House elves

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 17021

Morag wrote:
> House-elves, by their own account, like work.  That doesn't mean 
they like 
> being exploited.

Right!  Exactly!  Now why couldn't I say it that concisely?

I also think it's important to sort out the "are house-elves unhappy" 
issue from the "is Hermione going about this the right way" issue.  I 
haven't heard anyone here wholeheartedly endorse Hermione's approach 
to social change--she's naive and headstrong and unintentionally 
patronizing--but every cause has its naive activists.  The cause may 
still be just, and I'm standing by this one.  Here are my two 
Sickles--sign me up!

> CoS
> "'Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!...If he knew what he means to us, 
to the 
> lowly, the enslaved, us dregs of the magical world!  Dobby remembers 
how it 
> was when He Who Must Not Be Named was at the height of his powers, 
sir!  We 
> house-elves were treated like vermin, sir!...mostly, sir, life has 
improved 
> for my kind since you triumphed over He Who Must Not Be 
Named...Harry Potter 
> shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the dark 
days would 
> never end, sir..."


No need to take out the best line:  "...treated like vermin, sir!  Of 
course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir."  Every reform movement 
needs a sense of humor.  "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of 
your revolution" (Emma Goldman).

Amy Z