The Sorting Hat (Was: The permanent problem with Slytherin House)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 99474

Silverthorne wrote:
> > 'Said Slytherin, "We'll just teach those whose ancestry is 
purest...
> > For instance, Slytherin
> > Took only pure-blood wizards
> > Of great cunning, just like him...'
> 
> 

> 
> *Small rant and a bit of disillusionment*
> 
> Now that I've had *that* rude little awakening...I have to say 
that I
> honestly *do* believe JKR is shooting herself in the foot--if 
we're to
> believe that this *is* one of the absolute criteria the Hat is 
using for
> Slytherin...that means she really *has* set up the House, as a 
whole, to be
> 'evil'...no wonder she doesn't understand fans identifyng with it--
they
> bought into her whole 'Looks aren't everything' thing and applied 
it even to
> the House that it should not be applied to,  if we're following 
the hats
> (her) rules.

Potioncat:
Wait, hold on!  OK, Salazar and Lucius are pureblood bigots.  But 
the Weasley's are purebloods and they aren't bigots.  And I do think 
Percy would have done well in Slytherin. Being pureblood doesn't 
make you "evil."  The hat says cunning purebloods, not cunning 
pureblood bigots...and we know the hat doesn't always follow the 
pureblood  rule.

Everything Jo's written and said makes Slytherin look evil.  But it 
goes against what she seems to believe in general about good and 
evil and choices.  Who, other than Harry, was given a choice?

And if you look at Sirius (this is difficult, because the hat 
doesn't always make sense) Was he in Gryffindor because he 
was "good" or because he was brave but wasn't cunning or ambitious?  
(Well, actually, he was cunning, to trick Severus into the tunnel.) 
OK, this paragraph isn't the strongest of arguments...But you get my 
point.

Potioncat...who wonders how she became a Slytherin defender?