[HPforGrownups] Re: Draco is Evil

[tillrules at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25182

In a message dated 8/30/2001 12:09:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
meboriqua at aol.com writes:

<< See now, I think you are giving little Draco Malfoy too much credit.  
 I don't even think he is smart enough to know what he is talking 
 about.  I certainly don't think he'd even want to put his pale little 
 hands on a puppy or a kitten for fear of getting dirty.
 
 Remember, Draco was very eager to befriend Harry and when Harry 
 rejected him, he never got over it.  He is wildly jealous of Harry 
 even now.  If Harry extended the hand of friendship to Draco, he'd 
 take it in a second.
 
 As far as racism goes, it is very easy to be a racist when you have 
 little contact with the groups you hate.  My students have told me on 
 more than one occasion that I changed their minds about Jewish people 
 because they got to know me and I do not fit any stereotype that they 
 grew up with.  Draco has NEVER thought any of his stupid pranks or 
 comments through, making it easy for him to hold the narrow minded 
 beliefs he holds.
 
 He is a spoiled little sh*t, though.
 
 --jenny from ravenclaw ****************************
  >>

Arguable, but now he's had 4 years of contact with "mudbloods."  He is still 
keeping with the racist attitudes that he had espoused from his first 
appearence.  I do believe that at 14 he is capable now of exercising his own 
discretion to a degree.   He has been taught that all non-purebloods are bad. 
 He is now experiencing what he had only previously heard about, i.e... 
interaction with non-purebloods.  However, even after 4 years of such 
contact, he still holds entierly true to his racist beliefs.  These are more 
than just what he was taught issues, these are ingrained attitudes that he 
sees no reason to change (unlike your friends who having met you as a Jew are 
revising their attitudes).

The Harry question is interesting.  I don't think Draco would take Harry' s 
hand now.   In fact, that option ended the first time that Harry befriended 
Hermione.  Draco now sees Harry as the worst sort of person, one who actually 
likes "mudbloods" (how many times has he refered to someone, like Harry or 
Dumbledore, negatively as a "mudblood lover").  I think now, there is no hope 
for Draco.