[HPforGrownups] Lily/Snape, racism/Draco/Slytherins/Quirrell

[tillrules at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25278

In a message dated 8/31/2001 8:34:13 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
Koinonia2 at hotmail.com writes:

<< f course racism is changeable.  So do we look at Draco and the 
 Slytherins and just call them racist?  Are they the only racist 
 people in the wizarding world? Is there no hope for them?  If that is 
 the case then it won't be much of a story.  I don't want to see all 
 those in Slytherin end up as evil and all the other grand houses end 
 up on the good side.   In a way, Harry and others (including Hagrid) 
 are not willing to give *any* of the Slytherins a chance.  (True, 
 most of the Slytherins have not been great examples of goodness). 
 What would you call that attitude?
 
 I don't regard Draco as pure evil.  I have yet to see any examples of 
 that.  Trying to get Hagrid fired doesn't make Draco totally evil.  
 How do we know that Lucius wasn't telling Draco what to do?  Lucius 
 saw an opportunity to get Hagrid gone and he ran with it.  I tend to 
 think of Draco as someone who does many of the things he does (as 
 Rita said) to try to prove to his father that he isn't soft. I don't 
 see Draco as particulary strong (standing on his own) yet.  He 
 doesn't seem to like one on one confrontations.  He seems to be full 
 of hot air most of the time. I tend to lean toward the idea that he 
 has to present himself as a muggle/Hermione/Harry-hating person. Will 
 Draco fight on the side of good?  I don't know.  I am willing to give 
 him a chance.  He is, at some point, going to turn to Snape for help 
 IMHO. It will be up to Draco to decide what to do afterwards.  Snape, 
 who seems to have been raised in the Dark Arts, turned to Dumbledore 
 and got a second chance.  Let's hope Draco, who was raised by a DE, 
 will not chose the same path as dear dad. >>

The flaw in this argument at least in regards to Draco, is that there's no 
indication that Draco has any inclination to change his racist thoughts and 
his continuing pattern of trying to hurt others. 

In my opinion, racism can be limited in regards to specific individuals, but 
doesn't  abate simply b/c one accepts one person.  Using a HP example, 
hypothetically, let's say Harry was a racist and hated African Americans.  He 
may come to accept Angelina for her quidditch skills or Dean as a fellow 
Gryffindor, but that would not mean that he had changed his attitudes about 
African Americans, simply that he had accepted people in his particular 
social group.  I know a lot of people that will say "I have (African 
american, jewish, gay, muggle, whatever) friends and will still rail about 
that particular race as a whole should something offend them.

I think the post before about the two Draco's is particularly accurate.  
Redemption is a powerful draw to a lot of people.  So Draco, as such a jerk, 
is an appealing subject for a fantasy of redemption.  So people are willing 
to extend him the benefit of the doubt for his actions (it's for his dad, 
etc...) to make him seem redeemable.  But in the end, I just don't see him as 
redeemable.