[HPforGrownups] Dumbledore and Sytherin's Bad Rap

[Heather Gauen]

No: HPFGUIDX 41919

My two knuts here:
I see your point, Wendy, and think it's a good one,
but somehow it just doesn't sit right with me. About
the only thing that I can find no way to dispute is
Dumbledore's favoritism of Gryffindor in this scene,
which really sucks because I love Dumbledore. But
about Slytherin.... 

As for the other houses cheering that Slytherin lost,
it's already been brought up that this is good
old-fashoined rivalry at work here, the same you'd
find at any school. Nothing too unusual about that.
Not to mention that the Slytherins (the one's we've
met so far, anyway) are a spiteful bunch; they'd pass
up no opportunity to laugh in the face of a loser.
It's a little much for them to expect that no one
should do the same to them when the tables are turned.

And about Slytherin's bad rap, it just reminded me of
something my dad told me: Stereotypes aren't always
fair, but they exist for a reason. (Yeah, I get mad
when people think I'm a reckless driver because I'm a
teenager, but look at the statistics.) None of the
Slytherins we've seen so far have any redeeming
qualities about them, so why should we overlook that
and say that Slytherin is an good, upstanding house
when they've never proven otherwise? If it later
becomes clear that the Malfoys are a minority and
Slytherins are mostly good, *then* it will be safe to
say that the stereotype is wrong. I just don't see
that happening.

It's already been mentioned that Malfoy wanted to be
in Slytherin; probably many of them did. If so, then
they were obviously prepared to deal with the
prejudice. And if one didn't want to be in Slytherin,
or if they didn't want to be labeled like that, then
they probably would not have been put in Slytherin in
the first place. After all, the Sorting Hat wanted to
put Harry there and then didn't just because Harry
asked not to-- so obviously personal choice is a
factor in the Sorting.

Also addressing a few who have said, "Well, if they're
all bad, why doesn't Dumbledore just do away with
Slytherin altogether?" I don't think Dumbledore has
the power to simply abolish a house that has existed
for a thousand years. To do so would take away
one-fourth of that which is Hogwarts. Just a thought.

Okay, I think I'm done here for now and hope
desperately this all makes sense, since I'm running on
no sleep...

>Frankie, who remembers quite clearly, thank you, and
never wants to be seventeen again.

Heather, who laughed at this because she adores being
seventeen...now, *thirteen* I would never go back
to...






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