Comparing "house-elfment" to slavery (Part 2) (not-so-long)

[c_voth312]

No: HPFGUIDX 39334

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "grey_wolf_c" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
(much snippage)
> The Atan parallelism
> --------------------
> 
> **Note: this is the weakest of my arguments, based on any number of 
> shacky arguments, and included, after much self-debate, because, 
> nonetheless, I'd like it to be true and because it's the only one 
with 
> an acronym: ENSLAVEMENT (Elves Need Slavery Lest Aggression and 
> Violence Erupt, Making Extinction Near Threat)**

I don't know, I think you have a very viable theory with this one 
(most of the theories listed in this debate have been, though).  I 
hadn't drawn the Atan parallel (it's been years since I read 
Eddings), but the idea sounds interesting and feasable.

(Snipping of Domes of Fire citation etc.)
 
> This situation reflects my fourth view on the Pottervese elves: 
they 
> realized that they had too much power (and I do mean too much: they 
> apparate in Hogwarts, need no wand, throw wizards down stairs with 
> thought alone, etc.) and put themselves into slavery because they 
> couldn't stop themselves from killing each other (or iniciating a 
war 
> with another species). Of course, this is based on a piece of canon 
we 
> do not have: the origins of the elves's enslavement.

But since we do NOT yet have this piece of information, I say all 
speculation on the elves' enslavement (and the moral implications 
thereof) is fair game.
Much has been said about how the oppression of the elves might tie 
into the overall theme of tollerance.  I would like to add that one 
of the hardest forms of tolerance to learn that of belief systems 
fundamentally different from one's own.  Who has to learn the lesson 
here: the house-elves, in demanding freedom and recognition, or 
Hermione, in realizing that the house-elf perception of servitude is 
different than what she feels it should be?  Is Dobby rebelling 
against an oppressive regime, or against his own culture?  Time, and 
JK Rowling, alone can tell.

~Christi, who is also not pro-slavery but believes there are multiple 
possibilities on this question and is throwing a bit of devil's 
advocate into the mix.