Sorting and House System

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 173034

> >>Prep0strus:
> <snip>
> Slytherins are bad people.  I know many of us try very hard to force
> what is there into something else... even JKR.  But it can't be     
> done. Virtually all of Voldy's followers.  The original house      
> creator... maybe at some point Godric and Salazar really were good 
> friends, but an anti-muggleborn bigot who placed a basilisk in the 
> school for the purposes of killing children... and our examples    
> of 'good' slytherins. Please.  Just because they are not evil,      
> doesn't mean they are admirable.  Snape is a bitter, nasty man     
> saved from complete evil by his love of Lily.  Slughorn is a       
> sycophantic, weak little man who treats children based on what he   
> thinks they can do for him later on.  Regalus, like Snape, turns   
> towards evil, and manages to redeem himself only after being pushed 
> too far.  And these are the very BEST of the world that JKR shows   
> us.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Exactly.  Slytherin's are bad.  Trying to read anything else into the 
text is an exercise in futility.  I agree that it's probably because 
they're the spiritual descendents of Salazar.  So yes, no Slytherin 
will ever love purely, strive nobly, or sacrifice themselves 
selflessly.  The best a Slytherin can hope for is to please a 
Gryffindor.  But only in the most basest of ways.  Snape, I think, 
came the closest to approaching Gryffindor blessedness (he at least 
recognized that Gryffindor's are there to be worshipped though of 
course he was unable to do so properly), but he was still a 
Slytherin, so it was morally impossible for him to achieve that goal.

It's like the story of Noah in the Bible.  He had one bad son, Ham 
(IIRC), whose decendents were (are?) doomed to serve their cousins 
for eternity.  (IOWs, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the sons 
teeth are set on edge.) 

[An aside: You got the moral ladder a bit wrong (in the part I 
snipped).  The Houses in moral order are, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, 
Ravenclaw, Slytherin.  The Hufflepuffs are better than the 
Ravenclaws.]

> >>Prep0strus:
> Personally, I don't mind if the sorting had would simply choose     
> those who are evil.  Cull them from the school and wizarding       
> society right away.  Maybe that's a little too 'minority report'.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
It's a good question, frankly.  Why not kill, sterilize, or merely 
send directly to Azkaban, any child who gets the Hat to 
yell "Slytherin" during the Sorting Feast?

I presume it's because it's hard to be morally righteous if you don't 
have someone to be morally righteous towards.  The Gryffindor sun 
would not gleam half as bright if not contrasted against the 
Slytherin darkness.

> >>Prep0strus:
> <snip>
> But I think we're just going to have to forgive JKR for developing 
> a very flawed system, where some are golden, some are at best      
> unpleasant and at worst evil, and where some are the dregs.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Or (and this is my planned course of action) we can call JKR a psycho-
bitch and not invite her over for tea. <eg>

Betsy Hp