On Children and the "Other" (was:Re: On the perfection of moral virtues)

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 169587

  
> Betsy Hp:
> I think that's where the lack of realism comes in a little.  Fellow 
> students don't strike back in the way they would in real life, 
IMO.  
> Ginny isn't jumped by Hufflepuffs; Hermione isn't jumped by 
> Ravenclaws.   Seamus and Dean are weirdly passive when it comes to 
Ron 
> and Harry. I think it's because (I *hope* it's because) JKR has a 
> sense of where and when the Trio will learn their final lesson on 
how 
> to treat others.

Hickengruendler:

I won't press the Zacharias and Marietta point further. I mostly 
agree with you there, but when were Seamus and Dean ever badly 
treated by the Trio? Sure, they told Seamus to shut up, when he asked 
what happened on the garveyard, but while that's hardly qualifies as 
the best thing Harry could have done, it was simply a normal quarrel 
by schoolboys. They didn't attack Seamus or anything. 
 
> 
> > >>Marion:
> > Gandalf:
> > Deserves it? I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. 
And   
> > some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not 
be 
> > too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very 
wise    
> > cannot see all ends.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Oh, I love Gandalf.  Poor Dumbledore; no chance to study the 
master.  
> Sucks to be a wizard, really. <g>  (Hee! Sad thing is, pants bring 
> out a similar emotion.  Go Muggles! <bg>) 
> 
 
Hickengruendler:

Dumbledore said pretty much the same after Harry saved Wormtail in 
PoA. And while Gandalf was indeed that generous to Gollum, that 
didn't stop him to find it totally okay, that countless Orcs are 
slaughtered. Harry Potter might have it's problems, but at least it 
isn't deeply rassistic, like LoTR, where the Orcs are defined as 
irredeemably evil, simply because they are Orcs. That doesn't happen 
in Harry Potter, that a group as a whole is so completely demonized. 
And before anyone starts mentioning the Slytherins, no, they are not. 
While the background Slytherins are very broadly characterised as 
simply bad and stupid, the portrayal of the more important ones, 
Snape, Draco, Slughorn, Regulus and possibly even Narcissa, makes up 
for that, maybe not totally, but definitely somewhat. They are not 
simply portrayed as rotten to the core, like the Orcs. Therefore 
using quotes from LoTR, doesn't help much, IMO, since one can easily 
argue, that these books as well don't always do, what they preach.