Laughs at a Squib's expense?

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 16531

Jen Faulkner wrote:

> I'm not sure I take this passage in precisely the same way as you 
do,
> Amy (and may the gods forgive me for disagreeing with you! *g*). 

Disagreeing with me isn't a sin the last I heard, though I've been 
working on getting that changed <g>.

> When
> Ron justifies laughing about Filch being a Squib by pointing out 
that
> it's Filch he's laughing at, that read to me as though making fun of
> Squibs isn't the 'done thing', that it's terribly gauche to laugh at
> Squibs -- but that the impulse to laugh is there nonetheless.  

Very true.  The question is, is the impulse to laugh coming from 
"Squibs are laughable" or "Filch is a jerk"?

I have to admit it is probably a bit of both.  I lean toward the 
latter, though--the laughter is about something, =anything,= 
embarrassing having come out about this hated, powerful figure.  

Here's a parallel:  laughing at J. Edgar Hoover for being a 
cross-dresser doesn't mean you think there's anything wrong with 
cross-dressing or that you would normally laugh at transvestites.  The 
man was so holier-than-thou, and persecuted so many people for no good 
reason--including being gay or otherwise deviating from sexual 
norms--that this is a particularly ironic foible.  I can picture 
myself playing Ron in this conversation:

"What's a cross-dresser?"
Amy stifled a snigger.  "Well, it's not funny, really--but as it's J. 
Edgar Hoover..."

Now, it's not quite the same with Filch, I admit, because he doesn't 
crack down on students for being weak at magic.  If Snape turned out 
to be a Squib, that would be the ultimate hypocrisy and laughing would 
be more justified.

Amy Z

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   "This is a =girls'= bathroom," she said, eyeing
 Ron and Harry suspiciously. "=They're= not girls."
   "No," Hermione agreed.
                   -HP and the Chamber of Secrets
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