It started back on the first page. Somebody joked about the irony of the Ayn Rand Institute writing the article in question, and I followed up with an aside asking how they'd deal with the fact of Lily Potter's altruistic sacrifice. This was followed by a recitation from Atlas Shrugged, and the race was on.
but it's obvious to most parent s that a child's life has infinitely more value than one's own. This is true both psychologically and objectively.
I agree that my own children's lives are more valuable than my own. Their mere existence makes moral claims on me that do not fit within Rand's philosophy. Further, I think that other peoples' kids have certain moral claims on me as well -- IOW, my choice in the matter is not necessarily relevant.
(At any rate, I think it's more profitable to discuss this stuff than all of the silliness about magic and sorcery that's been rattling around this thread....)
Agreed. If you go to rottentomatoes.com. you'll find nearly 150 reviews of the HP movie -- many by parent's groups, many by religious organizations. All of them agree that HP has its morality right. Some quibble about the forgiveness of rule breaking, but all agree that the discussion of goodness and evil is both correct and effective.