Of Sorting and Snape

[rowena_grunnionffitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 176358

 
> houyhnhnm:
 
> Look, not at this discussion group, but at the billions 
> of words that have been written by fans about the Harry 
> Potter series (not to mention fanfiction).  Can anyone 
> deny that a great part of the appeal of these books is 
> the enjoyment of violence, punishment, revenge, inflicting 
> pain, watching other people suffer?  Of course it's on 
> bad guys.  Those who are on the receiving end of vengeance 
> are always "the bad guys".  I find it disturbing.

  Rowena:

  That's odd - I seem to remember 'the good guys' and innocent
bystanders taking quite a lot of punishment from 'the bad guys'.

  houyhnhnm:
 
> I'm not interested in debating whether or not vengeance 
> is really a good thing.  To me it is not.  Between "an eye 
> for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" and "an eye for an eye 
> makes the whole world blind" there is no common ground.

  Rowena:

  If you ever watched Babylon 5 you might recall Mr. Garibaldi made 
the perfect comeback for that pious sentiment: "No, just the bad 
guys." On the other hand that would be a problem for you wouldn't it?
'Eye for an Eye' is the most misunderstood principle in the Old 
Testament. It is in fact a mandate for proportional punishment and 
forbids vendettas.
 
  houyhnhnm:
 
> But some other things, I just don't know what to make of 
> them.  Like the miserable creature in the train station 
> and the injunction not to pity or comfort it.  Repeated 
> over and over.  Once might not have been so bad, but it 
> was just hammered in.

  Rowena:

  As I don't recall DD *EVER* saying not to pity the creature, only 
that it was beyond any comfort he or Harry could give - by its own 
actions I might add. Voldemort damned himself.

  houyhnmhmn:

> I've been bothered by the mean-spirited 
> undercurrent in the books all the way along, the Appeal 
> to the Crowd, and trying to deny to myself that I see 
> what I see.  Learning that an author I really admire  
> (who's worth twelve of Rowling) had come right out and  
> said it was kind of a tipping point.

  Rowena:

  Personally I thought 'mean spirited' from the author of 'Tehanu' - 
in which half the human race is condemned to spiritual inferiority 
because of its gender - was a bit rich.