[HPforGrownups] Re: Morality and Harry Potter

[dorothy dankanyin]

No: HPFGUIDX 191845

Steve,
  You voice my opinion as well, and very nicely and succinctly.  Thank you.
  Dorothy

From: "Steve" <bboyminn at yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 8:19 PM
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "willsonteam" <willsonkmom at ...> 
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> , "Steve" <bboyminn@> wrote:
>> >
>> > Many have argued that Harry was a nasty little boy who did nothing but 
>> > flout the rules and get into trouble. ...
>>
>> Potioncat:
>> Many? Really?
>> I can recall a number of threads that discussed rule breaking in general, 
>> sometimes Harry's specifically. Usually within a certain context but I'm 
>> not sure any list member really proposed Harry was a "nasty little boy 
>> who flouted rules."
>>
>> ...
>>
>> jmo, you know.
>> Potioncat
>>
>
>
> Steve:
>
> This has always bothered me, though I will say I don't deny people their 
> opinions, but there is a group of people who very strongly believe in 
> rules and conformity. They have riled against Harry as a nasty little rule 
> breaker, and against the Twins as mean spirited viscous bullies.
>
> Now, I suspect, these are simply people who deeply believe in the rules as 
> means of maintaining order in the world, and that if we were all rule 
> breakers, it would be total anarchy. Which it probably would.
>
> However, they do not seem to realize that "the law is but the tyrants 
> will". That there is a time and place for civil disobedience, and for 
> breaking both the law and the rules. There really is a time, when the 
> Death Eaters have infiltrated the government, that it is mandatory for the 
> citizens to engage in civil unrest in order to restore, as an example, the 
> Constitution and the Bill of Rights, or the equivalent in the country in 
> which you live.
>
> Bureaucracies and governments become corrupt. Their desire for order 
> begins to override the rights of the individual and override a sense of 
> what is truly right and just.
>
> But on the other hand, I can understand how democracy turns to tyranny 
> when you are a few people charged with maintaining order in a school with 
> 600 young wizards. I'm actually surprised that all the teachers haven't 
> jumped out of windows in frustration by now. I do understand the very real 
> need for the administrators of the school to keep a tight rein on things 
> in order to hold chaos at bay.
>
> But I also think the habitual attitude of demanding ridged order blinds 
> them to students who really do see a problem and/or have something to say.
>
> I think that is what Harry was fighting against in the school, adults who 
> habitually favor order over truth and right. Though I don't think that is 
> willful, I think it is habitual. It come from trying to keep 600 young 
> wizards from descending into chaos and anarchy. It comes from a desperate 
> and frustrating attempt to keep the inmates from taking over the asylum.
>
> I understand the staff on this issue.
>
> But, more so, I understand Harry, which brings me back to the quote in the 
> original post. Harry does what is morally right, even if it means flouting 
> doing what he is told.
>
> McGonagall finds Harry and Ron at the entrance of the room that Fluffy was 
> guarding and says (paraphrased) 'do you think two first years offer more 
> protection than a pack of enchantments and the entire staff of Hogwarts?'
>
> And of course Harry's answer to himself is Yes, the game is corrupted, the 
> enemy is within the gates, and he very much thinks the only hope is three 
> first years, because only three first years believe that Snape is the 
> enemy who has corrupted and compromised the protections.
>
> Of course we find that the compromising enemy is actually Quirrel, but 
> they are right, inside knowledge has corrupted and compromised the 
> protections. Something the other teachers absolutely do NOT want to hear.
>
> They have been in a desperate fight for order for so long, that order has 
> become a higher priority that truth, or clear sighted objectiveness.
>
> They in a sense have become those who vehemently argue in this forum that 
> Harry is a nasty rule breaker and the twins are bullying thugs.
>
> I don't deny them their opinion, and can see how they arrive at it, but I 
> just a vehemently disagree. The Law is but the Tyrants will, and at some 
> point citizen must stand up against tyranny if they have any hope of 
> preserving Liberty.
>
> Harry was that person. He did what was wrong in order to accomplish what 
> was right. Not just right in his opinion, but truly and morally right.
>
> Steve/bboyminnn