Not many U.S. Wizards

[fourfuries at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27195

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., blpurdom at y... wrote:
> I agree that Elfreth's Alley would make an excellent portal for the 
> Philadelphia wizarding "shopping district," but there is probably 
> an equivalent of Diagon Alley in most cities in the US.  

I beg to differ.  If Diagon Alley serves the entire British Isles (or 
even just the Island of England) and Hogsmeade is the only all 
wizarding village in the U.K., then the liklihood of a wizarding 
district in "most cities in the U. S." is very small.  It is far more 
likely that U.S. wizards make up a small percentage of the total U.S. 
population.

In fact it is probable that U.S. Wizards comprise a smaller 
percentage of the U.S. population than wizards comprise of the 
European nations.  If wizarding is passed down both as a science/art 
and as a genetic disposition, it is easy to predict that the U.S., as 
a realtively new nation lacking a wizarding tradition and being 
notoriously hostile to the emergence of witchcraft, would have seen a 
precipitious decrease in the wizarding passed on from generation to 
generation.

Consider that American Indian shaman were generally only one per 
tribe atmost, and they were mostly killed off along with the rest of 
aboriginal culture.  Or how about the Salem withch trials, which 
certainly drove magicking further underground, regardless of whether 
the burnings at the stake tickled, or whether gillyweed and bubble 
head charms were readily available to witches subjected to ritual 
drowning.

Further, and despite what the supremacists delude themselves into 
believing, the American racial stew is so thouroughly mixed, the 
bloodlines for a trait like wizard-ability must be awfully muddied.  
Black, White, Indian, Irish, Mexican, etc., etc. etc.  How is any 
gene supposed to pass from generation to generation in such an 
intermingled environment?

This goes part and parcel with my final point.  Wizarding is conrary 
to the American ideal.  In wizarding, all men are not created equal.  
There are greater and lesser talents, and some have no talent at 
all.  There is not even the illusion of equality, as old line 
families denigrate the lineage of mudbloods who struggle with their 
muggle relatives over the meaning of this blessing/curse.  Americans, 
having little sense of or use for tradition, prefer technology, 
science, motor cars and such. They have no use for things that can 
not be taken apart.  It is exactly why we continue to parse thiese 
books.

The British, on the other hand, have magic as a part of their 
national history.  Arthur would not have been king but for a wizard 
named Merlin and an enchanted sword and stone.  The Druids were up to 
something at Stonehenge, the evidence of which still stands.  The 
very oldness of the land, the mysterious topography, its cold climate 
and ageless traditions all support the propagation of the magical 
arts in ways that the shiny new America can never hope to compete.

Sorry U.S. citizens, but I doubt there is more than one Diagon Alley 
on the entire continent of North America.

4FR