⛧ First Church of Hypocrisy, Blasphemy, and Self-Righteousness ⛧

The teleporter from The Fly would never work properly, at least not without a very advanced AI filtering the information. Even with mosquito netting, it's impossible to guarantee you won't still accidentally let in an insect while going through the netting. Also even if you did manage it, humans are not a single organism. Humans have more bacteria on and in us than human cells. We also have microscopic insects we're host to; one eats the gunk from our sebaceous glands, the other is dust mites who eat our dead skin cells. And then what if someone has a tick on them? Or a tapeworm or flatworm or other parasite inside them?

Actually now that I think about it, the teleporter shouldn't have been able to work at all, if the system can't tell the difference between a fly's cells and a human's cells. Because it would have to be able to tell different kinds of human cells apart. If it can't tell the difference between a human and a fly, it shouldn't have been able to tell a brain cell from a sperm cell, and thus should have liquefied anything it tried to transport.

Thus, if it could tell different human cells apart, it would also have the ability to tell the difference between different species. Not to mention the fact that it would also have to be able to put all those cells back in the right place. So even if if thought the fly was part of the same data stream as the human, the most that should've happened was teleporting both of them independently by virtue of putting the fly's cells in the same place and configuration they were in when the teleporter activated. Thus if the fly had been flying around when it got teleported, it would still be in the air when it was reconstructed. If it was sitting on his skin when the teleporter activated, it would still have been sitting on his skin when it was reconstructed. If the teleporter can't manage that, how could it possibly know how to put his brain back together properly? Or for that matter, keep from blurring all his organs into one large coagulated lump?

My verdict: if it were real, the teleporter from The Fly would either have worked perfectly, or not at all. There's no middle ground.

This was originally started as a comment about Ron's attitude toward house elves:

I don't think Ron was wrong about house elves. All the evidence of all the books is that house elves genuinely like serving humans, and don't want to be free; Dobby was a weirdo, like Hagrid said.

For a long time, I've thought that Hermione is a symbol for all the privileged people who try to talk for oppressed people without actually bothering to find out what those oppressed people actually want. I don't think house elves are meant to symbolize human slavery. House elves are not humans; their motivations, habits, wants, and needs are different from those of humans. Even freed, Dobby genuinely loves work, genuinely loves serving humans, and while he wants paying, he doesn't want much because work is almost its own reward for Dobby. And his final act is protecting his favorite human, giving his life to do so.

House elves aren't the only non-human sophonts in the Harry Potter series that have very different motivations from humans. The centaurs don't seem to care much for magic or advancing their technology beyond bows and arrows; instead, they're obsessed with star-gazing and reading the future. So is it so unusual to think that maybe house elves DO like being slaves?

Should house elves be treated better? Of course. But Hermione charges ahead thinking she knows what they want, ignoring all the evidence that contradicts her flawed reasoning. She's the perfect symbol of all that's wrong with "white savior" types both in fiction and in reality. And I don't think she ever did realize that she was doing anything wrong.

I think this series needs a sequel, where the rest of the issues remaining, like house elves, are tackled. But then, it's also kind of perfect without that.

Re-reading Harry Potter for the umpteen thousandth time. I'm beginning the second book again, at the scene where he escapes the Dursleys. I have to say, the Dursleys may have taken him in for their own inscrutible reasons, but Harry is a lot better to them than I'd have been under the same circumstances. After all they put him through, he helped protect them in the last book. They abused him, neglected him, should have had him taken away a thousands times over by child protective services, and he helped protect them in the end.

Now, as to me, I hold grudges. I never forgive unless I can tell someone is truly repetant. I can see how it would be had I been in Harry's position:

Order members: "Blah blah blah protect the Dursleys."
Me: "Why?"
Order member: "Pardon?"
Me: "You said 'Protect the Dursleys.' I said 'Why?' As in 'why bother?' They won't know anything that could help the Death Eaters find me."
Order member: "But... they're your family."
Me: "They're my blood relatives, yes, but I don't think of them as my family. They abused me, neglected me, treated me worse than some people treat their dogs. If the muggle authorities had known what was going on, I would have been taken away for my own safety. They don't give a shit about me, and the feeling is mutual. I don't love them; I hate them. With a fiery passion. *Let* Voldemort take them. Let him kill them. The world will be a much better place without them. My only regret would be not being able to watch it happen."

But then, this is why Harry's the hero, and not I.

To be honest, I don't know how realistic it is that Harry turned out as good as he did. I didn't have even half the kind of life Harry did, from the bullying I put up with growing up, and I ended up really fucked up and so angry and vengeful that I still fantasize about watching my bullies being burned alive and dying in screaming agony while I laugh til my sides ache at the hilarity of their tortured screams, and then dancing merrily on their graves, laughing and singing gaily. Or if they were already dead, I'd shit on their grave and knock over their gravestone. I am a vengeful person. If I ever met one of my old bullies, I'd kick him in the nuts and then beat the crap out of him with a piece of rebar. Then castrate him with the rebar for good measure. The jail time for assault would be well worth it.