Potterverse Racism, & technology (Was: Why do 'purebloods' hate Muggles?)

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No: HPFGUIDX 47590

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "chthonia9" <chthonicdancer at h...> wrote:

<SNIP>

> I'm intrigued that no-one has taken up the last point I was
> trying to 
> make:  Given that a major theme in the books is that racism and 
> prejudice are stupid and wrong, isn't this somewhat contradicted
> by 
> the ways character traits seem to run in families in the 
> Potterverse?  Although one might expect there to be family cultures 
> which would make sibling/offspring entry into the same school House 
> more likely, even at eleven years old I'd expect individual
> traumas, 
> sibling rivalries etc to have produced differing motivational 
> drives.  (Should Percy Weasley not have been a Slytherin? ;-)  But it 
> seems that bloodlines do indeed have a significance



Yes, well, often blood is thicker than water. And I think the Sorting 
Hat can see past the petty squabbles that are a part of normal family 
life, so that a family that truly likes to stick together (like the 
Weasleys) will belong to the same House. Note that the Patil sisters 
DID get split up.

> 
> And why is it worse for Draco to call Hermione a Mudblood (CoS pg 86-
> 89, and elsewhere) than it is for Hagrid to say that the Malfoy's 
> have `bad blood' (CoS pg 51)?  


Connotation, for one thing. It's the difference between saying "that 
whole family is rotten" and calling someone a "nigger" - a word  that 
in addition to its denotative meaning has a LOT of historical and 
emotional significance.
                          
Additionally, not having the book here with me at the moment, I think 
Hagrid meant "bad blood" in a different sense of the phrase - like you 
can say there's bad blood between Harry and Draco. I believe this goes 
back to the idea that an imbalance in the humors (ie bad blood) would 
cause sickness and emotional instability.
                            

<SNIP>
                             
On hiding from Muggles and the increases in technology which have put 
Muggles at something of a power-balance with the WW:


> Grey Wolf also said:
> 
> > the "purebloods" really feel that they are the ones that should
> > be out in the open, with muggles hiding from them. Take into
> > account that "old families" tend to have an egocentric
> > streak, having to hide from inferiors is going to cause them
> > something akin to physical pain.
> 
> Yes, that makes a LOT of sense – the Malfoys' constant
> harping on 
> their racial superiority, as if they have to keep on making the 
> point, fits well with an inherited wound to their pride.
> 
> 
> Sherry Garfio said:
> 
> > I would also like to add that there is a new threat today
> > against the Wizards: Muggle technology.
> 
> Interesting.  I hadn't really thought of that factor in a
> historical 
> context before.  Since the separation Muggles have progressed from 
> being obviously inferior (in power) to wizards to being in many ways 
> equal, and have also evolved more organised ways of acting together.  
> So there is a greater potential threat now than ever, which the WW 
> perhaps doesn't want to face – hence the general bemusement
> expressed 
> at technological devices by, for example, Hagrid and Arthur.  By 
> viewing technology as a bizarre Muggle idiosyncrasy, which as Emily F 
> pointed out is another way of patronising Muggles, wizards can deny 
> the threat it poses.

<SNIP>

So - to draw on my geekiness in other sources as well - what we are 
seeing here is an AU version of the start of the Ascension War! There 
are some wizards who believe their powers make them better than 
Muggles and likely would not hesitate to squelch them.

Additionally, at this point in the Potterverse, magic is still 
stronger than technology - there are places so glutted with magic that 
Muggle tech won't work, but we have no reason to believe that there 
are places where it's difficult to use magic as a result of 
technology. If anything, the strength of Muggle disbelief makes it 
EASIER to use magic, as Muggles will accept what happens and make 
excuses for it if at all possible.

And then you get "Muggle-lovers" like Arthur Weasley, who would defend 
Muggles against the squelchers... who additionally has a fondness for 
technology and has been privately experimenting with ways to 
incorporate magic and technology! Hm. Arthur Weasley, the first 
Technocrat?

It could happen. ;)


CK
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