Why unforgiveable?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189033


> Nikkalmati
>   I think these three spells are just ones the bureauacracy has decided are worthy of Azkaban.  Maybe they were considered a greater threat to society than others.  Maybe they were associated with Death Eaters.  In any case, I don't think JKR intended them to be the heighth of evil - just very severely punished by the Ministry.
> 

Pippin:
I think the clue to why they're severely punished is in  Snape's jeer that Harry lacks the nerve and the ability to do them and  fake Moody's explanation that AK needs a lot of magical power behind it. If relatively few wizards have the ability, then this is another case of the Ministry making a show of solving a problem while not actually doing  much about it. It would be like having  zero tolerance for criminals using exotic, high-powered firearms when most shootings involve  Saturday night specials. 

Pippin