AK and guns- both unforgivable, and sometimes necessary!

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 167120

> >>Alla:
> > And that is the **only** time I can remember. To me it speaks     
> > volumes of how bad AK is in Potterverse.

> >>Magpie:
> > Actually, even acknowledging that's true, I don't know if it's
> > really that bad.
> > <snip>

> >>Shelley:
> To me, this whole argumement of AK is akin to guns and shooting.    
> Bad guys use guns and shoot people purposely to inflict harm, yet   
> the cops carry guns too. The good guys are trained in how to       
> properly shoot, and train to be good at it. Yet their job revolves 
> around having not to use it- to disarm and capture the opponent     
> without a single shot being fired. Yet there are those             
> circumstances where shooting is necessary, and the only real end to
> the situation.
> <snip>
> Yes, shooting people is bad, except in dire circumstances......
> Yes, killing someone is bad, except in dire circumstances.....
> and Yes, the AK is unforgivable, except in dire circumstances.....
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
And the thing is, dead is dead.  Does it really matter, in the end, 
*how* the death occured?  If little psycho Tommy killed his family 
with an axe instead of an AK would that make his soul a little less 
black?

Or, on the flip side, if brave James managed to bring down Voldemort, 
would it matter if it was with an AK or by changing Voldemort into a 
bug and then squishing him?

I think this is what Magpie is warning against when she suggests 
readers shouldn't get too wrapped up in the technical side of magic.  
At the risk of completely mis-stating Magpie's case <g>, it's not 
really the actual magical spell that separates the good guys from the 
bad but the whys and whatfors.

Which is *entirely* different from say, Star Wars.  In Star Wars, 
Yoda could move an object around with the force and Vader could move 
an object around with the force, and despite the fact that both 
characters are doing what amounted to the same action, Yoda by using 
the Light Side was on a higher moral plane than Vader using the Dark 
Side.  

In Rowling's universe it's all just physics. An AK isn't a tiny bit 
of evil.  It's a spell.  No better and no worse than a "reparo".  
There's no spiritual or moral energy attached to it.  Any tainting of 
the soul comes from *within* the wizard.  

Which is why a "crucio" won't work unless the wizard *already has* 
the right mindset.  It doesn't *encourage* the mindset (as say the 
Dark side of the force is supposed to do).  It just is.  The wizard 
has to bring the enjoyment of pain to the table; "Crucio" doesn't do 
it for him.

Betsy Hp