JKR's lesson on prejudice

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 180522

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> > Geoff:
> > From my perspective, I think this is a case of six of one and half 
> a 
> > dozen of the other. The more I go back and read the initial 
> contacts
> > between Draco and Harry, the more I see the results of their 
> > pre-conditioning. The more I lament the outcome.
> > 
> <SNIP>
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I snipped rather randomly, but I think I am replying to your other 
> points as well. Oh well, anybody can go upthread and read them :)
> 
> The bottom line for me though is whether you (hypothetical you) can 
> find anything that you can LIKE in anything what Draco said to Harry 
> in that scene.
> 
> I am not talking about Harry not knowing everything about Draco 
> (although truly even at the end of book 7 I cannot see anything very 
> likable about him, but that's just me), because of course he does 
> not know everything about him.
> 
> My only point was very strong disagreement that Harry's INITIAL 
> dislike of Draco was based on prejudice, that's all.
> 
> What I am trying to say is that I do not see any reason WHY Harry 
> would like Draco based on him badmouthing his friends.
> 
> That's all I am saying - that Harry's initial dislike of Draco was 
> very understandable and very real thing, to me of course.

Geoff:
Alla, I deliberately avoided using the word "prejudice" anywhere in 
my post. The point I am making is that the boys' reactions is matched 
to what I might call their benchmark perceptions. They are applying 
the limited views they have garnered from their backgrounds to this 
situation and what happens is the result of their subconscious analysis.

Harry has had the idea put nto his head that Slytherin=bad. Therefore, 
because Draco=Slytherin, Draco=bad, a perception which has been 
heightened by Draco's swaggering entrance and his attempt to
impress Harry.

Draco, on the other hand, can only judge events by the parameters 
which have been drilled into him. His peers are not as intelligent as 
he is so he is really only getting  input from Lucius. I believe has 
seen little in the way of real love from his father and  has to equate 
everything to the image he has of pureblood superiority. So the two 
boys are really hostages to their own conditioning and lack the 
experience or maturity to see through the barriers thay have each 
erected. 

Although, in the strict etymology of "prejudice", they have exhibited 
this trait, bearing in mind that in modern usage, prejudice is seen as 
viewing things in a derogatory and demeaning light - which is not 
all that the word can mean. It means to pre-judge, to come to a 
conclusion about someone or something without having the full facts 
with which to make a true judgement.

And that could be positive. For example, I could look at a picture of, 
say, Barack Obama, and think "I like that guy" which would be 
drawing a conclusion from just his looks and not knowing anything 
else about him; that could be prejudice - in a positive sense.

Disclaimer. I am not making any sort of political statement by my last 
sentence above. I could have used a Republican as an example.
:-)