Harry Potter Stuff. Spoilery.
Spent some more time reflecting on the book. I think that it is a truly wonderful thing that we have J.K. Rowling in the world right now, and that she is doing what she is doing. Reading the Half Blood Prince has made me feel a little bit of what it must have been like for people reading The Chronicles of Narnia during and after WWII.
Rowling really has her head on straight about security, and what she does with Draco Malfoy, with the Ministry of Magic, and even with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is brilliant. Indeed I think that HBP is a round and sound criticism of the "War On Terror" and "Homeland Security."
I shall begin with Draco. Hogwarts' security is vaunted. It's the safest place in the wizarding world. It cannot be apparated into or within. And it has numerous other protections. What's more, now that people are nervous about voldy-thingy, as Cornelius Fudge so articulately called him, those measures are stepped up. Stricter curfews are imposed. Things that give joy are listed as contraband. People are searched going in and out. And I will not speculate on what a "probity probe" is except to say that it may have the additional purpose of early detection of colon cancer in elderly witches and wizards. All of this is happening. And still Draco manages to subvert it all and open a port to Knockturn Alley. All of this is happening and still, there are death eaters in Hogwarts. The point is clear -- no matter how much you do to protect, security can always be penetrated. And almost without fail, security protocols are designed in a way to significantly inconvenience those being protected, while posing only trivial encumbrances on those who would undermine them. I suspect that Draco's difficulties in implementin his neat little hack had more to do with carpentry than with magic.
So, why implement them? If security measures only inconvenience us with no payoff in real safety, why go to the fuss? Because people want to feel like they're being protected. Even if its an illusion, even if they know it's an illusion. Rowling makes it clear in a couple of ways. Most notable is the quest by the Ministry to possess Harry, to be associated with him. The ministry, whose chief motivation appears to be keeping unease within the populace to a minimum, wants Harry to participate in that illusion. The maintenance of that illusion is the reason that Stan Shunpike is in Azkaban. An innocent man suffers to maintain this illusion. And the people are, by and large, willing participants. They dutifully ask each other for passkeys, and follow the advice on the ministry leaflet. Even Arthur Weasley does it - not because he thinks it does any good, but because as a ministry employee he needs to maintain the illusion.
And illusion is that they want - because the most popular product at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is a muggle card trick. Let's pause for a moment and consider that - the Witches and Wizards, genuine bonafide magic users, are agog over an illusionist's parlour trick. They are content to be fooled, if it means they can be happy and feel safe.
Harry has never felt safe in his life. Getting Avadra Kedavra'd at 1, spending the ensuing 11 years living in terror of his uncle and cousin, only to be whisked into a wonderful world where the baddest, meanest death-eater of them all is out to kill him, he has no illusions about safety, and a healthy cynicism about his protectors' ability to protect him. This is why he is Dumbledore's man. Nothing less than the unvarnished will suit him, which is why he trashes Dumbledore's office at the end of OOTP. It is safe to say that Harry regards the ministry's work as immoral under the best of circumstances, because hiding the truth about risk is the greatest of sins to Harry's mind.
Oh, and that the one thing I was going to say about the Big Thing. I believe that Regulus Black is still alive and well and enjoying the same protection Dumbledore offered to Draco.
Rowling really has her head on straight about security, and what she does with Draco Malfoy, with the Ministry of Magic, and even with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is brilliant. Indeed I think that HBP is a round and sound criticism of the "War On Terror" and "Homeland Security."
I shall begin with Draco. Hogwarts' security is vaunted. It's the safest place in the wizarding world. It cannot be apparated into or within. And it has numerous other protections. What's more, now that people are nervous about voldy-thingy, as Cornelius Fudge so articulately called him, those measures are stepped up. Stricter curfews are imposed. Things that give joy are listed as contraband. People are searched going in and out. And I will not speculate on what a "probity probe" is except to say that it may have the additional purpose of early detection of colon cancer in elderly witches and wizards. All of this is happening. And still Draco manages to subvert it all and open a port to Knockturn Alley. All of this is happening and still, there are death eaters in Hogwarts. The point is clear -- no matter how much you do to protect, security can always be penetrated. And almost without fail, security protocols are designed in a way to significantly inconvenience those being protected, while posing only trivial encumbrances on those who would undermine them. I suspect that Draco's difficulties in implementin his neat little hack had more to do with carpentry than with magic.
So, why implement them? If security measures only inconvenience us with no payoff in real safety, why go to the fuss? Because people want to feel like they're being protected. Even if its an illusion, even if they know it's an illusion. Rowling makes it clear in a couple of ways. Most notable is the quest by the Ministry to possess Harry, to be associated with him. The ministry, whose chief motivation appears to be keeping unease within the populace to a minimum, wants Harry to participate in that illusion. The maintenance of that illusion is the reason that Stan Shunpike is in Azkaban. An innocent man suffers to maintain this illusion. And the people are, by and large, willing participants. They dutifully ask each other for passkeys, and follow the advice on the ministry leaflet. Even Arthur Weasley does it - not because he thinks it does any good, but because as a ministry employee he needs to maintain the illusion.
And illusion is that they want - because the most popular product at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is a muggle card trick. Let's pause for a moment and consider that - the Witches and Wizards, genuine bonafide magic users, are agog over an illusionist's parlour trick. They are content to be fooled, if it means they can be happy and feel safe.
Harry has never felt safe in his life. Getting Avadra Kedavra'd at 1, spending the ensuing 11 years living in terror of his uncle and cousin, only to be whisked into a wonderful world where the baddest, meanest death-eater of them all is out to kill him, he has no illusions about safety, and a healthy cynicism about his protectors' ability to protect him. This is why he is Dumbledore's man. Nothing less than the unvarnished will suit him, which is why he trashes Dumbledore's office at the end of OOTP. It is safe to say that Harry regards the ministry's work as immoral under the best of circumstances, because hiding the truth about risk is the greatest of sins to Harry's mind.
Oh, and that the one thing I was going to say about the Big Thing. I believe that Regulus Black is still alive and well and enjoying the same protection Dumbledore offered to Draco.