[HPforGrownups] Re: On lying and cheating

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 165375

Valky:
> How can Harry be choosing easy over right, IMO easy would be to care
> about the rigmarole of academic honesty, easy would be to microcosm
> his energy into a square of reality significant only to him and his
> reputation as a student.

Magpie:
Harry pretty much is doing that. He's dealing with his classes like any 
other student, putting in the effort of lying about his book to give himself 
a reputation he doesn't need and get an easier time in class. It's not a 
sacrifice he's making as The Chosen One. Is Harry really supposed to assume 
he's above such petty things as the kinds of behavior expected from students 
because he's got Voldemort after him--something he didn't choose either, 
he's stuck with? Does that lessen his stature to consider himself just 
another student at school? How does not lying about his interest and skill 
at Potions take away from that role?

Valky:
Whats easy about accepting at the age of
> sixteen that the weight of the world rests on you getting one moment
> in your life perfect even if its your last, whats easy about knowing
> that you are marching towards an early death where what you achieve as
> a sixteen year old in your academic career is just so profoundly
> academic as to feel like a complete waste of time?

Magpie:
So maybe he should quite school! Lots of teenagers do, when they think 
academics is a waste of time. I just don't understand this attitude at 
all--what does Harry's bad situation in life have to do with him giving 
himself unfair advantages in school? He's approaching his sixth year like 
any other student and getting the same enjoyment out of his repuation as any 
other student would. It seems like you're trying to argue that since Harry 
has been forced into a life that isn't easy, easy-versus-right no longer 
applies to him.

-m