Wizard supremacy (was:Re: Nel Question #4: Class and Elitism)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 125866


>>a_svirn:
<snip>
>I was merely pointing out that wizards can CHOOSE to be charitable 
and leave Muggles alone, or CHOOSE to be less charitable and indulge 
in muggle-hunting. Muggles can only hope that they won't be singled 
out for wizarding entertainment, because there is nothing whatsoever 
that they can do to prevent it. That makes them inferior.<

Betsy:
This brings up a question I've been pondering on and off for a while 
now:  If the Wizarding World and the Muggle World got in a fight, 
who would win?  The thing is, JKR has already answered this 
question.  After all, the Muggles beat the Wizards several centuries 
ago.  Why would today be any different?

So maybe, wizards aren't all that superior after all.  And maybe 
their condescension towards Muggles hides a deeper fear.  After all, 
wizards were beaten by Muggles back when they were still relatively 
informed of Muggle weapons and fighting tactics.  Muggles have a 
come a long, long way on both counts, and wizards barely know how 
the Muggle world works now.

>>a_svirn:
<snip>
>As far as I remember from Harry's essay, witches were actually in 
no danger from Muggles. They only needed to perform necessary charm 
and enjoy nice "tickling sensation" instead of burning.<

Betsy:
But a people not facing certain danger do not go into such deep 
hiding they actually go to the trouble of concealing the existance 
of wild animals that might hint to their own existence. In FB&WTFT, 
N. Scamander refers to "the dark days that preceded the wizards 
retreat into hiding."  And his footnote goes so far as to call 
it "this particularly bloody period of wizarding history." (p. xv)

In fact, a footnote in "Quidditch Through the Ages" mentions that 
the 1692 International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy gave wizards the 
right to carry wands at all times, including the quidditch pitch. 
(p. 28)  This right was given so that wizards could protect 
themselves from Muggle attacks and would be the equivilent of 
allowing basketball players to carry guns while on the court.  
Again, this suggests that wizards were living in extreme danger.
 
>>Tammy:
>Muggles could conceivably end up enslaving wizards.<
 
>>a_svirn:
>My imagination fails me there. Could you please elaborate?< 

Betsy:
It would be relatively simple.  "Mr. Weasley, we have your wife and 
children hidden in an undisclosed location.  Here are their broken 
wands as proof.  No harm will come to them if we have your support 
in <fill in the blank>."

That's a pretty dystopian view of things, yes.  But it could 
happen.  More realistically, I'm sure there'd be a lot of scientific 
study into the "wizard gene," and at the very least a certain amount 
of distrust would arise.

I agree with what Jim Ferer wrote in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125763 :

>It won't be long before people believe that wizards are running 
things behind the scenes to suit themselves. It'll be a short step 
for some people from believing that the wizards could have prevented 
the tsunami to believing wizards **caused** the tsunami for some 
purpose of their own. We live in a conspiracy theory world.
>Envy, resentment, and persecution are almost sure to follow if the
wizard world reveals itself.<

Betsy:
For the most part, the Muggle world is fairly civilized and not as 
superstitious as it was back in the time of Wizard persecution.  But 
we still loves us our conspiracy theories, as Jim points out, and I 
think the scientific efficiency the Muggle world has developed could 
be used to put a great hurting on the wizards of the world.  Wizards 
are for the most part, amateurs at the game of war.  Muggles have 
long since become quite professional.  

>>Dumbledad: 
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/125862)
<snip>
>Wizards and Muggles are both humans, and history teaches us that
when one group of humans have a large, tangible, and lasting
superiority over other humans they exploit it to subjugate them. And
yet muggle society is not totally beholden to the wizarding world.
<snip>
>History didn't put up with Neanderthals.
<snip>
>We've repeatedly seen through history small minorities of humans
wielding power over vast majorities. The way they do it is a class
or a caste system. But we do not see that played out in the books,
the muggle world is left largely untouched, but with a few isolated
acts of violence.
>To me this seems implausible.<

Betsy:
It's implausible only if you think that when it comes down to it, 
wizards are more powerful than Muggles.  Everything JKR has written 
points to the opposite being true.  Even the isolated acts of 
violence speak of a weaker group attacking a stronger.  Honestly, if 
you put a Navy Seal up against an Auror, I think the Navy Seal would 
win.  Once a wizard loses his wand, he's pretty helpless, and I 
don't think it would take much for the Navy Seal to disarm the 
wizard.

I think the Wizarding world was in danger of going the way of the 
Neaderthals and that's why they went through the formidable task of 
completely hiding their existence from Muggles.  All the talk of 
Muggles being weaker or in danger of becoming dependent on wizards 
are so much propaganda.  In fact, I think the propaganda has been 
going on for so long, most wizards firmly believe it to be true.  
But their own history tells a different story.

Betsy