Scapegoating Slytherin - The Moral Majority / Draco's bigotry and leadership

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 144455

> >>a_svirn:
> > You can hardly call it hostility, not by her usual standards.
> > <snip>

> >>colebiancardi: 
> when it comes to adults, that was Umbridge's *usual
> standards* of hostility - she is passive-aggressive.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Exactly.  Snape was angry.  Even if Umbridge *wasn't* trying to piss 
him off with humiliating referrals to a job the entire school knows 
he's been after and has been refused, she managed it.  And unless 
the Slytherins actually hate their head of house (which, why?) 
they'd not like him recieving such treatment.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > I think Draco does think highly of Snape.
> > <snip>

> a_svirn:
> Maybe. Or maybe he was just sucking up to him. You never can tell. 
> And if Slytherins were offended by the way Umbridge treated their 
> head of the house they had a very strange way of showing it. 

Betsy Hp:
Generally, with Draco, you really *can* tell.  The boy is not good 
at lying.  What he feels he says.  Not very sterotypically 
Slytherin, but there you go. <g>

And the Slytherins may have just followed their head of house's 
lead.  Snape appeared to be assisting Umbridge.
 
> >>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.
> > <snip>

> >>a_svirn:
> I hope, it wasn't an accusation. 

Betsy Hp:
Certainly not a personal one.  If JKR *does* mean for all the bad 
children to have wound up in Slytherin, than yes, I do think she's 
advocating a sort of racism.  Which is a huge reason why I doubt 
that's what she's doing.
 
> >>Betsy Hp:
> > I also doubt Umbridge would allow anyone to sit meekly
> > off to the side. 

> >>a_svirn:
> On the contrary, that's what Umbridge wanted from her students in 
> the first place – to sit meekly at their desks and take notes from 
> their handbooks.

Betsy Hp:
Which would be joining with her.  There was no middle ground here.  
Which is why the school descended into such chaos.

> >>a_svirn:
> And what do you mean "isolate and destroy houses"? It wasn't her 
> intention. Her intention was to get rid of Dumbledore and Harry 
> Potter, because she saw them as a threat. She also wanted to get 
> Hogwarts under the total control of the Ministry. To that end she 
> introduced a police regime in the school, and Slytherins (not all 
> of them, certainly) were only too eager to help her in this       
> endeavour. 

Betsy Hp:
Total control by the Ministry would mean total destruction of the 
Founders' Hogwarts.  Total destruction of their fingerprints, the 
houses.  Slytherin took the cunning route of holding their enemy 
close.  They'd be the last house destroyed that way.  

Though, of course, they *would* be destroyed eventually, and so one 
does hope that *someone* had some sort of idea of when and how to 
strike back.  More than likely the Slytherins were in a survival 
mode, making sure they didn't get expelled, etc.  And a lot of it 
was all seat-of-the-pants stuff anyway.

> >>a_svirn:
> The picture you drew – all houses ganged up on Slytherin – is 
> certainly dramatic but not correct. DA was mostly Gryffindor, and 
> in any event they could care less about Slytherin, they ganged up 
> on Umbridge. Moreover, they did it in secret, so Slyths had no     
> reason to feel "isolated" up until the Marietta's debacle. And    
> that happened towards the end. 

Betsy Hp:
That's not what I was saying at all.  The houses didn't gang up on 
Slytherin.  They continued to hold Slytherin in isolation, so 
Slytherin had to fend for themselves.  It was all very passive-
aggressive.  Until the Slytherins said screw it and went full out 
aggressive.  (Must have been a bit fun for them, I'd imagine.  I 
don't want to assign the Slytherins with all the noble human 
attributes either. <g>)

And in a school of Hogwarts size there is no way the students didn't 
know that some sort of resistance group was operating.  They might 
not have known the who, what and where, but with most of the houses 
prefects on the role call, they'd know *something*.  And the 
Slytherins would recognize it as well.
 
> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Draco is the Slytherin prefect of his year.
 
> >>a_svirn:
> So was Ron. You can hardly call him a leader, though. 

Betsy Hp:
So name me the Slytherin counterpart for Harry Potter.
 
> >>Betsy Hp:
> > He's respected and liked (I believe) by Blaise, who has been     
> > established as somewhat picky about his company.

> a_svirn:
> I got the opposite impression. Looks like Blaise doesn't think    
> much of Draco's abilities. 

Betsy Hp:
What?  Blaise hung out in Draco's compartment; put up with smunching 
into a seat with Crabbe and Goyle so Draco could spread out all king 
of his domain on the other seats; downplayed the Slug Club so 
Draco's feelings weren't too bruised; and hung out with Draco in the 
common room as per Harry's map.  The only thing Blaise hasn't done 
(that we've seen anyway) is get rip roaring drunk and tell Draco 
that he's the best friend Blaise's ever had.  And he really means 
it, man.  The best!

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Because calling Hermione a mudblood was not a natural instinct   
> > for Darco. In the first book he completely ignored her, choosing 
> > to pick on Neville Longbottom (the pureblood) instead.

> >>a_svirn:
> Well, it's usual for bullies to pick on the weakest. The twins did 
> the same. 

Betsy Hp:
Exactly my point.  First year Hermione was *very* weak.  She had no 
friends at all until Halloween.  She'd have been a perfect target at 
that point.  And yet, Draco waited until his father pointed her out.

> >>a_svirn:
> But his bigotry is not only about using m-word on Hermione. The 
> first time we saw him in PS he presented us with the essence of    
> the pureblood prejudices: that only those with an acceptable      
> parentage should be allowed to attend Hogwarts (in other words    
> allowed to be wizards), and that muggle-borns are all riff-raff,   
> and not good enough. Nor Hermione is only representative of the    
> riff-raff he picks on. Hagrid also offends his refines            
> sensibilities, for instance.

Betsy Hp:
Yes, Draco parrots his father beautifully to the Muggle dressed boy 
standing beside him.  A boy he doesn't even think of questioning the 
parentage of until their conversation is near conclusion.  Which is 
why I don't think the bigotry is something Draco has really made his 
own.  His father says it is so, and it is so.  Draco hasn't thought 
it out for himself.  He hasn't had reason to, really.

And Hagrid, like Hermione, offends Draco's sensibilities because he 
offends his *father's* sensibilities.  Again, he parrots his father 
when he puts down Hagrid. 

> >>a_svirn:
> It would be interesting to see what he'll make of his HBP 
> adventures. His adoration of the Dark Lord has certainly abated,   
> but for this to affect all his beliefs?

Betsy Hp:
The greatness of the Dark Lord is the foundation on which many of 
Draco's beliefs are built.  And the Dark Lord has demonstrated his 
contempt for Draco's family.  So suddenly, everything Draco has 
believed to be true about Voldemort has been shown a lie.  Which 
shakes everything built upon that lie.  Many of his beliefs, the 
negative ones especially, will be, have been, shaken. What will come 
of it, only JKR knows.  But something will come.

> >>a_svirn:
> It didn't work that way with his father. And who knows to what    
> conclusion Draco will arrive in the end? Probably, he'll decide   
> that it was the greatest mistake to throw his lot with a half-    
> blood upstart.

Betsy Hp:
I'm not sure what you're driving at here.  What didn't work with 
Lucius?  And who is the half-blood upstart?  Snape or Voldemort?

I do agree that we're still waiting for Draco to come to a 
conclusion.  He's been forced to finally think for himself, though.  
So I am eager to see where it takes him.

Betsy Hp