More stereotypes (was OoP hat song and discrimination)

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 64343

Milz:  

> Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. I think Harry should be open 
> to a "Good" Slytherin. Should he be cautious? Yes. But a Slytherin 
> kid shouldn't be automatically turned away because of the Slytherin 
> label.
> 
> Marietta was accepted because  she's Cho's friend and I think because 
> she is a Ravenclaw. In retrospect, that wasn't a good idea.
> 


As a tangent, I loved Harry taking off on Cho when Cho tried to defend her. It 
was good because I know that, as a 15-year-old boy, it would have been hard 
for me to get angry at the girl I really really liked.

I would also hope the kid isn't turned away automatically, but the Slytherin 
label is a powerful one and I don't blame Harry a bit for being suspicious.

Milz: 

> 
> Purely speculative of me...But I think Snape was the one who told 
> Dumbledore about the plot against the Potters. 

Yeah, that's the most logical one, and probably the one that will take place. 
(Like Trelawney's first prediction being the one about the fall of V-Mort, it isn't 
a tough guess to make.)

Which is why I kinda hope it's something else. :) As i have speculated, maybe 
it has to do with Neville. 


Milz: 
> Sirius has said that Voldemort bullied and intimidated some people 
> into supporting him. If that's the case, I would say that some people 
> weren't as supportive as Voldemort wanted.
> 
> I think it's in SS/PS, Hagrid tells Harry that some of Voldemort's 
> followers claimed they were enchanted in order to have charges 
> dropped. In light of what happened to Barty Crouch and Bertha Jorkins 
> and what Sirius said, were some of these people truthful?


True, but again, you have to be very careful weeding out the ones who were 
really bullied and intimidated (magically or no) and ones who are just faking.

Take Wormtail. He doesn't appear to have been the victim of the Imperius 
curse (if he was, wouldn't he have shrieked that in his defense in PoA?) but 
he obviously was scared of V-Mort.

But... being scared isn't a reason to kill 12 Muggles, betray close friends, 
condemn their infant son to death (which he thought he was doing) and then 
kill Cedric... etc. etc...

Really, until D-Dore tells me it was Imperio, I don't trust a one of them. :)

> > If the houses are truly "unitable" then at some point, Salazar (or 
> his essence) 
> > needs to come back and fix what he hath wrought with his disdain 
> for muggle borns. 

Milz:
 
> Rowling has said that once you're dead in the Potterverse, you don't 
> come back. I don't really see Slytherin coming back to reverse 
> himself, but more of the Slytherin children rejecting these ideas. 
> 

I kinda meant come back in the not literal sense. Godric came back in a sense 
by helping Harry get the sword and slay the basilisk. 

The Hat will also be key here. Right now, Sal's essence is making some really 
lousy choices. :)  He needs to get his act in gear. :)

Here's more on the stereotype issue.

The hat is full of the Founders' essences, who presumably choose the 
student. 

The hat didn't need to even settle on Draco's head before screaming 
"Slytherin."

Does that mean Draco was Salazar's perfect choice? That does NOT say 
good things about Salazar and the kind of kid he thinks is most ideal to bear 
his name and carry on his traditions. 

(To play Devil's advocate, it could also mean that the essences of Godric, 
Helga and Rowena all said, "NO!" as soon as Draco came strutting up to the 
hat too.)

But if Draco is indeed the Poster Boy for House Slytherin, and the Hat's 
instantaneous acceptance is a strong argument for that, then House Slytherin 
being evil is not that heinous and unfair a stereotype.

Darrin