House elves and some spoilers for Swordspoint WAS: realistic solutions

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 180823

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sistermagpie" 
<sistermagpie@> wrote:
> >
> > The point is, I don't want to crawl inside of canon and come up 
with 
> > a solution. I'm making a more meta argument. I agree that your 
> > argument that it's not bad slavery or isn't slavery because they 
like 
> > it and Carol's argument that it's more humane to keep them owned 
> > because they can't live any other way are perfectly logical 
> > conclusions to draw from the series. I think that's what the 
series 
> > seems to be saying too. I just don't think that's an anti-slavery 
> > argument. 
> 
> Pippin:
> Harry being okay with owning Kreacher is no more a pro-slavery
> argument than burning a book to keep a child from freezing to death
> is an argument against literacy, or a plane crash victim eating 
human
> flesh is an argument for cannibalism.

a_svirn:
It is, if you praise it and call it mutually beneficial. If you throw 
in the argument that we can't even really call it cannibalism in this 
situation, since the person that was eaten had no real objection to 
being eaten and even gave his blessings (like Pedrillo in Byron's Don 
Juan), then it's really an argument for "cannibalism" in quotation 
marks to be a good thing in some subcultures, at least. 

> Pippin:
At the end of the book, 
> Kreacher's slavery is not providing any marginal benefit to Harry 
beyond the 
> few sickles that he saves by not paying him, 

a_svirn:
Ah, but you don't take in consideration the time Kreacher saves for 
Harry, and will save for Ginny. The time that they she will be free 
to spend working and earning money. 

> Pippin:
since if  Kreacher could 
> be freed without trauma he would gladly work for Harry anyway. 

a_svirn:
That's not a valid argument for not freeing him. What if he changed 
his mind? What if he didn't want to serve James, when James inherit? 

a_svirn