An Apology and an Explanation

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 157714

Mike:
> I am happy to note the difference in sensitivity to bigotry that 
has occurred in my lifetime. Comments, phrases and words that were 
once used with no thought as to their effect on others are heard much 
less often today. And society in general, if not in specific, is less 
tolerant of those phrases, at least many more are willing to call the 
perpetrator to task.

Ceridwen:
Same here.  I remember when it was perfectly acceptable for kids to 
say 'catch a (not a tiger) by the toe'.  I also remember when I tried 
to say that and got all sorts of holy vengeance rained down on me.  
My parents didn't tolerate that sort of talk, or anything else that 
separated people.

And this is exactly what I've been arguing about.  The WW tolerates 
this without a second thought.  It then becomes a part of everyday 
life for witches and wizards, whether bigoted themselves or not.  I 
don't think Hagrid dislikes Filch because Filch is a Squib.  Hagrid 
uses the term because he knows it will hurt, and they're arguing.  
The WW's attitude allows this, and doesn't allow for recognition that 
this is a bad thing to do.  Like kids saying the toe-catching rhyme.

It's WW society that is bigoted, not Hagrid.  LV couldn't make the 
sort of splash he's made with Purebloods if the case was different.  
He uses this bigotry as a tool to win supporters, Us against Them.  
LV, Umbridge, the senior Malfoys, that Black who wanted to hunt 
Muggles, the statue at the MoM, the attitude of the Centaurs, 
Hagrid's and Ron's epithets toward Filch and Lupin (maybe even a 
children's rhyme where they 'catch a Mudblood by the toe'?), even 
looking fondly at Muggles as something cute and imaginative, 'noble 
savages', the way Arthur does, all point to a larger problem than a 
mere statement made innocently in anger or fear.  For me, at least, 
all of these things put together are showing a problem in the WW 
itself.

That problem is the same one you mentioned as having diminished in 
real life in both our lifetimes.  To defeat Dark Lords like LV, who 
use a negative to polarize people, the root problem must be 
addressed.  And I do think that is one place JKR will go.  The more 
she throws in things like 'sneakin' Squib', the more I think so.  She 
is showing the extent of the rot in the WW, to the point where even 
the Good Guys, and the most innocent of those Good Guys at that, are 
affected.

Ceridwen.