[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape's Role/ dark magic

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 176540

Bruce Alan Wilson wrote <bawilson at wrote>:
>
>
> I've been toying with the idea that the Dark or Black spells can only be
> used to
> harm, and have no benign or neutral applications. That is why, for
> example, AK
> is Unforgivable, not any killing by magic. (Say, using WL to thrust a
> dagger
> into someone's heart. Definitely a crime--depending on the circumstances,
> either murder or manslaughter--but not as serious a one as using AK. WL
> has
> benign applications; AK does not. You could torture someone by using
> Augamenti
> to 'waterboard' him, but Aguamenti has legitimate uses--Crucio does
>
> .
> ,_._,___
>

Debbie:
I'm with your logic as far as AK and Cruciatus are concerned.  (To take your
example, one could set the dagger to chopping vegetables instead of to kill
someone.)  However, it doesn't work with the Imperius Curse.  Isn't it
beneficial to use Imperio to stop someone from jumping off a cliff, or to
stop someone from performing Crucio on someone else?  (I assume this can be
done, as Crouch!Moody apparently imperio'd Krum to use the curse.)

The morality of the Imperius Curse seems to be much less clear-cut, as with
other curses that are apparently Dark.  To use your example again but to
substitute Sectumsempra, why couldn't that be used to open the body for
heart surgery?

I also agree with Margaret Dean, who stated:
"As a side note, I tend to think that the classification of
"Unforgivable" Curses is a legal one, kind of the equivalent of a
Zero Tolerance policy in the "war on drugs." It doesn't
necessarily have any deeper meaning than "getting caught using
these without specific official sanction will land you in
Azkaban."
Debbie:
That would explain the inclusion of Imperius as one of the UCs.  Convictions
would be hard to get if anyone and everyone could raise the Imperius
defense; the simplest thing to do would be to ban the use of the curse
altogether.

On the other hand, wizards tamper with one another's memories all the time,
with devastating consequences (ask Morfin Gaunt what he thinks about
it).  Magical law enforcement would want to stamp out memory charms, and who
knows what else, except for the fact that memory modification is essential
to protecting wizards' secrecy.

Debbie
suggesting a campaign to rename the Imperius Curse the Imperius Spell


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