Slytherin House again. Was: Re: Problem with OotP? (was: Pampering)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 119146


> Alla:
> 
> Hmm, good point, but I think that the students which we know 
kinda  meant to be the representatives of the Houses. Are we 
supposed to  IMAGINE for example that there is a good Slytherin, 
if Jo does not  show us one?<

Pippin:
As you know, I am always suspicious when Jo leaves things to 
our imaginations. Bad Gryffindors were left to our 
imagination until Book Five, when we saw that James and Sirius 
were bullies, that Percy turned against his family, and Jo 
confirmed that Peter was indeed in Gryffindor House.

Alla:
> And all Slytherin grown-ups whom we saw int he books, did 
become DE,  unless Iforgot somebody.<

Pippin:
It's not beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sirius's parents were 
Slytherins, but given the serpent-theme decor, Phineas Nigellus, 
and Malfoy's proud declaration that all his family were Slytherin, I 
think it's a good bet. And they weren't Death Eaters.

> Alla:
> 
> Well, OK, you are basically saying that those children with 
potential  to "go bad" so to speak are grouped in Slytherin to give 
him help and  to stop them from doing bad.<

Pippin:
Not at all. Assuming Hogwarts worked then as it does now, the 
founders were willing to teach Slytherin students, and to have 
their students taught by Slytherin himself.  I am saying that the 
other three founders did not find Slytherin's  professed ethics or 
his criteria for selecting students abhorrent, nor by and large 
does the wizarding world today.  

Historically,  the theories which became the foundation of today's 
racist ideologies were not invented to justify racial 
discrimination. They were invented by people with no concept of 
social or genetic change  as part of the  legitimate attempt to 
explain how people in different parts of the world could be so  
physically and culturally different.  
 

The wizards, at least those who are isolated from the Muggle 
world, are  in the same situation. To them, theories of racial 
inferiority or degeneration may well seem something about 
which people of good will can disagree, just as people in my 
country nowadays can  disagree about the death penalty. Both 
sides think their position is the moral one, but there are many 
who wouldn't characterize the other side as "bad", just mistaken.

We haven't heard any adult except Hagrid denounce Slytherin 
House as bad.  IMO, if Dumbledore tried to do it, he would either 
lose his position or the Slytherin parents would pull their children 
out of school. All Dumbledore can legitimately do in a free 
society is encourage independent thought and hope the 
Slytherins will see for themselves that ultimately a  mixed and 
equal society is not only functional but stronger.  Since they 
respect independence and strength, the outlook is not 
unhopeful, IMO.

Pippin