my numerous replies that no one reads

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Kneasy wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_
old_crowd/message/1088 :

<< "You should have died [...] rather than betray your friends, as we
would have done for you." Somehow the idea of Sirius dying for
Peter... er, I don't think so - or is that my ESE!Sirius inclinations
showing? >>

The OoP Penseive scene does not inspire belief that Sirius would die
to save Peter for love of Peter *sigh*. But what about dying to save
Peter for love of his own heroic self-image?

Sean wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_ol
d_crowd/message/1093 :

<< Why are Tolkien fans stimulated to investigate language, myth, even
calligraphy? What might Potterverse inspire besides shippers and
fanfic? I see that Latin is a little more popular, is that all there
is? >>

Well, we are constantly hearing that the earlier Potter books inspired
many children to start reading for pleasure, and going on to read more
books than just Potter. I don't know if anyone has been inspired to
learn any geography (perhaps mostly of Britain) or folklore by looking
up the places and magical creatures mentioned in the oeuvre, but
certainly plenty of school-teachers and fact-book writers have taught
school courses and written books presenting that information. I
believe that JKR would prefer that her readers were motivated to
intervene when they saw a child being bullied than that they were
motivated to learn to write with quills.

Kudos to Mike's http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_
old_crowd/message/1094

Nora in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/1100 :

<< prefers knee-high boots to Mary Janes >>

Knee-high boots are only for people whose calves are 'properly'
proportioned to their ankles. Calves too big and the boots cannot be
put on; calves too skinny and the boots fall down.

Nora << ponder[ed] making up a properly McQ .sig file, for fun >>

McQ. ????

Pippin wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_
old_crowd/message/1148 :

<< That Dobby emerged from the Malfoy environment with his free will
intact and no hatred of wizards generally does not mean that every
other House Elf could do so. >>

It is not clear to me that Kreachur had any less free will or any more
hatred of wizards in general than Dobby. Kreachur loved Mrs Black, the
evil Blacks, and presumably more thinly loved all pureblood wizards
who were purebloodists. He demonstrated his freedom of will by
disobeying his master in order to serve a person (Narcissa) whom he
loved. That is the same way that Dobby's freedom of will was
demonstrated. 

If Dobby had originally been a Potter family House Elf, fallen somehow
into Malfoy hands (a theory once popular on HPfGU which I do not
share), he would be *exactly* parallel to Kreachur; both motivated by
love of their 'real' owner rather than by attachment to Good or Evil.
I would prefer that they were both motivated by attachment to Good or
Evil, because that would be parallel to another pair of parallels:

Peter and Severus are exactly parallel: they left school and joined
their old friends fighting in a civil war; then they turned traitor to
their side of the civil war and spied for the other side and gave
information to the other side that led to the death of some,
inprisonment of others, of their old friends. Two blokes betrayed
their own friends, but one betrayed good people to Evil and one
betrayed evil people to Good.

Personally this fits my understandingn of the term "situation ethics",
in which one cannot make a blanket statement that betrayal is always
Wrong, but instead it dependson the situation: betraying Evil is Right
and betraying Good is Wrong.

Lyn wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/1180
:

<< this goes to the heart of an underlying question about the
character of HP. Is he really an everyman who makes good choices in a
unique situation, or is he truly a person of exceptional innate power
and pre-ordained destiny. >>

I once read (in a book of literary criticism of Irish "folklore"
stories) that every person is a person whose birth was pre-ordained
for a life with special destiny. (They didn't say what the special
destiny is, maybe to integrate with the Shadow to achieve
individualisation or to resist the lures of the Devil and earn entry
to Heaven.)