Back to Slytherin House - Choosing

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 176135

--- "lizzyben04" <lizzyben04 at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "Katie" <anigrrrl2@> wrote:
> >
> > ---  "Bruce Alan Wilson" 
> > <bawilson@> wrote:
> > >
> >> Carol asks why that ambitious pure-blood Percy W.
> >> wasn't put in Slytherin.
> >> 
> >> Because he *asked* to be in Gryffindor, with the
> >> rest of the family.  We know that the Hat takes 
> >> the students' wishes into account.
> > > 
> > > Bruce Alan Wilson
> > 
> > ***Katie:
> > Perhaps. Or maybe it's because the Sorting Hat knew
> > Percy really was brave and loyal. He proved to be 
> > both those things in the end, ...
> >
> 
> lizzyben:
> 
> Don't forget, in the Potterverse, choices *show* who
> you are. Percy choosing to be in Gryffindor showed 
> that he had a "loyal & brave character" at heart. 
> 
> JKR has said that the Sorting Hat is never wrong. If
> it was just a matter of students arbitrarily choosing 
> houses that are wrong for them - the Hat would be 
> wrong, right? ... So,
> it's more like students choose a House because it 
> reflects their own inner character. While choosing not
> to be in a particular House shows that you dislike 
> that House's  values/priorities, and so would not 
> belong there.
> 
> 
> lizzyben
>

bboyminn:

I'm in general agreement with LizzyBen. But want to
point out that we have never seen anyone choose a
House. Harry never says 'I want to be Gryffindor',
he only says, 'not Slytherin'. The Hat of it's own
accord choose Gryffindor.

In the Epilog, that is essentially what Harry tells
his son, tell the Hat you don't want to be in 
Slytherin, which is QUITE different that say he can
choose which House he wants to be in.

Also, indicating which House you prefer or prefer
not to be in, does indicate something about your
inner values. In the end, I don't think The Hat
assign Houses based on any ideology. If anything
ideology is a secondary reflection of morally 
neutral characteristics that are reflected in a 
negative way. 

Personally, I find it misguided to say that Slytherin
House is uniformly Racist. If that is true then by 
extension, the entire Aristocracy of Europe are a 
bunch of pure-blood racists.

To be for pure-blood is not necessarily to be against
impure-blood. To engage in self-pride is not synonymous
with absolute loathing of all others. I'm proud to be
of Norwegian heritage, but that doesn't mean I hate
the Fins, Danes, or Swedes. 

I have said, and still say, that there is nothing 
inherently wrong with any of the Slytherin 
characteristics. I think along the way, various
individual Slytherins have warped the Slytherin
attitude, but that draws from corrupt, misguided,
self-serving individuals, not from the House itself. 

I think the Slytherin characteristics lend themselves
to a greater number of bad guys, but as we see, there
are similar bad guys among members of the other Houses. 

The accumulation of negative Slytherin attitudes have
gradually warped that Slytherin landscape. Now it is
up to Slytherin attitudes to change for the better, and
by extension, attitudes /toward/ Slytherins will change
along with them. 

As I said before, Slytherins caused the problem, it's
up to Slytherins to fix it. Though, to some extent, it
is up to the rest of the wizard world to provide an 
atmosphere in which Slytherins are allowed to change.

As an extension of this last aspect, I don't think
Mr. Slytherin was quite as racist as he is made out to
be. Yes, Slytherin favored pure-blood. He felt it was
safer to keep magic within magical families. But, he
was justified in feeling this way. This was a time
of persecution, and by switching from many remote
Apprentice Schools to a single central universal school,
the wizard world was placing itself at great risk. It
is not by accident that Hogwarts is a walled fortress.  

One attack on Hogwarts could wipe out the wizard world
in a single generation. So, the stakes were very high.
Slytherin didn't trust muggle-borns because they were
too close to muggles; meaning too many muggle 
associations. If a muggle-born let the secret of 
Hogwarts slip, it could be a disaster. So, he didn't 
trust them and rightly so. 

Slytherin's mistrust was not a general condemnation of
muggle-borns, but a practical reality of the time and
place. The other founders out voted him, and he left.
Things seem to have worked out. No muggle-borns 
betrayed Hogwarts.

Other, later wizards, twisted Slytherin's practical
necessity to their own racist ends. I see the 
Slytherins we see today as a logical, but not 
necessarily rational, evolution of Salazar's practical
necessities. 

This isn't really that uncommon. In fact, it has
happened repeatedly throughout history. It has
happened to Christians several times, it is now 
happening to Muslims, and has happened to many other
groups; a seed to truth is twisted to meet self-serving,
but generally irrational, ends.

As terrible as the Slytherin we see are, I refuse to
accept that they are uniformly evil and racist. I
can't believe that JKR sees them that way either.

Just passing it along.

Steve/bboyminn