Muggles and International Wizarding Relations

Sat Jun 8 00:39:42 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 39582

Hello everyone, I'm new. Figured I'd jump right in!

>>> Origional Message:
>>>   Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2002 00:49:52 -0400 (EDT)
>>>   From: <temporary_blue at yahoo.ca>
>>>   Subject: Muggles and International Wizarding Relations

>> "As we know, however, the 'real world' exists
alongside this magical one.  But what of those
societies that accept the magical and supernatural?
Consider the amount of societies who believe in
supernatural beings or powers; and in shamans
. . . sorcerers . . . and witches . . . What
about Wiccans . . .

Would HP-style witches consider this type of magic to
be trickery or to have a rational anthropological-type
explanation?  Or would this be considered an equally
valid form of magic?  . . . " <<

I'd imagine they'd be considered valid, if not as easy, practical or modern
as the magic taught at Hogwarts. A lot like the real world, really. There
are usually at least two ways to do things, each (or all) of which are valid
and will work, but one of which is faster, easier and/or more efficient than
the others. If there were courses on such types of magic, I'd say they'd
focus more on historical impacts and sociological influences than the actual
casting processes.

>>  "How, exactly, do HP magicals manage to remain so
completely incompetent in the Muggle world?  . . . " <<

If you've read "Quidditch Through the Ages" and "Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them" you might have noticed the references towards the
anti-wizarding sentiments of the early sevententh-century (Quidditch Through
the Ages, p42) (which I assume is when the mentioned "International Statute
of Wizarding Secrecy" came about [Quidditch Through the Ages, p2]). It was
alluded that the Wizarding community as a whole was very close to completely
cutting ties with the Muggle world for fear of persecution.

I'd imagine that whatever could cause such a drastic step would still be in
effect this day. Fear of persecution is a hard thing to shake; just as hard,
in fact, as fear of death. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are obviously not
the nicest of people, nor are they open Muggle lovers. If I were a Wizard
during Voldemort's reign of terror, I'd sever as many ties with the Muggle
world as possible in order to stay out of his line of sight.

If either reason holds validity in the cannon, the "youth of today" would be
excellent choices for helping the two worlds mesh again. Those raised in the
Muggle world would have seen all sorts of things involving racial,
sexual-orientation, and gender persecution. Also, the world has entered an
"information age" with the internet and all. Newly sorted Wizards and
Witches would have a lot more knowledge under their belt than they would
have had before. Overall, I think it would make for a much more open-minded
generation filing out into the Wizarding world.

>> ". . . How large is the wizarding world as a whole? . . ." <<

Again, if you've read "Quidditch Through the Ages" and "Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them" you'll get teasers on the rest of the world. "Quidditch
Through the Ages" has a chapter called "The Spread of Quidditch Worldwide"
which focuses on the world's view of Quidditch (which, interestingly enough,
reminds me a lot of soccor [football]). In "Fantastic Beasts and Where to
Find Them" monsters from all over the world are detailed. This leads me to
believe the Wizarding world is as large as are own, if not as densely
populated.

There is a section of chapter eight in QTtA ("The Spread of Quidditch
Worldwide") that focuses on Asia, where India, Pakistan, Bangeladesh and
Iran are all mentioned as having seperate Ministries of Magic (QTtA, p46).
This leads me to believe that while there is one name for the organization,
each country has and runs its own branch as a government, with the same laws
and restrictions as found in the rest of the world (and possibly with their
own amendments based on geography and society).

>> " . . . We saw that wizards can be patriotic/nationalistic
during the World Cup Quidditch match.  Does Muggle
politics spill into the international wizarding world?
 Would real world language tensions in Canada, for
example, spill into the magical world?  Does racism
exist there?  Would any magical institution protest
that there were too many magical immigrants around?
Or is prejudice primarily based on purity of blood?
Are Magicals involved in Great World Events?  Did they
participate in any of the World Wars?  Watch the moon
landing?  Fear nuclear war?" <<

Well, they're still human so most of those would apply, I'm sure. Some
things might not. Politics, for example. I think the Ministries fo Magic
pretty much make up the only governments Wizards and Witches pay much
attention to.

>> "Is the wizarding world more united than the Muggle
world? . . . " <<

No. I say this based solely on "Quidditch Through the Ages." The Americas
are hinted as being just as different in Wizarding terms with the UK as they
are in Muggle terms. They even have a different broom game that's popular
("Quodpot"). (This idea makes me feel that Voldemort didn't have much
worldwide influence before his spell backfired on him, although he could
have gotten it had he not been frizzled.)

Even with Wizarding modes of travel there's still a huge distance between
continents and peoples. Most significantly, the distances would have been
even larger in the beginning due to the low quality of brooms (see QTtA
again). It was mentioned in QTtA that the first Quidditch World Cup only had
European countries compeating because some countries that were farther away
didn't want to make long journeys (due to the fact that Apparation becomes
inaccurate and unstable over long distances) (QTtA, p39).

These distances would undoubtably effect variances in the way Wizards do
things the same way they've effected the way Muggles do things in real life.

-Faechick