from 
> one contributor to the other - and it is plain daft.

a_svirn:
And here I thought you deprecate abrasive comments. Why not turn 
your attention to other threads, if this one exasperates you? 
 
> Geoff: 
> If cheating is covertly accepted as part of the culture of the 
game, 
> that does not incorporate it into the rules; it is operating 
outside the 
> rules and is having a blind eye turned to it which may give it a 
de facto 
> legitimacy but not a de jure standing.

a_svirn:
Incidentally, is it possible to be "de facto legitimate"? I though 
legitimacy implies conformity to rule or law, in other words, being 
*de jure*.

Anyway. Because of this "culture of the game", as you put it, the 
rules simply aren't working. There is a rule that no underage wizard 
can participate; a bit of cheating – et voila! a fourteen year old 
enters the lists (and stays there). The hosts gain an unfair 
advantage (an extra champion), the guests understandably outraged, 
but there is nothing to be done about it. Harry, the second Hogwarts 
champion, has *no* de jure standing whatsoever – he simply shouldn't 
be there, but it doesn't deter him from participating and winning 
the tournament. What exists de facto is eventually legitimised. And 
the rules in effect loose their meaning and cease to be.