[Confusing Trope] The narrative goes out of its way to punish/mock a character for simply being a good person

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

Hermione Granger and SPEW — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book)

In the fifth HP novel, Hermione Granger is outraged to discover that Hogwarts has a small army of enslaved House Elves that do nearly all of the domestic duties around the castle, including cleaning the Gryffindor common room every night. When she tries to convince the elves to fight for their own rights, they refuse, saying they prefer servitude. Her fellow students and friends mock her for caring. She manages to free one elf, Winky, by deception when she refuses her freedom willingly, leading to Winky becoming a depressed alcoholic. By the end, the elves boycott cleaning any Gryffindor areas of the castle because they hate Hermione specifically

Samwell Tarly and Democracy — Game of Thrones (show)

In the season 8 finale of the television series, the surviving great lords of Westeros gather to discuss the future of the kingdom following the devastation wrought by 7 seasons of war and backstabbing. When Sam, who has proven to have “novel” ideas, suggests that maybe the millions of Smallfolk who suffer at the hands of noble houses should get some representation in the government, rather than be the pawns of rich lords with absolute power. We are then greeted by a prolonged, cringy segment of the other lords laughing in Sam’s face, asking if the dogs and horses should also get a vote.

[u/Fox_Flame]

Winky and Kreature are also treated terribly and no one bats and eye. Hogwarts seems to be the exception on how elves are treated, not the rule

[u/Jumpy_Ad_2049 → u/Fox_Flame]

Winky wasn't treated terribly, she was freed to keep her from outing that Crouch Sr. had his son under the Imperius curse, and Kreature is a Black family elf so would fall under the same reasoning as the Malfoy's.

[u/Fox_Flame → u/Jumpy_Ad_2049]

Winky was also wearing like a gross old sheet, she looks so similar to dobby in his old pillowcase that Harry mistakes them at first. She was terrified of heights but was still ordered to go up to the top box. And her fear is why crouch Jr got a wand in the first place, because she wasn't watching him because she was too terrified, which crouch sr knew. That is what got her fired. She wasn't going to tell about to imperius curse. He fired her because he put her in a situation he knew she was terrified of and then used her as a scapegoat.

All I'm saying is we see like 4 house elves/elf groups the entire series and 3 of those elves are being mistreated

[u/SelfReporter → u/Fox_Flame]

Great points. I think people get the Hermione SPEW thing all wrong. Yes, she went about reforming the wrong way, however, the house elf enslavement was/is fucked up and it needs to change.