Prejudice

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 69885

Eric: 
> 
> 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? 

First, I don't agree with the premise, that Muggle-borns were a major 
threat, which I'll get into a bit farther down.

But, let's assume for the minute that they were.

Salazar, according to Prof. Binns, deemed Muggle-
borns "untrustworthy" and was outvoted by the other three. Hogwarts 
has remained standing ever since, meaning that Salazar, at the least, 
overreacted.

But his reaction was based on trust, which presumably, can change as 
Muggle-borns earn that trust.

Lucius and others' reaction has been translated to "filthy blood." 
Literally, they aren't fit to even have a chance, and not fit to live.

So, historical truth or not, how that prejudice has evolved and 
become even more perverted is unacceptable and unjustifiable.

 
> 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 poster last year compared this very issue to the Jews hiding from 
the Nazis, with the, shall we say, interesting twist of the wizard 
world being the Jews and the Muggle-borns being the potential Nazi 
sympathizers.

Given the mores of the times, as you put it, perhaps the roles would 
be the Muggles and Muggle-borns could be the Inquisition, the witch-
hunters, and the Wizards and Witches, just that, witches.

Except...

We've seen a fifth-year Hogwarts student come up with a spell that 
causes incredible pain when someone rats out a group.

We've seen memories wiped out. We've seen all manners of hiding 
spells.

Simply put, I think the Wizards and Witches had more tools at their 
disposal than cowering Jews in abandoned buildings or "witches and 
wizards" who were really just dabblers in the occult.

How about if any and all students, Muggle-borns and purebloods alike, 
simply sign something, put their mark on something, cross a certain 
line, etc... and doing so seals a magical compact.

And doing so means they couldn't bring down a house full of Exploding 
Snape cards, much less the entire Wizard World. 

With those kinds of protections available, I think the "we're afraid 
for our lives" doesn't hold as much water.

And there are still the sticky problems of the Basilisk and the 
modern-day philosophy of "kill the Mudblood" espoused by the villains.

I think self-defense is a reach, to say the least.

>When it comes down to it, can they _really_ trust Muggle-borns, or 
>will they revert to their families' beliefs at the end?

Are you saying this is truly still a question being asked, when the 
religious mores and times have changed so completely? 

"Lack of trust" has been used to justify some of the most 
reprehensible acts in human history, including the Nazis 
extermination of the Jews.

But, blacks were kept out of the U.S. military on the same 
princple. "They are lazy and who knows where their loyalties lie."

Women were denied the vote for much the same reason. "We shouldn't 
tax their delicate frames with such things as politics." 

Lack of trust? I think there has to be something better than that to 
make it even the slightest bit justifiable.

Darrin