Backlash?

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 163381

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Megan Lerseth <megan_phntmgrl at ...> wrote:
>
> Something I have always wondered about in the HP books is the lack of backlash from 
the mixed-blood wizard community regarding the persecution that the Death Eaters and 
their sympathizers level at them. A lot of this comes from the fact that I live in a town full 
of violence and racial tension, but it still seems an odd omission.
>    
> For example, think of John Brown, who lived in the United States just prior to the Civil 
War era. A severely religious man, Brown was disgusted by the way many of his fellow 
white men treated the black population and thought slavery an abominable offense in the 
eyes of God. He believed that the tolerance suggested by most abolitionists would not get 
the job done, so he and his sons saddled up and went on sprees in which they killed 
slaveowners, overseers, and just about anyone who got in their way. Brown was eventually 
captured and hanged, but was regarded by the anti-slavery movement as a noble but 
flawed martyr.
>    
> What I'm trying to say here is that even the most noble causes will have their extremists. 
I don't understand why there are no insults in the books characterizing all pure-bloods as 
inbred freaks, or diversity-minded vigilantes going and Avada Kedavra-ing pureblood 
families in the dead of night. That's what happens in the real world, and I think it would be 
interesting to see Harry and the other heroes have to deal with people on "their" side using 
Dark tactics against the Death Eaters.
> 

Ken:

How often do things like that happen in the real world? John Brown was 
captured and hanged but he made trouble in Kansas for a long time and
it wasn't until he and the boys raided a US government armory in Harpers
Ferry and started an inserrection against the government that anyone 
except slave owners tried to stop him. The US was already involved in 
a low level civil war at that point and the good guys (if John Brown can
be said to be good) seldom use violence outside of a civil war.

If I recall correctly it was only the Communists who tried to stop the 
Nazis in Germany other than the German government. They were no 
match for the Nazis as street fighters. I don't know how it is where you 
live but decent people in Chicago do not break into the homes of gang
members and drug dealers at night and murder them in their beds. The
Klu Klux Klan rampaged for decades in this country and no decent 
people took up arms against them. Precious few bothered to raise 
their voices against them. I'm not sure decent people should do the 
former but it is a national disgrace that so few did the latter for so 
long.

There are some anit-abortionists who are violent. They are not 
viewed as heros on either side of that argument and their 
existance illustrates the danger of decent people who try to 
enforce their values violently. They become the thing they decry,
they are worse than the problem they try to solve. There were
John Browns on both sides of the slavery issue, without them
it is possible the slavery issue could have been dealt with 
in Congress and perhaps Nathan Bedford Forest would not
have founded the KKK in reaction to losing a war if the war
had not been fought. We could even dream that African
American equality would have happened decades earlier.

I don't think the HP books would be enhanced if there was a violent
anti-DE movement among the wizarding world civilians. It would be
heartening if they were more vocal though and if the "government"
were more active against the DE. Maybe the non reaction is intentional
and Rowling will speak to it in DH, maybe not. She could be trying to 
portray a situation similar to the rise of the Nazis or the heyday of
the Klan after all.

Ken