[Sept 25] Why Are We Behind Muggles? Tags: SAWS Tulojow Nagde September 25 2008 September 2008 Read 820 times / 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. [Sept 25] Why Are We Behind Muggles? on November 16, 2009, 09:14:38 PM September 25, 2008Why Are We Behind Muggles?An Editorial by Tulojow NagdeWe witches and wizards hold so many advantages over our non-magical brothers and sisters. Tasks that appear to be arduous chores for them can be accomplished by any witch or wizard with a simple flick of the wrist. Our magical advancements are, in most cases, leaps and bounds ahead of what can be found in muggle medicine. It has always, therefore, amazed we can be so far behind the muggle community when it comes to concepts of tolerance and social equality. Maybe their lack of magic makes them more dependent on each other but, really, wizarding society is in the dark ages when it comes to tolerance. For too long our wizarding culture has made a small minority of our society the scapegoats and whipping ponies of our own bigoted fear. Far too frequently, wizards or witches, intelligent, productive and valuable members of our society, are shunned to the edges of society and labeled "creatures" due to the simple acquisition of a horrible and painful disease. We slap them with this non-human label to protect us from our fears - to make them different from us. It allows us to blindly convince ourselves that we are not like them. We are witches and wizards and they are just dark creatures. And, this label becomes the excuse to deny these individuals of their freedom and liberties. And, it's always a sad day - and a sad reflection of our society - when access to education is used as a political weapon. Education - especially a magical one for those who are capable of using it - should be considered a natural right. It's in everybody's best interest for our youth to be educated in the use of the powerful gift they've been born with. To deny a child their right to an education for no other reason than to further one's personal political agenda and to further propagate an archaic fear-based prejudice is despicable. And, all of us that stand by idly and let it happen are equally to blame. Ask yourselves - is an uneducated witch or wizard with lycanthropy really less dangerous than an educated one?For our own sake, as a society, we need to stop looking at these individuals as creatures. We need to stop thinking of them as creatures needing to be controlled. They are our friends and family who've had the misfortune of being infected with a painful and devastating disease. We need to think of them as needing life-long treatment at St. Mungo's - not lifelong control in the Ministry Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. If we, as individuals, start to see them as the people they really are, we will no longer be able to sit idly by and watch them be denied their education. This is a lesson that our muggle brothers and sisters have managed to learn over and over again. It has been decades since they caged their family members for being inflicted with diseases such as leprosy. Today, in most muggle society, it's illegal to treat individuals differently because of the presence of a disease. Sick muggles are given protections and help. In wizarding society, we dehumanize our ill and treat them in the same offices as we would a common garden gnome. Are we really content to be that far behind muggles on something so important? Skip to next post
[Sept 25] Why Are We Behind Muggles? on November 16, 2009, 09:14:38 PM September 25, 2008Why Are We Behind Muggles?An Editorial by Tulojow NagdeWe witches and wizards hold so many advantages over our non-magical brothers and sisters. Tasks that appear to be arduous chores for them can be accomplished by any witch or wizard with a simple flick of the wrist. Our magical advancements are, in most cases, leaps and bounds ahead of what can be found in muggle medicine. It has always, therefore, amazed we can be so far behind the muggle community when it comes to concepts of tolerance and social equality. Maybe their lack of magic makes them more dependent on each other but, really, wizarding society is in the dark ages when it comes to tolerance. For too long our wizarding culture has made a small minority of our society the scapegoats and whipping ponies of our own bigoted fear. Far too frequently, wizards or witches, intelligent, productive and valuable members of our society, are shunned to the edges of society and labeled "creatures" due to the simple acquisition of a horrible and painful disease. We slap them with this non-human label to protect us from our fears - to make them different from us. It allows us to blindly convince ourselves that we are not like them. We are witches and wizards and they are just dark creatures. And, this label becomes the excuse to deny these individuals of their freedom and liberties. And, it's always a sad day - and a sad reflection of our society - when access to education is used as a political weapon. Education - especially a magical one for those who are capable of using it - should be considered a natural right. It's in everybody's best interest for our youth to be educated in the use of the powerful gift they've been born with. To deny a child their right to an education for no other reason than to further one's personal political agenda and to further propagate an archaic fear-based prejudice is despicable. And, all of us that stand by idly and let it happen are equally to blame. Ask yourselves - is an uneducated witch or wizard with lycanthropy really less dangerous than an educated one?For our own sake, as a society, we need to stop looking at these individuals as creatures. We need to stop thinking of them as creatures needing to be controlled. They are our friends and family who've had the misfortune of being infected with a painful and devastating disease. We need to think of them as needing life-long treatment at St. Mungo's - not lifelong control in the Ministry Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. If we, as individuals, start to see them as the people they really are, we will no longer be able to sit idly by and watch them be denied their education. This is a lesson that our muggle brothers and sisters have managed to learn over and over again. It has been decades since they caged their family members for being inflicted with diseases such as leprosy. Today, in most muggle society, it's illegal to treat individuals differently because of the presence of a disease. Sick muggles are given protections and help. In wizarding society, we dehumanize our ill and treat them in the same offices as we would a common garden gnome. Are we really content to be that far behind muggles on something so important? Skip to next post
[Sept 25] Why Are We Behind Muggles?