Bigotry or NOT?

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 157688


> Mike:
> And I continue to be amazed that people equate Hagrid calling Filch 
> a "sneakin' Squib" to someone using the bigoted slur "dirty Jew". 
> Furthermore, calling someone a "Jew" is not equal to calling 
> someone "Jewish". But calling someone a "Squib" is the same as 
> calling someone a "Squib". Do you get it now? 


Sydney:

I'm afraid I still don't.  It's just not that simple, that you're
being a bigot if you use the word Paki, but you're not if you use the
term Pakistani.  If you are using the word as though it is *in itself*
an insult, then it's a bigoted use of language:

"What do you know, you dirty Pakistani".

I shall continue to express my amazement, in the face of your
amazement, that anyone could view is as not an example of bigotry.  If
you just thought the person you were arguing with was a jackass, you
would say, "What do you know, you dirty jackass".  Using the word
"Pakistani" instead of another insult, puts "Pakistani" in the
category of insults.  "What do you know, you 'bad thing', 'bad thing'.
 You just wouln't use the word in that way, unless you knew there was
a general agreement that being a Pakistani was *a point against* your
adversary.  *Categorically* a point-- that is, being in the category
of Pakistanis makes this person lower.   That's what bigotry *is*.

Mike:

> African-Americans don't use the "N-word" when referring to 
> themselves, (the rappers have changed it to "niggah", which I don't 
> like either, but I'm not them). Jewish people refer to themselves as 
> Jewish not as "Jews", unless they want to put in some self-bigotry 
> or point out others bigotry. 

Sydney:

I just don't think this is true.  I'm no linguist, but I do have a
memory and have had a personal stake in this.  Around 10 years ago,
you would be just as likely to use the word 'Jew' as 'Jewish'.  It
would be a *little* old-fashioned for a young person now to say, "I'm
a Jew", rather than "I'm Jewish", but it's wouldn't be *that* strange.
 The avoidence of the word NOW I think is a reaction to rising
anti-Semitism.  In the same way as during the civil-rights movement,
people starting using "Black" instead of "Negro".

Mike:

>If "Squib" was only 
> used by Filch, I wouldn't be sure. But how Figgy used it, when she 
> used it, I was convinced that "Squib" was not a bigoted slur.

Sydney:
I think in the Wizarding World, we have a society that hasn't even
gone through a phase where a new 'euphemism' for Squib would appear,
because even the Squib population accepts its lower status.  They
don't need an insulting version of the word Squib because the word
itself is an insult-- it's used in that way against Mereope, and
Neville speaks of everyone thinking 'he's practially a Squib', and Ron
says they have a cousin 'they don't talk about' because he's an
accountant.  

It's like the word "Negro" up until the 1950's, which was used by both
sides, the bigoted and the not.  Then a movement started to use the
word 'Black' instead, because the word Negro had become in itself
negative by centuries of use for negative things.

The word 'Squib' is in this catagory.  Ron sniggers when he introduces
the term, then says it's not funny, then says, "Well, as it's
Filch..".  The word "Squib" itself presumably comes from "damp
squib"-- a pathetic firecracker that doesn't go off.

So Figgy can call herself a squib with pride, as Fredick Douglas
called himself a Negro.  On the other hand, someone saying, "What do
you know, you sneakin' Negro" in the 1950's is obviously using the
word 'Negro' as a put-down.  As a slur.  A non-bigoted person who
disliked their adversary would use, "What do you know, you sneakin'
weasel" or something of that sort.

Perhaps a lot of the difficulty here is that Filch IS an unpleasant
person.  That might muddy the waters.  I think if some other
unpleasant character, said, "you sneakin' Squib" to Arabella Fig, we
wouldn't be having this discussion.


Mike:
> Conversely, my adversaries in this argument are convinced that it 
> was a bigoted slur. Will I change your minds? No, you seem spring 
> loaded to find bigotry in Hagrid's comment because there are obvious 
> undertones of bigotry running throughout this series.

Sydney:

I think I'm pointing out that this is a clear example of the bigotry
theme running through the series. 

Mike:
> I'll let Ken put something in here:
> I think we have two long time rivals here who know *exactly* how to
> push each other's buttons. Filch is sensitive about being a Squib.
> Hagrid is sensitive about being substandard teacher with a tenuous
> hold on his position. Each of them attacks the other at their weakest
> point. This is a personal battle, there is no need to elevate it into
> an exchange of bigotry. 

Sydney:

And if Filch had said, "these kids are out of bounds, you half-Giant",
that wouldn't be bigotry, because after all Hagrid is a half-Giant! He
says so himself! Now I'm all clear.

Half-Giants and Werewolves are ostracised because people think they're
dangerous.  Squibs are just laughed at and ignored because they are
pathetic.  They are all, however, in the same category of people whose
identifying term is used as an insult, to their faces.  There aren't
two words, one insulting and one not, because the entire society
agrees that being in their cateogry is automatically bad.  

 Mike now:
> I am not an apologist for Bigots, far from it, I deplore bigotry and 
> racism. Likewise, I have an enormous distaste for people that too 
> easily pronounce something as bigoted or call someone a bigot. If 
> you are going to put someone into a position of defending themself 
> against the charge of bigotry, you better have a damn good reason 
> for levelling that charge. Defending oneself against a bigotry 
> accusation is akin to trying to prove a negative. 
> 
> Like I said before, pronouncing bigotry at the drop of the hat 
> trivializes those situations that are truly serious bigotry.

Sydney:

I hope I know where you're coming from and, believe it or not, I'm not
a big advocate for Political Correctness and holding people to crazy
standards of sensitivity.  And the reason I'm shy of just plain using
the word 'bigot' is because it's so often used in the same way as
Hagrid uses the word 'Squib', as an arguement-ender, a way of lowering
the other person by shoving him into a labelled box and closing the lid.

But I do, and Magpie did, have a damn good reason for levelling the
charge of bigotry here.  It's because Hagrid, bless him, was putting
Filch 'in his place' as a *Squib*.   Not as a janitor, or as jackass,
or as someone Hagrid didn't like.  But *as a member of this group*.  


-- Sydney, still not happy to be in this discussion, but really sure
that JKR is trying to make a point here