Elves, goblins, etc., was Re: Mudbloods

[Heather Moore]

No: HPFGUIDX 30607

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Philip Nel <philnel at k...> wrote:
> Dear all:
> 
> Heather (uma) quotes me:
> 
> > > By definition, a prejudice is not justified.  The word means to
> > judge beforehand, to judge without knowledge.
> >
> 
> She then writes:
> 
> >   Ah ha, well, now we're teetering into the realms of value
> > clarification and the sticky problem of connotation vs 
denotation. As
> > such is off-topic, I'll merely point out that semantic definitions
> > *don't,* IMO, dictate the relative social/moral 
value. "Justified" is
> > a bit of a loaded term here.
> 
> Actually, no, we're not headed into these realms.  It's not 
about "connotation vs. denotation."  It's about the definition of the 
word "prejudice."  If the list will forgive me from quoting from 
_Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English 
Language_ (1989), the word "prejudice" (as a noun) is defined as 
follows: "1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or 
without knowledge, thought, or reason.  2.
> any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or 
unfavorable.  3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. 
of a hostile nature, directed against a racial, religious, or 
national group.  4. such attitudes considered collectively: 'The war 
against prejudice is never-ending.' 5. disadvantage resulting from 
some judgment or action of another: 'a law that operated to the 
prejudice of the majority.' 6. resulting
> injury or detriment" (p. 1135).


<snip examples of specifically negative prejudice>

  We shall agree to disagree, then. I find it interesting that you 
didn't use the following example: "to judge Harry solely on the basis 
of his parents' popularity and the fact that he happened to survive 
an evil wizard's curse...."  I still maintain that the phrase "not 
justified" implies a value judgment which is improperly applied in 
the universal sense ("by definition") here.