Hermione's AND Hagrid's rude comments

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 75204

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "loonyloopyrjl" 
<loonyloopyrjl at y...> wrote:
> I don't think Hermione was being racist or prejudiced when she 
> referred to centaurs as "horses" to Parvati and Lavender [OoP, 
> Chapter 27].  Rude, yes, but not necessarily racist or "speciest."
> 
> Hagrid himself (although not known for his tact) referred to the 
> centaurs as "mules" IN FRONT of the centaurs themselves:
> "I won' be kept outta the fores' by a bunch of mules like you!" 
said 
> Hagrid. [OoP, Chapter 30]
> 
> And walking away from them, Hagrid says to Harry and Hermione:
> "Ruddy old nags though, eh?" [OoP, Chapter 30]
> 
> And back in PS/SS Chapter 15, Bane says of Firenze:
> "Have you no shame? Are you a common mule? . . . . It is not our 
> business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our 
forest!"
> 
> I would expect Hagrid, more than anyone else, to be not racist or 
> prejudiced against other species.  He is half-human and imperfect, 
as 
> is Hermione, so he will say stupid things. The centaurs, on the 
other 
> hand, have no problem insulting their own as mules or donkeys, so 
I 
> think it's understood that this is an "acceptable" insult.
> 
> 
I don't think it's acceptable at all - callling the centaurs "mules" 
was clearly a serious insult, and intended to be one.  "Mules" 
and "donkeys" - brute animals that serve man, these are considered 
degrading terms to the centaurs, and I don't think they'd think it 
was cute that a human girl called them "horses".  The fact that 
Hagrid said what he did seemed to me an indication of how well he 
knew the "lingo".  He picked the term he knew would be the most 
offensive to his audience, but he at least had the excuse of being 
insulted first, and he was standing up to his opponents.  Hermione 
just safely despatched her jibe sitting at the breakfast table, and 
there was no excuse for it, except that she wanted to score off some 
girls.  As I said before, she wouldn't dare say that to a centaur's 
face, but she'll do it when there's no risk.  I'm not developing a 
theory that Hermione is a secret racist, I'm more concerned with 
what a line like this is doing in the book.  Rowling should have 
known better, and an editor would have noticed that it was 
discordant with the larger theme.  I think she is getting too 
indulgent with her characters, and not keeping them disciplined. I'm 
just not in the mood to think up elaborate excuses for a lazy 
author.  It's illogical to say "Hermione is muggle born; muggle-
borns can't be racist; ergo, if she uses a racist term it isn't 
really racist."  I thought the term was offensive, even if Rowling 
is too enchanted by her creations to notice it.

Wanda