Hagrid and others

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 40347

Tierney wrote:
> 
>       I think the reason that Hagrid's (and others) characters have 
been
> portayed to us in this way is simply to show tolerance. Hagrid is a
> half-giant who was discriminated against in his  years at Hogwarts. 
I feel
> that Dumbledore is making a statement by having him on staff.... 
like a "You
> may have won the battle but you can't win the war" line of 
thinking. It
> showed to all the powers that be in the WW that he would not stand 
for
> intolerance and discrimination.
> 


Hey, we've seen that Dumbledore will accept werewolves, half-giants 
and maybe even a half-vampire, if one theory about Snape is true.

And Dumbledore's not-so-subtle comments on pure-blood versus muggle-
born also speak to this. Perhaps it is a touch heavy-handed, but 
there are worse things to be heavy-handed about.



> I think this is the same reason that we are told of the racial 
background of
> some of the  characters. It shows that Hogwarts is NOT an elite 
school.
> Having female quidditch players also shows that the school does not 
suffer
> from sexism. It shows that the WW is made up of so many different 
people
> from so many different backgrounds and that it's NORMAL, unlike our 
own dear
> world which is filled to the brim with bigots and racists.


Different nationalities acknowledges several things, both in the 
Potterverse and the real world.

1) Cities as large as London, which sheer statistics would seem to 
dictate is where the majority of the Hogwarts students would be from, 
have diverse populations. There are blacks of African descent, of 
Caribbean descent, Pakistani, Asian, and all other races and 
nationalities. I mean, what's the real HARM of having a smattering of 
these races acknowledged?

2) Apparently, Hogwarts was founded by four people of different 
nationalities. Godric Gryffindor might be British, but Salazar 
Slytherin strikes me as Latin (maybe Moorish?) and Helga Hufflepuff 
and Rowena Ravenclaw need not necessarily be British. (Perhaps 
Hufflepuff is an English-izing of a good Germanic name.) 

So, it stands that whatever the faults of the Hogwarts Four, racism 
might not have been among them.

Having said that, I'd be anxious to hear a few History of Magic 
lessons on the first Pakistani student at Hogwarts, or how black 
wizards and witches were treated while black Muggles were being made 
slaves.

3) Being diverse helps increase book sales by being more appealing to 
different people.

And politically correct? What exactly does that mean? It's become a 
goofy term to throw around. The last resort of the liberal is to call 
someone a racist. The last resort of the conservative is to call 
someone politically incorrect.

Acknowledging that there are other races and cultures besides the 
white race is HARDLY a bad thing. So, if one of the Gryffindor 
players happens to be a black girl, big deal. And throwing out ethnic 
names or acknowledging races is one of the least clumsy ways to do 
it, unless you'd rather see "Hogwarts is an Equal Opportunity 
Employer" on every invitation.

You notice that the same black girl went to the Yule Ball with Fred 
Weasley, a red-headed white kid. 

Doesn't look to me like the kids have a problem with it. Why should 
we?


> Tierney. (1st time post-er who will remember 20 other things that 
she wanted
> to say as soon as she posts this)

Darrin
Hey, welcome. I just got unmoderated myself. Makes me feel a little 
like Neville when he got dropped out that window.