Ask a stupid question.......

[Treemotan 201]

What was the reason given that muggles could never know about magic? I'm guessing the reasoning is probably pretty half baked and requires a lot of willing suspension of disbelief.

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Statute_of_Secrecy

 

Date that the Statute of Secrecy was established corresponds to the Salem Witch Trials, though of course there was plenty of witch hunting before that, you know, darling religious fundies and whatnot. It can all pretty much be boiled down to Muggles back in the day being close-minded assholes for the most part and generally hating anything that seemed heretical to their religious doctrine of choice. I mean, you still see it now, but it was a lot worse back then when people didn't really know as much about the mechanics of the world around them. 

 

And it wasn't enough to just kind of tone the magic down, oh no. The wizarding world pretty much decided to close itself off entirely for the most part, save for certain institutions that would allow and reach out to Muggle-borns and half-bloods that didn't know about magic or their legacy and permit them into their world. So you get this interesting situation where the wizarding world and its views have been relatively unchanged over the centuries, while the rest of humanity has gotten to a point where they probably wouldn't light you on fire for being a witch and would more likely than not treat magic as another subject of study or a curiosity, much like how wizards find muggle technology to be fascinating and a field of study, from the same perspective of which we might view magic; something strange, unfamiliar, and fascinating beyond compare. Either way, the point is it's likely that the wizarding world at large still believes they will be in danger of persecution or in a position that will beget hostility, and are too prideful and arrogant of their lineage and antiquated worldviews that they aren't even willing to test the waters to see if perhaps they could bring magic out into the open again because maybe it turns out those ignorant muggles aren't quite as close-minded as they were four hundred years ago.

 

Hope that made sense. 

 

Why no I wasn't binge-reading the wiki and messing around on Pottermore for five hours today ha ha why do you ask.

Edited 30 Dec 2014 by Treemotan (see edit history)

[Brodongo 272]

Well that is a much better answer than i was expecting, because without knowing that i did get the feeling that wizards were allways isolating themselves because they were arrogant pricks. Like rereading the books when im older gives me the feeling that the whole "we wizards are higher beings" is almost like a core principle that the wizarding community was founded on, and most of the characters believe this to some degree, death eater or not.

I remember a scene where Harry goes to the magical hospital and asks Ron if there are surgeons, and Ron laughs and says something along the lines of, "no way! Those practices are crazy. We heal things the right way here." Clearly Ron knows something about muggle medical practice, which makes you wonder about the ethics of witholding valuable healing practices from muggles just for the sake of secrecy. Maybe im reading too far into it but the secrecy thing always seemed kind of hard for me to believe, without conceding that the whole governing system was deeply flawed.

Edited 30 Dec 2014 by Brodongo (see edit history)

[Treemotan 201]

Well, yeah. Wizarding society is pretty prickish in general, for reasons I've highlighted. Persecution leads to persecution, albeit not necessarily in the same form. It's gotten better by the modern day, I.E., people not necessarily outright hating Muggles or Muggle-borns for the most part, especially considering that by the 1900's most if not all wizard families are half-blood or have some muggle ancestry in the bloodline (comments from both Hagrid and Sirius support this, along with Rowling herself stating that if there are any truly pureblood families left, they are few and far between), but still not necessarily understanding non-magical society as a whole, as seen with Arthur Weasley. He understands very little about the non-magical world, comically so, but clearly does not show any hatred or dislike towards them. Exceptions exist, obviously, such as Muggle-borns or those who are married to Muggles or have Muggle or Squib relatives (in the case where Squibs attempt to integrate into Muggle society as opposed to being a second-class citizen in the wizarding world) and would logically have a better grasp and treat muggles as equals. They'd have to. 

 

And as for the surgeon thing, it might not necessarily be a more effective healing practice. It's likely just another matter of perspective and wizarding world arrogance (or ignorance), both in terms of withholding it and also seeing it as superior. I mean, yeah, they might not be cutting someone up, but at the same time a scalpel is a lot less likely to backfire and turn the patient inside-out than a wand that is being temperamental (because they are, in fact, semi-sentient) or magical misfire because magic can be dodgy. And then you have things like basilisk venom that, as far as wizards know, can only be cured with the tears of a phoenix, but with our technology today we could probably analyze it at its most basic compounds and toxins and maybe come up with some kind of antivenom, or countermeasure at the very least. I might be oversimplifying toxicology there, but the point still stands.

 

And what governing system, magical or not, isn't deeply flawed?

Edited 30 Dec 2014 by Treemotan (see edit history)

[Brodongo 272]

LL do you still want to live in this magical world of arrogance, pricks, prejudice and corruption?

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

I couldn't ask for more

I'm all about that

[Treemotan 201]

Well I mean not like it's any worse than the world today anyways.

 

eyooooo