Prejudice

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 69851

These days, anything smacking of "prejudice" is double plus ungood
thoughtcrime, so when we run into prejudice against Muggle-born witches and
wizards in the HP books, we immediately leap to the conclusion that the
people who have or display this prejudice are evil badthinkers.  However,
JKR is, if nothing else, the Mistress of Misdirection...so _what if we're
all wrong?_

What if we find out in the next book that the prejudice against Muggle-born
witches and wizards is based in solid, real historical experience?  During
pre-modern times, I'd imagine that every so often you'd get a Muggle-born
witch or wizard who had a big fit of conscience and either abandoned his or
her magical family to return to the Muggle world, or worse, tried to turn
the Muggles against the magical people.  This sort of thing would be, if
anything, strongly encouraged by the mores and religion of the times, and by
the time children got to go to Hogwarts, they'd already be
well-indoctrinated in the prejudices of their families and peers.

A few really spectacular cases of Muggle-born witches and wizards who tried
to destroy the whole wizard world through misplaced fits of conscience could
well leave a very bad taste in everybody's mouth for a long time, and cast a
shadow across the Muggle-born.  When it comes down to it, can they _really_
trust Muggle-borns, or will they revert to their families' beliefs at the
end?