[HPforGrownups] "M**blood" and handicap

[AnitaKH]

No: HPFGUIDX 106339





Jocelyn answered :
> I think it's more like using 'nigger' or 'kike'.  Not just the fact, but a judgment of inferiority as well.  Muggle is a value-neutral word.  Mudblood is an insult.

Del replies :
I don't think it's "just" an insult. Crowds don't react so strongly and so massively to insults, even the worst ones. But when Draco uses the word, *every single* wizard-born kid reacts strongly and gets on Draco's case. That doesn't remind of a crowd's reaction to an insult.

It reminds of a crowd's reaction to a *taboo*.

akh (with too much help from the kittens): Believe me, where I grew up (Great Plains of the US), the "n" word WAS taboo.  The strong reaction in CoS to Draco's use of Mudblood looks very much like a reaction that would have occurred in my sixth grade class if anyone had called our classmate Duane that racial epithet (I still can't bring myself to write that word, it's so ingrained as a horrible pejorative).

Rowling stated in the CoS DVD interview that the pureblood issue is "what passes for racism in the Wizarding World."  We are not yet privy to the nuances of that racism, but some of the reaction to the "m" word may very well be "it's true, but don't advertise it."  However, the general outcry at Draco calling Hermione a mudblood was from the Gryffindors, not the Slytherins, so I suspect the more enlightened kids from the WW are truly outraged.

Rereading my response, I think I've just agreed with both of you.  I do see Mudblood as akin to the Jocelyn's examples, and I think it's a bigger issue than a mere insult, as Del points out.

akh, who's not sure why she's up at 4 a.m....


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