JKR's lesson on prejudice (was:Slytherins come back)

[Tiffany B. Clark]

No: HPFGUIDX 180483

> Betsy Hp:
>
> I expected Harry to have to deal with Slytherin as a group of 
people rather than an overarching philosophy.  I won't say that the 
codified prejudice of Slytherin was correct; on the contrary, it was 
something that obviously needed fixing.  But I also thought 
constantly attacking Slytherin, labeling them as the source of all 
that was bad in the WW would leave the problem unresolved and 
buried.  Which, it did, IMO.

Tiffany:

I agree that the overarching philosophy of Harry's helped to 
reinforce the negative aspects of Slytherins & justifies maintaining 
the status quo about the house as a whole.  I personally knew that 
Harry was prejudiced since SS & he used Slytherin as a scapegoat, 
instead of addressing the real issue on his own.  He did have moments 
when he had to rethink his ideas on the Slytherin house though & for 
that I think he had a huge coming of age moment.
 
>revaunchanistx:
>
> The only way the status quo would change on a massive scale like you
want it to is through a regime like Voldemort wanted to instill, 
where he would have employed tactics that worked in Cambodia, 
Stalin's Russia, and Red China and yes even Nazi Germany.

Tiffany:

I saw a lot of connections between those regimes & LV in the canon as 
well.  I, however, was really impressed by what LV could do early on, 
esp. in SS.  I've lost some respect for him since because his ego got 
in the way a lot, but his knowledge of black magic & the dark arts 
has always been awe-inspiring to me.