Hate crimes (was Re: muggle baiting vs. muggle torture)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156003

Tinktonks wrote:
- If i were to play a practical joke on a friend of a
> friend and unknown to me he was gay, would that mean I was gay
> baiting?
> 
> Ok so how about if I knew he was gay but I did it because he had
> told nasty lies about my best friend? Would I be gay baiting then?
> 
> By your reasoning the twins aren't alowed to dislike Dudley, because
> he is a muggle but if he was a wizard they could hate him as much as
> they like! Do Harry and Draco wizard bait? No. They do what they do
> because of a clash of personality.
> 
> The idea of being racist is not hating someone who is black, it is
> hating someone BECAUSE they are black. By the same definition the
> twins are not biggots, they play a trick on Dudley who happens to be
> a muggle, not BECAUSE he is a muggle.
> 
> I think people are being utterly unfair to Fred and George. They
> have shown no malicious intent towards any muggle because they are a
> muggle, just played a trick, (which granted was dangerous, selfish
> and badly thought through) but was NOT muggle baiting!
> 
> Tinktonks – Who says give Fred and George a break!
>

Carol responds:
I think you're overlooking one key point--being gay or black doesn't
make a person weaker or stronger. In your examples, you wouldn't be
using your heterosexuality or whiteness (or whatever) against the
person you were baiting. But the twins *are* using their
"wizardness"--their magical abilities--against a nonmagical person.
It's like beating an unarmed person with a crowbar--the victim,
whatever his sins or crimes may be, has no way of defending himself.
The Twins know full well that Dudley and his parents are Muggles but
they have no reservations about using their magic as a weapon against
them. Or, if the crowbar example is too strong, let's imagine Mark
Evans, age ten, taking a knife to Dudley's bike tires and Dudley,
sixteen-year-old champion boxer, getting revenge against the little
brat by beating him up because he deserved it. Would slashed tires be
better than "cheek" as an excuse for beating up a much smaller boy?
Not in my book. The strong have a duty to protect the weak, or at
least a moral obligation not to use their strength against the
defenseless. Remember Harry saving Dudley from the Dementors and
contrast that with the Twins nearly choking him on his own tongue.

BTW, no one is talking about the Twins' right to dislike Dudley. The
question is whether they, or any witch or wizard, have the right to
use magic against a Muggle who is not in the process of attacking them.

Carol, who says that Fred and George should think before they act and
not use their strength against another's weakness whatever the victim
may have done to "deserve" it