Muggles v wizards redux

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 183233

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:
>
> > a_svirn:
> > Exactly my feeling. By the only definition of Muggles we were 
given 
> > in the books is that they are non-magical people. It is a 
> definition 
> > that applies to me. And in the Potterverse people who are "just 
> like 
> > me" are universally patronised often despised and routinely 
> > abused "for their own good". Well, it does make me uneasy.
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Yes, muggles are people who cannot do magic, but are they indeed 
just 
> like you? When you think about Muggles are you not picturing 
specific 
> characters that we met or are you picturing all those unfamiliar 
> people whose only trait is the fact that they cannot do magic?
> 
> I am just trying to explain why it is so hard for me to identify, 
if 
> that makes sense. I am not like Dursleys for example, I really am 
> not, so I just do not see how the fact that they cannot do magic, 
> just like I can't can envoke empathy from me. 

a_svirn:
I one respect you are. Like the Dursleys you can't do magic. And that 
is what makes the Dursleys muggles. It seems to me that you somehow 
combine two different issues here. I do not identify with the 
Dursleys, who are so thoroughly unpleasant. I do, however identify 
with muggles who are non-magical. On the other hand, I do not 
identify with wizards who unlike me *can* do magic, but I can't help 
identifying with certain witches and wizards whose characters in some 
respects at least resemble mine. 
a_svirn