Werewolves and prejudice (Was: Maligning Lupin)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 149842

Renee wrote:
<snip>
> Also, Scamander's text may be Ministry approved, this didn't prevent
Umbridge from issuing laws that deprive werewolves of the basic human
right of employment. Umbridge works for the Ministry. Apparently no
one there stopped her, so it seems the `educated opinion' carries
little weight against the prevailing prejudice.
   
Carol responds:

Having tried to figure out Lupin and failed, I'll try the more general
topic of werewolves.

It seems to me that the prejudice against werewolves is based on a
very real, natural, and *justified* fear of werewolves in their
transformed state. I don't see it as analogous to fear of people with
a disability or an incurable but noncontagious disease since those
fears are irrational. It's more like the fear of lepers that caused
them to be isolated to leper colonies except that werewolves are only
dangerous one day out of 28. And while they are just human beings
(perhaps with psychological or economic problems as a result of their
condition) most of the time, they really dangerous beasts one day (or
night) a month. 

It is not enough, IMO, to educate the wizarding public about
werewolves. Dumbledore could teach Hagrid how to approach the giants
(another dangerous group against whom the natural prejudice is
perfectly understandable), not removing the danger but mimimizing it,
but not even the best educated wizard could reason with a transformed
werewolf because the transformed werewolf is no longer a being but a
beast.

It's equally important to educate the werewolves as well, to qualify
them for employment and prevent them from becoming a criminal
population, increasing and seemingly justifying the natural prejudice.
 Maybe Hogwarts could have a werewolf ward, where student werewolves
went to transform on full moon nights. But they would need to have
Wolfsbane Potion, which apparently has to be served hot out of the
cauldron, to do so safely and painlessly. (I'm guessing that if Snape
can brew Wolfsbane Potion, Slughorn can, or he can learn to do so
despite his innate laziness. He certainly knows that it exists and
admires its maker.) 

Until werewolves have the basic human right of education, the basic
human right of employment really isn't an option. And until the safety
of their fellow students and the Hogwarts staff can be insured, child
werewolves will continue to be rejected by all but the most tolerant
parents. (I really don't understand why parents don't homeschool their
werewolf children and provide them with a safe place to transform, but
apparently that's not the case.) And Werewolf's Potion must be made
available on prescription from St. Mungo's or the local Potions Shop,
which would operate more or less like a pharmacy in the U.S. or a
chemist's shop in Muggle Britain.

It seems to me that until all these measures are in place, the
prejudice against werewolves cannot be eradicated and their abject
condition will continue, with very few Lupins able to "pass" in wizard
society until their condition is revealed. It isn't just a matter of
changing the laws. It's a matter of recognizing a very real social
problem and finding a way to deal with it that's both humane to the
werewolves and safe for the general population.

Carol, suspecting that Lupin has run raging through more than one full
moon night and returned to human form fearing that this time he's
bitten someone; this time he's ruined a life by creating someone like
himself