Failed Friendships (was:Re:Draco, Narcissa and Harry)

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 179913

> > a_svirn:
> > I agree that bigotry is by no means the only failing of the House 
> in 
> > question, but I think that it is supposed to be absolutely the 
> worst 
> > one. <SNIP>

> Magpie:
> Actually, I think you can be anti-Muggle to a certain degree and be 
> good--everybody in the WW is pretty anti-Muggle if by that we mean 
> they think Muggles are inferior. Believing you're better than 
Muggles 
> is totally unexceptional. What you can't do is believe in genocide, 
> which ultimately not all Slytherins do either. 

a_svirn:
Yes, you are right, I meant anti-Muggle-born, of course. 

> Magpie: 
> I do agree that their bigotry is supposed to be the worst of the 
> Slytherins' qualities, but I also think there's a reason that comes 
> across as a superficial thing for many (me included). To me it 
seems 
> like it's the worst because in the age the books are written 
> tolerance is an important value. 

a_svirn:
There is that.


> Magpie: 
Meanwhile in terms of the way the 
> story works dramatically it's cowardice that seems more repulsive 
to 
> the actual characters. The good guys can slip up and make an off-
hand 
> ignorant remark about non-Wizards but I can't remember them every 
> slipping up and being cowardly. What pushes Snape, Regulus and 
> Slughorn over the edge isn't their tolerance (if any or all of them 
> even acheive that) but their bravery. That's what defines 
Gryffindor, 
> and Harry's last word on the subject is about bravery, not 
tolerance. 

a_svirn:
Yes, well, that's true, of course. But I think that it's more a 
consequence of being bad, rather than something that defines anyone's 
badness. Cowardice, after all, can't be a regarded as a virtue even 
by cowards themselves, and therefore it is not something that holds 
Slytherin together as an entity. It is not cowardice that makes 
students aspire to be Slytherins, but other traits they regard as 
virtues. And out of Slytherin's virtues – ambition, cunningness, 
arrogance and the disregard for rules, fascination with the Dark Arts 
and bigotry, only the latter is absolutely irredeemable. Even the 
Dark Arts can come in handy, but if you are a pure-blood fanatic you 
are *really* bad. And if you are really bad you are very probably 
cowardly as well.

> Magpie:
> It's one thing to slap bigotry onto the characters as a signpost 
that 
> they're really bad and to write a story that examines the badness 
of 
> bigotry. (This series ultimately doesn't even get across to me how 
> bigotry against Muggleborns worked in the minds of Slytherins.) I 
> think it comes across as their worst trait because by the values of 
> our world it is their worst trait. But not one that's changed for 
> them any more than is their belief in being bullies.

a_svirn:
Yes, I agree absolutely. 

a_svirn