Pureblood attitudes and the word "racism" (Was: James the Berk?)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 106676


Alla:
> When I read HP books, I have no desire to 
> understand the characters I am not emotionally invested in. I mean, 
> sure I want to know the ultimate answer to the mystery, if they will 
> be involved in it, but no more than that.
> 
> I have no strong desire to learn what makes Bellatrix tick. I mean I 
> will read about it, sure, but I just don't care much. At the moment, 
> I know enough about her to say "Die! Bellatrix, die". 
>  I have enough characters in this books, whose motivations I am dying 
> to learn about (and yes, Snape is one of them)

Del replies :
I can understand that you might not want to learn of some characters'
motivations. It's your choice, it's your right. But other people, like
Carol and I, do want to investigate these motivations. I personally
believe it is *essential* to try and figure out people's motives if I
want to live in peace with them. I want to know what makes them tick,
and I want them to know what makes me tick, so that we can avoid
stepping on each other's toes. 

Moreover, I feel it's counterproductive and committing an injustice
(IMO !!) to judge people without at least trying to know why they do
things. What if Bella, as a kid, was abducted by a group of Muggles
who raped and tortured her ? It would sure explain why she hates the
Muggles so much. I agree that the simplest solution is that she was
taught to hate them, but it is not necessarily the *right* solution.
Her own sister Andromeda evolved differently even though logic has it
that she was taught exactly the same thing. Maybe Bella would have
rejected her parents's beliefs (like her cousin Sirius did as well)
too, but something prevented her from doing so. We just don't *know*.
And it *is* important IMO, because in the case of my supposition for
example, nobody would be able to convert her to the light side until
they addressed that rape issue. I see it happen way too often that
someone becomes prejudiced against a specific group of people because
of what *one* person of that group did to them ! Once you manage to
make them see that this person acted on their own and not as a
representative of their group, quite often people stop being
prejudiced against the group. It *does* matter WHY people do the
things they do.

Alla wrote :
> It is obvious, that our posting style is very different. I 
> don't ever want to keep emotions out of my arguments and not planning 
> on doing so.The only thing I agree with you is that we have to be 
> civil to each other.

Del replies :
Once again, it is your right to choose to do so. But you have to be
aware that this might prompt some posters to not want to discuss
matters with you. I for example just don't know how to deal with upset
people and I strongly avoid being around upset people, because they
make me feel scared and unsure.

Alla wrote :
> Oy, no. I disagree. I see no reason why we should not think about 
> racism when we read about "pureblood attitudes", if JRK did not 
> specifically said that word.
(snip)
> JRK transformed quite a few RL hatreds and prejudices and reflected 
> them into "potterverse". 

Del replies :
Let's reach an agreement, shall we ? Carol and I let you take the
pure-bloods' attitude for straight racism, and you let us think
otherwise, OK ?

Alla wrote : 
> I think that "prejudice" is too weak a word for me to use tor eflect 
> correctly what Slytherin pure-bloods think about Muggle-borns. 
> Although, I guess it does start with prejudice.

Del replies :
Prejudice is what you call it when there's no word for it yet. It's
not stronger or weaker, it's just unspecified.

Alla wrote :
> There could be a reason of why Slytherin purebloods started to hate 
> Muggle-Borns. As del argued , we may even learn that all WW has 
> guilty conscience, but right now I DON'T CARE.
> 
> This ideology has got to go. Period. No matter why and how it 
> started, it has to go.

Del replies :
But it won't go by force, don't fool yourself about that.
And it *should NOT* go anyway. Any truly democratic society *must*
exhibit *all* kinds of beliefs. If any belief is forcefully muted,
then that society is not democratic anymore.
What *must* be ensured however, is that extremist people cannot *act*
upon their beliefs. Laws must be passed to prevent them from truly
hurting their potential victims, or to scare them enough to dissuade
them to even try.
And no I don't think that people should be legally punished for
uttering insults. They should be made aware that the majority of the
population disagrees with them, but that's about it. If Snape or
Malfoy should be punished for calling people m**blood, then there are
people out there who should be punished for calling me some very nasty
things just because I'm fat (and making comments that were bordering
on racism, implying that I should not reproduce because my "disease"
would be passed down to my kids).

Alla wrote :
> But, I also think that redemption of the Slyhterin House is only 
> possible, when what lies at the heart of their choosing, will 
> dissappear. When "blood issue" will be come a "non-issue" and yes, it 
> is still an issue now (remember the password to Slytherin Commons)

Del replies :
Then the very first thing to do is to kill the 4 Houses as they are.
The whole concept was flawed fron the beginning. Trying to correct it
is like putting a Band-Aid on a wooden leg.

Alla:
> 
> I think we can separate them, because NOBODY seems to dislike Muggle-
> Borns except Slyhterins and DE, but everybody, even Arthur has a 
> patronising attitude towards Muggles.

Del replies :
Having a patronising attitude towards someone implies necessarily
thinking they are inferior to you. You don't patronise your equals or
your superiors.
I repeat what I said in another post : the WW is prejudiced against
the Muggles *first*, its prejudice against the Muggle-borns is only a
*consequence*. The Muggle-borns are attacked because they dare
contaminate the WW with Muggleness. Most wizards who would eliminate
the Muggles can more or less pretend to ignore them (the Muggles), but
they deeply resent having to live alongside constant and living
reminders of the existence of the Muggle world, and they make those
reminders pay.
I can pretend that tarentulas and black widows don't exist. But I'll
kill any common spider that gets near me. It's not that small spider
I'm *really* afraid of. But that small spider has the bad idea of
reminding me of my deepest fears, so I have to eliminate it.

Del