[HPforGrownups] "M**blood" and handicap

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 106369

Jocelyn answered :
> I think it's more like using 'nigger' or 'kike'.  Not just the fact, 
> but a judgement 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*.

Del

Sherry replies

Del, I don't know if you've ever lived in the states, but the word "nigger"
is extremely taboo here.  I was born in the late 50's.  I am white.  I was
brought up to believe that word is about the filthiest lowest thing a white
person can say, and that's not even getting the point across, because filthy
and low implies that it could be used as a swear word.  What I mean is that
it is absolutely taboo.  It is a word that brings back the horror of
slavery, a terrible stain on my country's history, and genuinely decent
people in this country don't say it and would be shocked if others did.
Believe me, the people I know would be truly horrified to hear a white
person use that word in referring to a black person.  They would react just
like wizards do to the word mud blood.  But this is difficult to convey to
people who haven't lived with this.  I had the same instinctive reaction to
mud blood as the wizards!

By the way, I love the post about mud bloods being regarded as disabled, and
I intend to respond directly to that concept later.

Sherry G