Strawman Has a Point: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Harry Potter]]'':
** When Dolores Umbridge [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|became High Inquisitor of Hogwarts]] and fires the Divination Instructor, [http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Sybill_Trelawney Prof. Trelawney], for failing to make a prediction on cue, it is supposed to be a [[Kick the Dog]] moment; except that Trelawney is a de facto [[Phony Psychic]]: she relies primarily on the credibility of descending from an actual renowned seer while making fake/vague predictions. The Divination class itself is portrayed as an "Easy A" class, with Harry & Ron making up stories as their "predictions", as opposed to whatever "genuine" methods Trelawney uses for divining the future <ref>While divining the future by those lacking [[The Gift]] is possible in the Potterverse, only the Centaurs are ever suggested to have actual knowledge of how to pass it down to others</ref>. In the next book, it's even revealed that Dumbledore was planning to discontinue Divination when Trelawney applied for the teaching post; he hired her only because during her interview {{spoiler|she fell into a trance and made the prophecy of [[The Chosen One]] who could defeat Voldemort.}}
*** The scene (and series overall) seems to indicate that Umbridge was not necessarily wrong for ending the Divinations class, but for the heartless, callous, and humiliating way she did it. If Dumbledore had ever decided to get rid of Divinations again, he probably would have found some other posting for Trelawney, since as she said Hogwarts was her home and she had nowhere else to go. Umbridge really doesn't give a frog's eyelash where Trelawney goes or what happens to her, which is her ''real'' crime, not the closure of Divinations class.
** When Cho Chang tries to speak up on behalf of her friend Marietta after Marietta told on the DA and got Hermione's jinx of "SNEAK" pimpled across her face for it, she points out that Marietta's mum works at the Ministry and that it's been really difficult for her. Harry furiously replies, "Ron's dad works for the Ministry too! And in case you hadn't noticed, he hasn't got 'sneak' written across ''his'' face!" It doesn't take a lot of [[Fridge Logic]] to realize just how feeble Harry's retort is. Sure, Ron's dad works at the Ministry, but Ron's dad is also Dumbledore's Man Through and Through, a person who when forced to choose between believing Dumbledore or the Ministry when it was impossible to choose both, chose Dumbledore. Marietta's mum made the opposite choice. If Marietta had a good relationship with her mother, then yes, it would've been really difficult for Marietta in ways that it never was for Ron (and the very fact that Marietta didn't tell on them until 6 months after the DA was formed indicates the decision didn't come easily to her). Furthermore, Ron knew about the jinx, while Marietta didn't. Which leads us to...
*** Cho also says that the jinx was a "really horrible trick" of Hermione's and she should've told the DA that the list they all signed was jinxed. Harry interrupts by telling Cho it was a "brilliant" idea. And again, Cho's point is stronger than Harry's. Hermione tricked not just Marietta, but the entire DA into signing a jinxed list without telling them beforehand that it was jinxed, which is ethically questionable at best, and well, really horrible at worst. And telling the DA about the jinx afterwards would've been the only way the jinx would've actually prevented anyone in the DA from talking in the first place, making the idea somewhat [[Idiot Ball|less than brilliant]]. And Cho's whole argument becomes much stronger at the start of the next book when it's revealed that Marietta's hex is apparently permanent and Hermione has potentially disfigured her for life.
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