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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119206


Alla wrote: 
> There should be a reason why the House with racist ideology exists 
> for 1000 years.  <snip>

Carol responds:
I think the reason is simply that the WW doesn't have the same values
that modern Muggles do. They seem to be caught in a time warp, with a
general acceptance of values that seem bigoted to our eyes but would
not have seemed so in, say, the nineteenth century or earlier. Many,
though by no means all, white Americans and Europeans used to think
that nonwhites were inferior, just as most wizards, including good
people like the Weasleys, think that Muggles are inferior and
nonhumans even more so. Hermione, with her house-elf crusade, seems to
be the lone voice in the WW for equality for nonhumans. We have the
anti-werewolf legislation (which does at least have some basis in that
uncontrolled werewolves could do great damage), we have the prejudice
against giants (which again has some basis in fact; they really are
dangerous), etc. these views seem to be taken for granted in the WW.

The pureblood prejudice of the Slytherins is less widespread, but
still common. Even Fudge, who doesn't strike me as a Slytherin type,
seems to share it. I imagine that the Crouches did, too, though again
I don't think Barty Sr. was a Slytherin. (I don't know what to make of
Barty Jr. before the DEs corrupted him, but he could have been a
fallen Ravenclaw.) At any rate, note that they are still (or were
still) a pureblood family, meaning that they had not intermarried with
Muggleborns and halfbloods, at least not for a very long time. And
Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff, boasts of his nine generations of
pureblood ancestors.

So quite simply, what we consider to be a "racist" house has existed
for 1,000 years because it reflects the standards and values of many
inhabitants of the WW. They don't see themselves with our eyes.

And as I said in another post, pure blood and pureblood values are not
the only considerations in placing a student in Slytherin. The Sorting
Hat mentioned ambition and cunning long before it mentioned pure blood
as one of Salazar Slytherin's original considerations.

*If* students are to be sorted according to their interests, values,
and family traditions, then there's as much need for Slytherin as
there is for the other houses. (It might have been better, for that
matter, to keep Sirius, with his reckless daring that passed for
courage, out of Gryffindor. And how are brainy, nerdy Ravenclaws (Cho
*not* being a typical member of that house, I'm sure) supposed to
learn social skills if they're stuck with other bookish types like
themselves?)

So I agree that the house system is in itself probably a bad idea, at
least if it uses the latent personality traits of eleven-year-olds to
sort them. But I'm not surprised at all that Slytherin House has
existed for 1,000 years and that no one, including Dumbledore himself,
appears to have raised any objections to its existence. And even the
Sorting Hat itself is only protesting having to "quarter" the students
every year, not having to place one-quarter of them in Slytherin.

Carol