Prejudice

[linlou43]

No: HPFGUIDX 69891

Eric wrote:
      <snip>
> 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? 
      <snip>
> 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?

   My reply:

        First let me say I understand your reasoning and the 
analysis is possible. We are dealing with a fictional society and as 
such, rules that follow our sensibilities don't necessarilly hold 
true in the WW. However, prejudice is the theme, IIRC, that JKR has 
acknowlaged publicly to have conciously put into the series so I do 
believe she is trying to make a point here. That said, I do have an 
opinion on your argument.

         I made a post some time ago about fear, hatred and 
prejudice. The main point of that post was that fear is most often 
the 
root cause of both. However, after reading your post, I realized 
that I omitted a part of that equation and that is stereotyping. The 
concept of stereotyping comes into play when the initial fear is 
based not on the basic differences between two people or groups but 
an actual event(or events) that cause an *honest* fear. In that 
case prejudice based on the acts of a few would come from 
stereotyping. The fear of each other that has always been a part of 
human society is only assauged by information and the acceptance of 
our differences. Technology has opened the muggle world to 
understanding each other in ways that have never been possible 
before. I maintain that the WW, in order to really exorcise the 
innate prejudice mindeset against muggles, needs information. I 
think having a course in muggle studies at Hogwarts shows that 
someone at Hogwarts(Dumbledore?), at least has an inkling of this 
necessity, but until the wizarding society is ready to accept the 
knowlage with an open mind the information is useless.
Unfortuanately, I don't see this as being fully realized in the 
series. I do hope we see the beginnings of the process though.

   The majority of the WW that do not look at muggles as evil, think 
of them as children. There can be no progress made from that mindset 
either. 

    Both views are steotyping. Until the WW sees the muggle world as 
a complex socity on par with their own, there will always be 
intollerence from certain parts of their society. The parent thinks 
they are better then the children and that is undermining any move 
toward real understanding.

   -linlou