JKR messed up........ no.

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 178490

Katie wrote:
> Are you kidding? As I understand this, you are basically claiming 
> that Muggleborns have less claim to the WW than do Purebloods. It is 
> less theirs (Muggleborns) because they are *invited* into it, and 
> should feel privileged to be so?

Del replies:
No, this isn't what I'm saying.

Just because one group has to be invited into a world while the other
one has always been there doesn't automatically mean that the invited
group has less claim to the world. I do not automatically equate the
practicalities of an action with its morality.

Real World example, taken really off the top of my head: all those
elite universities which used not to accept women among their
students. Once they finally opened their doors to women, would you say
that those female students somehow had less claim to those
universities than the male ones? I assume your answer would be no,
right? Just because a special measure had to be taken in order to let
women enter those universities while men always had that possibility,
doesn't mean that women somehow inherently had less claim.

So it is with the WW: once wizards decide that Muggleborns should be
taught magic, then Muggleborns have as much claim to the WW as
Purebloods do, even though, in practicality, the Muggleborns actually
have to be invited into the WW. 

So what I'm saying is that their right, their claim, is a moral one,
but not necessarily a practical one. And this leaves room for 2
different kinds of problems, which are actually inter-related:

1- A change in morality. This is what happens in DH: the wizards in
power decide that Muggleborns actually do not have that moral claim on
the WW, and thus consequently, they expulse them from the WW.

2- A change in practicality. Imagine that somehow all the means of
detecting magical people were lost (no more magic quill at Hogwarts,
no more spell detection at the Ministry, and so on): most Muggleborns
would then be prevented from entering the WW simply because the
wizards couldn't find them and invite them in. 

In those two ways, they are very much different from Purebloods. And
quite vulnerable.

Del