harry potter - Was Snape really prejudiced?

Canon demonstrates that Snape was not a nice man, who bullied his students and embraced the Dark Arts, and who was a Death Eater. Canon also suggests that Snape held anti-Muggleborn sentiments as a youth:

‘There you go,’ he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. ‘You’re lucky Evans was here, Snivellus –’
‘I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!’
Lily blinked.
‘Fine,’ she said coolly. ‘I won’t bother in future. And I’d wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus.’
_{Order of the Phoenix - Page 571 - Chapter twenty-eight, Snape's Worst Memory - Bloomsbury}

Yet there is evidence Snape might not hold such deeply prejudiced beliefs:

It was night-time. Lily, who was wearing a dressing gown, stood with her arms folded in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
‘I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here.’
‘I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just –’
‘Slipped out?’ There was no pity in Lily’s voice. ‘It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends – you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?’
He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking.
‘I can’t pretend any more. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.’
‘No – listen, I didn’t mean –’
‘– to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?’
_{Deathly Hallows - Page 542 - Chapter thirty-three, The Prince's Tale - Bloomsbury}

Dumbledore explains to Harry why becoming a Death Eater might appeal to a teen or young adult:

‘As [Tom Riddle] moved up the school, he gathered about him a group of dedicated friends; I call them that, for want of a better term, although as I have already indicated, Riddle undoubtedly felt no affection for any of them. This group had a kind of dark glamour within the castle. They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish, gravitating towards a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty. In other words, they were the forerunners of the Death Eaters, and indeed some of them became the first Death Eaters after leaving Hogwarts.'
_{Half-Blood Prince - Page 339 - Chapter seventeen, *A Sluggish Memory - Bloomsbury}

The above are just a few examples to consider. Snape held an incredible amount of hate in his heart, yet also a tremendous love for Lily Evans. When Dumbledore asks Snape in Deathly Hallows whether Snape's doe Patronus means Snape still loves Lily, Snape answers, "Always." I don't think it's a stretch to assume that, had Lily returned Snape's romantic feelings (Which J.K. Rowling has said she might have done), Snape would have jumped at the chance to make a life with Lily, her bloodline aside.

But would this have been in spite of Snape's prejudices, or was the young Snape who blustered and bullied and called all Muggleborns "Mudbloods" merely a front to impress a group of friends (the Death Eater crowd) whom he wanted to be part of?

Q: So what I'm really asking is whether or not Snape was truly prejudiced. Was he? Or did he just behave in an outwardly prejudiced manner, hoping to impress the group of up-and-coming Death Eaters, or for some other reason all together?

_{I'm looking for an answer from canon -- the 10 Harry Potter books, Pottermore, or quotes, interviews, or tweets from J.K. Rowling. A subjective answer in the spirit of canon is totally welcome -- please don't hesitate to put forth thoughtful theories. I am not looking for any information from any wikipedia. I don't reward the Fastest Gun In the West, so don't feel rushed. Also, if you need me to look over an answer you've left me for a different question, leave a comment with a link to the answer.}

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...

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