On Children and the "Other" (was:Re: On the perfection of moral virtues)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 169488

> > >>lizzyben04:
> > <snip>
> > To me, it seems like the books give lip-service to "tolerance"
> > and "unity" while actually embodying the opposite.
> > <snip>
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> I've had the very same worries, lizzyben04.  And I usually look to 
> Pippin to pull me back from the depths of despair. (Though she may 
> not realize I do so. <g>) <snip JKR quote>

Pippin:
Why, thank you! It's nice to be appreciated :)

Here's another JKR quote I found enlightening:

Interviewer:
One of Goblet's biggest themes is bigotry. It's always been in your 
books, with the Hitlerlike Lord Voldemort and his followers 
prejudiced against Muggles (nonmagical people). In book 4, 
Hermione tries to liberate the school's worker elves, who've 
been indentured servants so long they lack desire for 
anything else. Why did you want to explore these themes?

JKR: Because bigotry is probably the thing I detest most. 
All forms of intolerance, the whole idea of "that which is 
different from me is necessary evil." I really like to explore 
the idea that difference is equal and good. But there's another 
idea that I like to explore, too. Oppressed groups are not, 
generally speaking, people who stand firmly together – 
no, sadly, they kind of subdivide among themselves and 
fight like hell. That's human nature, so that's what you see 
here. This world of wizards and witches, they're already 
ostracized, and then within themselves, they've formed a 
loathsome pecking order.

Interviewer: You don't think this a little heavy for kids?

JKR: These are things that a huge number of children at 
that age start to think about. It's really fun to write about 
it, but in a very allegorical way.

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0800-ew-jensen.
> 
> > >>lizzyben04:
> > What's worse, because Slytherin = evil, behavior by Gryffindors
> > towards Slytherins is automatically excused because they're "the bad
> > guys." Draco's ferret bouncing, Montague's vanishing, etc. I find
> > this actually disturbing. Gryffindor apparantly = good, no matter
> > what one of them does.
> > <snip>
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> It disturbs me as well.  But I wonder if it's maybe *supposed* to be 
> disturbing on some level?

Pippin:
Oh, yes, I think so. We see that Draco is just as frightened of 
Dementors, Greyback and evil Giants as other wizards are, and 
where would he have gotten those fears from, except his
family?  We see that Mrs. Black has similar attitudes, so how is
it that Voldemort can make his wizard followers think that such 
creatures are their natural allies? And what makes Voldemort's non-
wizards think that Voldemort's wizards would help them?

It seems that the fear of  oppression by the massively,
blunderingly, fiercely intolerant  wizarding society, whose
values the Trio are unconsciously adopting even as they
consciously struggle to oppose them,  is so great that 
Voldemort can use  it to weld all these traditional enemies
together.   I am hopeful that the Trio will come to see this.
Of course it wouldn't do for them to figure it out too 
soon, or we wouldn't have seven books :)

Pippin