[HPforGrownups] Re: Likeable Slughorn (was: Villain!Dumbledore )

[Irene Mikhlin]

No: HPFGUIDX 177855

Magpie:
And this is why I think these books are bizarre, because JKR puts 
bigotry as her central evil, and yet bigotry seems defined as 
wanting to kill people who are of a different ethnicity. What a 
petty end to a 7 book series for me to be discussing whether the 
attitude of somebody like Slughorn is bad or not.

Irene:

I agree with you completely, it is very bizarre. JRK made magic to be genetically inherited even down to its different aspects (I mean, good characters rave how Harry has got his flying abilities from his father and what's not from his mother). 
The worst thing was mentioning in some interview that muggleborns just had a witch or a wizard in the family tree.

So it's like the books are built on aunt Marge's philosophy, and at the same time they hate aunt Marge.

Wizards are not familiar with genetics, their scientific thinking seems very medieval to me. No later than 17th century muggle level, IMO. They have no idea how exactly the magic is passed, or not. They don't understand either Squibs or Muggleborns. But they have noticed that particular magical talents run in the families.
So, it seems like perfect common sense to assume that, generally speaking, if a child gets his magic from both parents, instead of just one (or even from nowhere), his own magic would be stronger. Seems to me like we are blaming Slughorn for not knowing about dominant and recessive genes.

Going back to your examples, I just can't see the equivalence between what he says and the real world "You are so clever for a black person" bigotry. His surprise is akin to a surprise of two short parents producing a 2.15m tall NBA player. Sure, can happen, but more surprising than if both parents were tall.

To reiterate - yes, it's very petty that we had 7 books, some of them excessively huge, and yet the message is so muddled that we have to sit here and split these hairs. I don't normally require my literature to have messages, I even prefer it not to, but JKR very obviously wanted to say something about bigotry and prejudice. It did not work out very well, IMO.

Irene