[HPforGrownups] Re: BADD ANGST TBAY, Part II

[Iggy McSnurd]

No: HPFGUIDX 81690


Remnant
> > 2. Emeric the evil, maybe (one passing reference and we have no
> idea whether he was human or in what way he was evil).

I was playing around with the phonetics and spelling of this one... (Since
JKR seems to at times..)

Emeric

America

Hmmm... interesting.  *grin*

Would this mean "America the Evil"?... After all, we DID have a little spat
with England a couple hundred years ago...

Just a silly little thought...



from Pip!squeak
> So, no, I suppose our evil wizards might not have been racist, or
> pure bloodist, but it seems that they would have stood out a bit if
> they weren't. Because from the history we are given, the WW itself
> is largely racist. Other races feel extremely oppressed - so much so
> that they revolt more than once over a period of centuries. And note
> that when Binns explains about Salazar Slytherin's pure-bloodist
> views, he does not condemn them [CoS Ch. 9 p.114 ].

Well, if you look at it, every civilization in history has been prejudiced
to one degree or another.  This has been against races, nationalities,
religeons, political outlooks... a wide variety of things.

When you get down to it, virtually every person out there can easily find at
least five groups, either as another entire counrty/religeon/etc... or as a
group within their own culture.

To give examples, I'll list a few prejudices people have that apply to me...
(Note:  Some things stated might be slightly offensive, but I am stating
them as objectively as possible...)

I am a Neo Pagan who lives in Alabama... we're talking the Bible Belt here.
(One of my managers at a place I worked at thought I was a Satanist because
I asked for Oct 31 and Nov 1 as holiday's of faith...   I got fired later on
a trumped up charge... I wonder why...)

I am a large man who grew up in a city in California with a strong feminist
(and we're talking bulldog feminist...) faction.  When I mentioned in a
college class (in a supposedly liberal city) where we were discussing sexual
assault, that men can be sexually assaulted by women, I was accused of
trying to undermine women's issues.

I am also a definite meat eater... and growing up in Santa Cruz, California
(a heavily "health conscious and vegetarian" city just south of San
Francisco...) I got a LOT of flack from vegetarians when I simply wanted to
eat what I enjoy eating.

I am a westerner down here in the south.  While I am not a Yankee (there's a
big difference between Yankees and Westerners...), I still get treated like
one by a lot of people down here.  (Derogatory comments and general lack of
respect a lot of times down here.)


Those are just a few examples...

I state these things to illustrate that, since every culture on earth has
its opinions of other cultures and such... why should the WW be any
different?  It's a collection of humans, and human nature (sadly) includes
the basic need to feel that you're better than SOMEONE.

>
> > Remnant:
> > And as for the references to LV being the strongest in a century,
> > isn't it more likely that there's just no one around who could
> > tell whether he was the strongest *ever*? Almost no one has lived
> > long enough to say more than that he is the strongest in their
> > lifetime of about a century.

Well... aside from Nicholas Flamel and his wife.

Also, the ghosts would probably know, since most of them seem to have been
witches and wizards before they died.

Then there's the portraits, which seem to still be able to learn and such,
just as though they were alive.

Ok... who else...

Ah, the Sorting Hat might know...  Since it lives in the Headmaster's
office, it would pretty much know about anything that's discussed there.

History books / Historians (and, therefore, Professor Binns) would probably
be able to keep accurate enough records so as to be able to provide a
relative measure... if not an "on the dot" one.

> > Remnant:
> > And yes, there have been other evil wizards. Just as there are
> > evil people in the real world. So the fact that there were others
> > is just a reflection of the real world. But did they do what LV
> > is  trying to do? Never mentioned. IMO, he is unique, the perfect
> > storm of unparallelled evil, power, and intelligence.

Well, who would you say was the worst?  Adolph Hitler, Attila the Hun,
Torquemada, Vlad Tsepesh, Ghengis Khan, Pol Pot, or Joseph Stalin?

All of them killed (or ordered the killings) mass numbers of people, often
in horrific ways and for differing reasons.  While Torquemada might not have
been responsible for as many deaths as Hitler, there were fewer people in
the area he oversaw and therefore caused at least as strong an impact.

It's hard to compare the level of effect and "evil" between different
people, because the circumstances are often different for each area, time,
or even accordign to the motivations behind the atrocities.


I'd comment more on the rest of this letter, but my wife needs the
computer... *chuckle*


Iggy McSnurd
the Prankster