Prank and various responsibilities WAS: Re: Marietta

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 169675

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "montavilla47" >
> > Dana: 
> > The same goes for Sirius. Trick or no trick, Sirius did not
> > influence 
> > Snape's reason's for going, even if Sirius would have played it on 
> > Snape's biggest weakness (for instance that he was to cowardly to 
> > go), then it was still Snape's decision to proof Sirius wrong.  
> > Sirius intentions had no influence on Snape wanting to know what 
> > Lupin was up to or wanting to know why Lupin was hidden behind a 
> > murderous tree (or whatever other reason Snape had for going) 
> > Snape was already tailing Lupin and he already wanted to know and 
> > just like Harry, Snape could already have found out all the 
> > information he wanted too, if he just had put the monthly 
> > disappearances of Lupin on a calendar and hold it next to a lunar 
> > chart. 
> 
> Montavilla47:
> But, knowing that Snape was already motivated to go into the tunnel
> (to find out what the Marauders were up to), Sirius provided Snape 
> with the means.  To me, that's sort of like handing a loaded pistol
> to someone who has stated their intention to play Russian roulette.
> 
> Did you motivate them to shoot a gun at their head?  No.  It is
> possible
> that the worst thing that will happen is that they get a good scare?  
> Yes.  It is possible, indeed probable, that they will end up 
> shooting themselves in the head?  Yes.
> 
> 
> Montavilla47
>

This question of motivation and responsibility is quite interesting. 
To some extent, swindlers play on human fallibilities to cheat other
people.  Date rapists rely on the naivety and insecurity, or other
vulnerabilities, of their victims to prey on them.  The question is,
who is ultimately responsible?

I suppose an objective standard would look to intent, the amount of
injury possible, and whether a reasonable person could have trusted in
another person's words and signals.  Did Sirius Black intend to harm
Snape, and to what degree?  Was Snape behaving reasonably in following
Black's instructions?  Frankly, we don't know the answer to either
question.

In OOTP, Voldemort lures Harry to the MOM.  Who is responsible for
that?  If you argue that the person who took the action is
responsible, and not the person who supplied the information, then
Harry holds the blame.  Some would say that, but others would claim
that Snape is to blame because of the failed Occlumency lessons, and
still others would say Dumbledore is the cause for withholding
important information from Harry.  The books set in motion a chain of
events leading to choices, and so many factors play into a person's
decision to take action that they can't always be distinguished from
the actual decision.

On the other hand, the four-on-one attack on Snape in OOTP seems to be
unambiguously not something he chose, yet because he was sitting by
the lake near his worst enemies, I've seen it argued that the attack
was his fault.  The murder of Cedric Diggory was not something he
chose, yet I've seen it argued that, had he just ceded the cup to
Harry, his life would have been saved.  So, we are judging these
events by our prejudices and not the facts, because we don't always
know all the facts.

I personally enjoy the nuance and ambiguity in these situations, and
fall towards greys instead of blacks and whites, but appreciate how
hard it is to keep an open mind on the motivations and
responsibilities of the characters.

lealess