Hence, I said "the HP world's version" of your family. And maybe I was trying to bend the rules a bit.

 

I guess I'm still not being clear. I'm not saying that the guy obliviating people wasn't an obliviator - or that in the Harry Potter world it's in any way legal under the ministry's laws for a wizard to casually obliviate a muggle for no reason. What I meant was, that the casual disregard the obliviator shows for them muggle's mental state, after obliviating him several times, says a lot about how most wizards view muggles.

We already know that obliviation can cause serious, permanent harm to an individual if one isn't careful. E.g. Lockhart.

 

Wrong on both counts.

EDIT: My bad, I misread your first part.


The part about casual disregard makes absolutely no sense. The guy is not going around the muggle countryside Obliviating people. He's Obliviating one specific muggle who is in a situation where the statute keeps breaking, an event that can't be avoided. The event is held at a remote location to avoid the possibility of having to Obliviate large number of muggles, not in the middle of London. I don't know how you're arriving at your conclusion.

Finally, why do you assume that he's not being careful? He's certainly not Lockhart.

EDIT: You're also disregarding that despite the fact that they're failing, it is shown that wizards have come wearing what they believe to be muggle clothes, trying to avoid using wands and such. That speaks more about how most people view muggles and the statute.

 

Yeah. I know the Ministry is pretty adorable for the most part, but I'd like to think that the obliviators they hire are incredibly competent at the one thing they're asked to do.

 

...So the question is either:
A: Abandon all my friends, family, loved ones and everything I have ever accomplished in my life. This would include abandoning all my goals in life, and some of the rules I made myself.
Or
B: Keep on going with my life, and everything in it.

I'm going with B