"M**blood" and handicap

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 106342

I, Del, wrote :
> 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).

Del replies : 
Ah, OK then. Thanks for the example (sad as it is). 

Akh wrote :
> 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.

Del replies :
Uh, quite true, now that you mention it. (That brings back the old
question of whatever is wrong with the Slytherin kids, but that's
another post entirely).

Akh wrote :
> 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....

Del replies :
To make good points and enlighten me :-) ?

Del