Slytherins are not Nazis in the sense that “Hydra is Nazis” or “Death Eaters are allegorical Nazis” but Slytherins have been, CANONICALLY, complicit in and/or actively encouraging racism and the activities of extremists since the founding of the House
like
i literally do not understand how people can rightfully talk at length about how Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape are awful and then turn around and pretend that the process that MOLDED them in to the type of people that would hurl slurs around and feel entitled to people/things because of their blood didn’t start with their family and CONTINUE WITH BEING IN A HOUSE THAT SPEWS OUT RACIST DOGMAS AT FIVE KNUTS APIECE
i don’t give a fuck if out of universe you want to dissociate Slytherins from their canon baggage so you can sort your faves or whatever but “Slytherins are BULLIED AT HOGWARTS” “PROTECT SLYTHERINS” “SLYTHERINS ARE OPPRESSED IN CANON FOR BEING AMBITIOUS” lmao fuck all the way off
This this this
Like lets not forget that the password for the common room was “pureblood” in Harry’s second year. Pureblood mania is a huge part of the house’s history and heritage. Lets not forget that the Malfoys are from Slytherin and they are hugely priveleged, with money and with influence in the Wizarding world, so Slytherins aren’t automatically hated or distrusted like fandom likes to act. People like to argue that there are Slytherin muggleborns, and their might be (I’m not going to argue with people headcanons) but lets not pretend that the Sorting Hat probably avoids doing that because of a) Salazar Slytherin’s wishes for who he wants in his house and b) because a muggleborn is probably going to face a lot of bullying in that house. Also, the Sorting Hat takes people’s choices into account when sorting people. Pretty much all new wizards/witches are going to know what kind of reputation Slytherin has and what kind of propganda its spreading (so not even a reputation without basis) so will probably want to avoid that house, which is why there’s so many death eaters in there in the first place. Like if I turned up at a school that had a house whose founder hated brown people but also valued traits I valued I’m probs not going to be like “oh okay then, I don’t mind going there” (as a woc) i’m going to avoid it like the plaque. And tbh in canon if I was a witch going to Hogwarts but a halfblood or pureblood but the sorting hat considered putting me in Slytherin I’d be like lol no thanks purely because of the associations of that house and there’s nothing wrong with that?? Its not bullying and its not even stereotyping or w/e??
Like out of canon, I’m fine with people being Slytherins bc they are ambitious or have other Slytherin traits they identify with and I’m fine with the statement that not all bad people come from Slytherin (ie Lockhart, Wormtail) and not all Slytherins are Death Eaters (ie Andromeda, Regulus) but its literally canon that Slytherin is a racist house with racist roots and I just hate the way this fandom acts as if Slytherin is the most mistreated house???
I find it strange that people are confused by Slytherin being a explicitly racist house, but would understand if we called it a racist fraternity. Like if we started talking about some fraternity at some American University and the fraternity was named after a racist Confederate Civil War general, and part of the criteria for getting in was based on race. Tumblr people would never say that the surrounding community disliking the people who were in that fraternity was a horrible thing. The same problem of kids who were pressured/encouraged by their parents to go into that fraternity would be in effect. Who would say it was okay for ANYONE to join that racist fraternity, even if their other values matched up, or they were a legacy, or that they loved the fraternity’s library?
Just change the word ‘house’ to ‘fraternity’ and they problems become a lot more apparent.