Slytherins are bad (was:Re: Severus as friend)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 183422

> >>Zara:
> When did the Founders claim not to be thrilled with the values     
> Salazar Slytherin espoused at the time they all founded the school 
> together? On the contrary, the fact that they did found a school    
> together, suggests to me that they all considered the others'      
> values to be within acceptable bounds. My conclusion is racism      
> concerned them far less than it does you.

Betsy Hp:
Oh, probably. :)  And I also agree that the Founders showed a certain 
level of agreement to Salzar's beliefs.  They may not have been so... 
*passionate* about it, but they must have seen a certain level of 
sense and logic in codifying the segregation of muggleborns from 
portions of the student body.  After all, as Pippin points out:

> >>Pippin:
> But segregation is what Salazar was all about.
> <snip>
> Once they'd workd out the house compromise, there's no canon that   
> any of the Founders objected to Slytherin's desire to choose his own
> students as he saw fit. They enshrined his criteria forever in the
> Sorting Hat along with their own, so why would they object after
> Salazar had departed? According to the Sorting Hat, the quarrel    
> which finally divided the school wasn't about racism in any form,   
> it was about which of the Founders should be in control, and all of 
> them were contending.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Right.  So, near as I can figure it, all of the Founders were anti-
muggleborn to a certain extent (otherwise they'd have not invited 
Slazar, or un-invited him, or drastically changed or closed down 
Slytherin after he left on his own), just Salazar was more in-your-
face about it.

So Slytherin became the *face* of Wizarding racism, but was 
reflecting the actual thoughts of Hogwarts as a whole (as Hogwarts 
supported Slytherin and it's values).  Salazar *himself* became 
annoying; his values did not.

I agree with that.

> >>Zara
> Which makes lots of sense to me, it would be a rather exotic       
> concern for 10th cetury Britain.

Betsy Hp:
But these are exotic 10th century Britons.  They're founding a school 
their world had never seen the like of.  And the idea of educating 
young muggleborns beside their wizardborn counterparts *must* have 
come under discussion since Salazar made a point of saying "*no* 
muggleborns in my house, thank you."  (For example, I doubt signs 
saying "Irish need not apply" didn't pop up in the States until the 
Irish did. *g*)

> >>Zara:
> It is also my opinion, that the wizard in the alley in late        
> twentieth century Britain is a lot less concerned about racism than 
> you are, which is why the idea of closing Slytherin House would    
> still have been a wild-eyed one.

Betsy Hp:
I totally agree.  I'm still a bit stunned that this generation of 
Wizards are so little concerned about racism; I was expecting a bit 
more wild-eyed idealism out of the Trio.  But yeah, Hogwarts still 
codifies the segregation of muggleborns.  Everyone is still fine with 
it.

Betsy Hp