Scapegoating Slytherin - The Moral Majority

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 144438

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > But I think that once the healing occurs, and Slytherin is no 
> > longer stigmatized, we'll still have the houses.  They'll just   
> > finally be equal.  Not perfect harmony, of course.  The houses  
> > will raise and fall depending on headmasters and students, but   
> > no one house will constantly fill the bottom role.  At least,    
> > that's my hope. <g>

> >>Quick_Silver71:
> Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Slytherin win the house cup for 
> 7 years before Harry came? And wasn't Gryffindor out the running   
> for the Quidditch cup for a similar time period (McGonagall       
> mentions it in PoA)?
> Before Harry came Slytherin was the top dog or that was the 
> impression that I got. So really your dream of houses raising and 
> falling depending on students has already happened...Slytherin     
> fall and Gryffindor rose with the coming of Harry. 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I was kind of hoping someone a bit cleverer than me would step up to 
bat on this one, but unfortunately you're stuck with me.  I'll do my 
best. <g>

JKR, I think, has been rather clever in giving us the *feeling* that 
our hero is the underdog (within the school part of the story), 
while the facts show that he's actually quite a powerful presence at 
Hogwarts.  When I first read PS/SS I automatically assumed Draco was 
fulfilling the role of the popular boy who bullies the geeky hero.  
Only that's not really true, is it?  Harry is more well known.  He 
has the cooler toys (a broom and an invisibility cloak).  He's the 
better athlete.  He's got the better friends, while Draco is left 
with mere body-guards without one speaking line between them.  And, 
the all powerful headmaster is firmly in Harry's corner.  

So JKR turns the expectations of the schooldays genre upside down, 
without loosing sympathy for our hero.  (I think a big boost comes 
from how much Harry's life sucks *outside* of school.  Draco may not 
be the most popular boy at Hogwarts, but his mom is alive to love 
him.)

I think JKR does the same thing with Slytherin.  She can't have her 
hero join with the more powerful and popular house, at least not 
overtly.  So, to counter the fact that Slytherin is evil (per 
Hagrid, our guide to the WW) and Gryffinder is the house of the 
greatest wizard alive, Dumbledore, JKR tells us that Slytherin has 
dominated the house competitions.  Slytherin is the smartest, 
strongest house.  They rule the school.  

Except, they don't do they?  Everyone Harry speaks to tells him 
Slytherin is bad.  They're untrustworthy, and they won those awards 
for so long because they cheated.  Their quidditch players favor 
brute force over talent, and their head of house cheats in his 
giving and taking of points to unfairly favor Slytherin.

Of course, once Harry arrives, the purity of his goodness, his 
talent, breaks the stranglehold evil Slyhtherin has on the school 
and finally makes sure the "right" house gets the recognition they 
deserve.

That the stigmatized people, the scapegoats, are successful is not 
unheard of.  It's actually a popular part of the anti-Semitic play-
book.  Jews are so successful in business, academics, etc., because 
they're cheating, grasping, people.  (It should go without saying 
that this view is total crap, but just to be absolutely clear: This 
view is *total* crap.)  The implication bantered about that 
Slytherin house achieved their seven years of victory by underhanded 
means fits right in with their role as the scapegoated house.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > The Slytherins were just as hurt by Umbridge as the rest of the 
> > school (she may well be the reason Crabbe and Goyle didn't get   
> > an OWL in DADA), and Umbridge was rather hostile towards Snape, 
> > their beloved head of house.

> >>a_svirn:
> When was she hostile to Snape? 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
"And you have applied regularly for the Defense Against the Dark 
Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?"
"Yes," said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips.  He looked very 
angry.
"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to 
appoint you?" asked Umbridge.
"I suggest you ask him," said Snape jerkily.
"Oh I shall," said Professor Umbridge with a sweet smile. 
[OotP hardback scholastic ed. p.364]

Sounds pretty hostile to me.  I don't think the Slytherins in the 
class could miss that she angered Snape.

> >>a_svirn:
> And "beloved" is coming rather too strong. I don't think even     
> Draco ever held him in that much affection.

Betsy Hp:
I think Draco does think highly of Snape.

"Sir," said Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't *you* apply for the 
headmaster's job?"
[...]
"I expect you'd have Father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for 
the job -- *I'll* tell Father you're the best teacher here sir --"
[CoS paperback scholastic ed. p.267)

I'm not sure how the rest of Slytherin feels about him (my use 
of "beloved" was a bit of a joke) but I'm sure they think positively 
about him.  And I'm deeply sure they'd not appreciate him being 
treated badly by an outsider like Umbridge.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > It doesn't make sense that Slytherin students would naturally   
> > want to help someone standing so obviously in their way. Unless 
> > helping was the only real option left to them.

> >>a_svirn:
> I can't think of any reason why minding their business wasn't a
> valuable option? Of course it doesn't present the same opportunity
> for bullying.

Betsy Hp:
I'm always leery of assigning the Slytherins with a surfeit of 
negative human emotions or desires. Smacks of a sort of racism, IMO. 
(Which is why I hope this isn't the direction JKR is really going in 
her series.)  I also doubt Umbridge would allow anyone to sit meekly 
off to the side.  You were with her or against her.  The other 
houses were against her, and banded together so she couldn't isolate 
and destroy them.  Slytherin stood alone.  So they joined her.  

Actually, it was quite cunning of them.  I doubt they cared much for 
Umbridge's goals (why on earth would they want her watered-down 
version of DADA infecting the rest of their classes?) but by joining 
with her they got her off their backs.  And if a Slytherin had been 
allowed in the DA perhaps Harry and friends would have had warning 
of Umbridge's ambush.  (This is, of course, the most hearts and 
bunnies scenario.  I'm not sure a Slytherin would have *wanted* to 
join the DA.  There's a lot of bad blood to be overcome.)

Betsy Hp