Hate crimes (was ... uh, I forget, surely it was something....)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 155842

> >>Ken:
> > For me to spend so much time discussing the ton tongue toffee   
> > prank on a spoiled bully who has had several years to wrap his   
> > pea brain around the fact that his live in cousin is a wizard   
> > and who's own mother should have helped him deal with this his   
> > entire life is to strain at a gnat while swallowing the camel   
> > that is the practice of obliviation. I don't hear anyone who is  
> > so bent out of shape by this "muggle-baiting" candy expressing  
> > any outrage at this staple of the wizarding world that is a     
> > million times worse.

> >>Magpie:
> Actually, many of us do express outrage at memory-charms. I think 
> it's one of the reasons it's impossible for Wizards to treat      
> Muggles with respect--they regularly decide when it's okay to     
> violate their minds "for their own good." It's a total abuse of    
> power and a violation and, I agree, permeates the entire culture. 
> Even Hermione has developed a maternalistic attitude towards her   
> parents.

Betsy Hp:
That's exactly the reason to *focus* on the toffee incident, IMO.  
It's indicitive of the WW's mindset.  And it beautifully shows how 
*easy* it is to slide into the "might makes right" viewpoint.  The 
Dursleys are drips and three years ago Dudley bullied Harry.  That 
gives the twins the right to use magic on them for their own 
amusement.  Might makes right.  (Which is, actually, why I'm sure 
Dudley felt he had the right to keep Harry humble through his own 
bullying.  Vicious circle, etc.)

Absolutely the obliviates are a problem.  The condescension in the 
first chapter in HBP is another problem.  If the WW and the Muggle 
world went to war, I'd totally support the Muggles. <g>

(Though to be fair, the wizards having already lost the last war are 
in a position of constant crisis.  They live in hiding and fear of 
exposure.  Can't be a comfortable way to live, and it's certainly 
not a way to encourage progress.  Probably why the WW is pretty 
firmly stuck in the dark ages.)

> >>houyhnhnm:
> <snip>
> The biggest Prank of all is on the reader, enticed to escape
> into a delightful magical fantasy world which turns out to be a
> nightmarish dystopia.

Betsy Hp:
Odd, isn't it?  And the strange thing is I cannot see JKR solving 
this issue by the end of book 7.  I'm sure most things will be tied 
up (Voldemort dead, Hogwarts united, etc.) but the WW will probably 
remain a brutal and dark place to live.

Betsy Hp