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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 169560

> houyhnhnm:
> 
> Rowling has shown so many examples of the unchecked 
> action of great bullying gits leading to a spiral that 
> results in death or at least comes close to manslaughter 
> if not murder, though.  I think surely she must be taking 
> it a little further than Dumbledore would.  Showing 
> the little precipitating acts that lead finally to 
> the ultimate act of evil.
>

Pippin:
I'm not sure what you mean by the spiral.
Harry has a tendency to think that bullies just get
worse and worse till they turn into killers, while the
canon facts show us something much more complicated.

The murderers in the story seldom pick on people;
they're too busy with their plots. Meanwhile, though a few
of the Death Eaters are just as much killers as Voldemort,
most of them aren't.  Unlike Voldemort, many of the 
bullies in the story seem to be  as revolted by murder as 
Harry himself, and just as frightened of the murderers.  

I think JKR shows that bullying creates victims who want revenge. 
As people who want revenge generally aren't thinking clearly, 
their vengeance often falls on innocent heads, and  metes out
more anger than justice even to the guilty. Those who value
mercy and justice are most certainly not immune to these
errors.

But meanwhile, according to Dumbledore, more people
fall victim to indifference and neglect than they do to outright 
hatred. And they too seek revenge. So while bullies are part
of the problem in canon, they're not the biggest part. Even
Voldemort is not the biggest part. 

We're told time and again that Voldemort is only to be
feared because of the followers he attracts. It's not
only bullies he draws on, it's the much vaster ranks
of those whom the WW in its self-righteous indifference
has judged unworthy of the rights and freedoms they 
cherish themselves.

I think that this is what our heroes have to learn,  that 
people who value mercy and justice have to open their 
hearts to everyone, not just  those whom they would like to 
have as teachers or friends.

Pippin