Hermione and her whole SPEW campaign in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is meant to come off as an annoying White Mans Burden-esque movement led by a Soapbox Sadie because she's applying her understanding of the muggle world to a magical issue she doesn't understand, as while some House Elves do want to be free and paid, most think this is ridiculous, and virtually all of them (even the ones who want freedom and payment) find the idea of not serving wizards abhorrent.note For example, Dobby is the most outspoken of the Elves in favor of freedom, but all he actually does with his freedom is choose where he works and get modestly paid for his labour. The Hogwarts House Elves are also offended when Hermione leaves hidden hats and socks around the Gryffindor common room as a means of tricking them into freedom because it doesn't give them a choice on whether or not they actually want to stop working at Hogwarts. However, Hermione does make some very good points during her campaign; for example, she comes up with the possibility that House Elves are mentally conditioned to like being enslaved, something that has happened to many real-life slaves. For this idea to have basis in fact, consider how House Elves seem to be psychologically (or even magically) conditioned to physically punish themselves severely if they fail a task or disobey their masters. Hermione also believes that even if the majority of the House Elves do like the status quo, there should be laws that protect them from being mistreated and abused by the people they serve, and the House Elves who do want freedom and payment, such as Dobby, should have the right to pursue it. It's very likely the reader will mostly agree with Hermione, especially because no other character in the books has any good arguments against her points.note Especially since an allegorical criticism of White Man's Burden attitudes doesn't translate when you use a fictional race that's okay with being used as slave labor to try to get your point across.
The entry seems to be under the wrong assumption that SPEW was meant to be wrong for trying to help the elves AT ALL. However, the book is more nuanced in its depiction than that. Yes, Hermione went overboard, yes, she was shown as in the wrong, but the problem was HOW she approached the case rather than approaching in in the first place. She entered a highly conservative society and started forcefully imposing her own values onto the society, which obviously was never going to end well, regardless of how the reader might feel about the values themselves. However, what the entry misses is that the book does acknowledge that SPEW has its merits. Sirius, who is a flawed but heroic character brings up Crouch's treatment of Blinky as a good measure of what kind of person he is, Dumbledore brings up that Sirius's treatment of Kreacher, while unusual for Sirius, is NOT unusual for the Wizarding World and it's made clear Sirius was wrong to do that. Harry himself notes his sudden affection for SPEW when he hears about how the ministry treated Hokey and he himself is called out by Hermione over his treatment of Kreacher, who really didn't know any better. The issue is not nearly as black and white in the books as the entry seems to believe.
The entry seems to be under the wrong assumption that SPEW was meant to be wrong for trying to help the elves AT ALL. However, the book is more nuanced in its depiction than that. Yes, Hermione went overboard, yes, she was shown as in the wrong, but the problem was HOW she approached the case rather than approaching in in the first place. She entered a highly conservative society and started forcefully imposing her own values onto the society, which obviously was never going to end well, regardless of how the reader might feel about the values themselves. However, what the entry misses is that the book does acknowledge that SPEW has its merits. Sirius, who is a flawed but heroic character brings up Crouch's treatment of Blinky as a good measure of what kind of person he is, Dumbledore brings up that Sirius's treatment of Kreacher, while unusual for Sirius, is NOT unusual for the Wizarding World and it's made clear Sirius was wrong to do that. Harry himself notes his sudden affection for SPEW when he hears about how the ministry treated Hokey and he himself is called out by Hermione over his treatment of Kreacher, who really didn't know any better. The issue is not nearly as black and white in the books as the entry seems to believe.