Blood & predjudice...or what makes for strange bedfellows? (Long....)

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 150353

sugaranddixie1 wrote:
>
> Starting with LV- the head of the organization.  Acceptable to his 
> followers because he renounced his father? Seems ironic to think of 
> Lucius Malfoy in a organization headed by a half-muggle....  

<Snip> 

> So my point is this- How can the Malfoys profess to be so obsessed 
> with people's bloodlines & still do the things they do?  The
> ultimate irony? The irrationality of prejudice? So few pure-bloods
> left that they'd be sitting home alone if they didn't bend the
> rules a bit? 
  
> Any thoughts?

Riddle's parentage was unknown when he reached Hogwarts.  I doubt that
he advertised it once he figured it out.

Besides, the pure-blood thing seems to be as much about culture and
appearances as about reality.  A half-blood who "walks the walk", like
Snape, seems to be more acceptable to the bigots than a pure-blood
like Arthur Weasley, who does not.

If there's anything Riddle is good at, it's manipulating appearances.  

As to Snape, and others like him--imagine the pressures on a young
half-blood trying to pass as a pure-blood. The desire to appear "purer
than pure" could explain the attraction of a group like the Death
Eaters to a half-blood. Lucius Malfoy might welcome someone like
Snape, believing that he could manipulate Snape all the more easily by
playing on his desire for acceptance by pure-bloods.

Amiable Dorsai