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alt_sirius2009-02-12 10:29 pm
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Grim Truth 92/12/02
Greetings, British Wizarding World.
I know it’s late for it, but Happy New Year – and high time for another chat, don’t you think? Tonight I want to thank those of you who decided to send me owls after my last little discourse – the howlers and the letters alike. There have been a few encouraging notes among the vitriol, which I suppose is proof that no matter what the Ministry and the Lord Pretender would like to think, their policies are not met with universal approval.
It gives me hope for you all, as well.
But there is distressing information contained in the letters, even when the source is friendly. Perhaps I’ve been overly harsh, expecting too much, too soon. I know how dangerous it is for a single person to stand up and demand the wholesale rejection of an oppressive regime, when one is not at all sure anyone else will join the clarion call. Last time we spoke, I urged you to start small, in private confidences and careful words. We can only hope that in time it will become easier to recognise like-minded citizens without risking exposure, so that one day we can stand, not alone, but as a whole body.
Meanwhile, though, there may be steps that do not compromise that long-term goal while appealing to some short-term progress. Think, for example, of the cruelty inherent in the Ministry’s policy preventing the students at Hogwarts, who are unfortunate enough to have been born halfbloods, from contacting their families. The justification for this policy is both cold and ruthless – because of course (so it runs), the wizards and witches weak enough to fall in love with a Muggleborn (or ‘worse,’ a Muggle) cannot be trusted to have the proper sympathy to a pureblood point of view.
But ask yourselves this: How can Government claim to be benevolent when it cuts off the bonds of family that should inspire these children to revere their heritage? If the Ministry truly wished society to prosper, it would encourage loving communication, so that resentment and guilt do not take root in the hearts of halfblood children who know only that Government has barred their parents from their lives. Wouldn’t it be more humane?
I don’t pretend to understand or agree with Government’s position or its justifications for forcibly separating parent from child, even for a small amount of time. I don’t condone any part of its policies toward the ill treatment of Muggleborns or Muggles, even if I can attest to the fear, prejudice and falsehoods that pureblood families use to twist the truth and teach their children the most utter nonsense imaginable. (The effect of that teaching can readily be seen at places such as Hogwarts, even now. But that’s an address for another day.) No doubt the proponents of these ridiculous claims about blood purity believe they’re in the right and that what they are doing is for the best. Still, leaving that aside, it’s hard to believe there is widespread support for the casual cruelty directed toward half-bloods when it comes to their families. Surely all can agree that as much as these children need shelter, food and clothing, they also need the nurturing presence of their wizard fathers and witch mothers?
Purebloods themselves routinely violate the regulations to contact their less fortunate relations – a sign both of the corruption of the Ministry and of the improper severity of the laws that govern this segment of the population. That better-placed, richer families are able to flout the very rules they have imposed on their less pedigreed compatriots ought to prove, if no other evidence is available, that they themselves do not hold these laws just. They themselves consider the restrictions too stringent and seek for ways to circumvent them. If the purebloods and favoured families may do so, why do they insist on privation for parents without such an advantage?
Whether you are a warlock, a mediwizard, a Ministry employee or a shopkeeper, I know there are few among you who do not have any family member affected by the half-blood regulations. There are precious few among you without a half-blood relative in your extended family, if not your immediate relatives. If you feel this point of order is not in order, then demand that the laws be repealed, rescinded or at least revised, to allow these children the access to their parents that any child deserves. Speak out on behalf of the Grim Truth: Denying parents the right to their children is nothing short of criminal, and by so doing, the Ministry is damaging and penalising a generation of young minds. Your children suffer because of this policy. Do not let them grow without the care and attention of their parents. Speak out and put an end to their penury.
I know it’s late for it, but Happy New Year – and high time for another chat, don’t you think? Tonight I want to thank those of you who decided to send me owls after my last little discourse – the howlers and the letters alike. There have been a few encouraging notes among the vitriol, which I suppose is proof that no matter what the Ministry and the Lord Pretender would like to think, their policies are not met with universal approval.
It gives me hope for you all, as well.
But there is distressing information contained in the letters, even when the source is friendly. Perhaps I’ve been overly harsh, expecting too much, too soon. I know how dangerous it is for a single person to stand up and demand the wholesale rejection of an oppressive regime, when one is not at all sure anyone else will join the clarion call. Last time we spoke, I urged you to start small, in private confidences and careful words. We can only hope that in time it will become easier to recognise like-minded citizens without risking exposure, so that one day we can stand, not alone, but as a whole body.
Meanwhile, though, there may be steps that do not compromise that long-term goal while appealing to some short-term progress. Think, for example, of the cruelty inherent in the Ministry’s policy preventing the students at Hogwarts, who are unfortunate enough to have been born halfbloods, from contacting their families. The justification for this policy is both cold and ruthless – because of course (so it runs), the wizards and witches weak enough to fall in love with a Muggleborn (or ‘worse,’ a Muggle) cannot be trusted to have the proper sympathy to a pureblood point of view.
But ask yourselves this: How can Government claim to be benevolent when it cuts off the bonds of family that should inspire these children to revere their heritage? If the Ministry truly wished society to prosper, it would encourage loving communication, so that resentment and guilt do not take root in the hearts of halfblood children who know only that Government has barred their parents from their lives. Wouldn’t it be more humane?
I don’t pretend to understand or agree with Government’s position or its justifications for forcibly separating parent from child, even for a small amount of time. I don’t condone any part of its policies toward the ill treatment of Muggleborns or Muggles, even if I can attest to the fear, prejudice and falsehoods that pureblood families use to twist the truth and teach their children the most utter nonsense imaginable. (The effect of that teaching can readily be seen at places such as Hogwarts, even now. But that’s an address for another day.) No doubt the proponents of these ridiculous claims about blood purity believe they’re in the right and that what they are doing is for the best. Still, leaving that aside, it’s hard to believe there is widespread support for the casual cruelty directed toward half-bloods when it comes to their families. Surely all can agree that as much as these children need shelter, food and clothing, they also need the nurturing presence of their wizard fathers and witch mothers?
Purebloods themselves routinely violate the regulations to contact their less fortunate relations – a sign both of the corruption of the Ministry and of the improper severity of the laws that govern this segment of the population. That better-placed, richer families are able to flout the very rules they have imposed on their less pedigreed compatriots ought to prove, if no other evidence is available, that they themselves do not hold these laws just. They themselves consider the restrictions too stringent and seek for ways to circumvent them. If the purebloods and favoured families may do so, why do they insist on privation for parents without such an advantage?
Whether you are a warlock, a mediwizard, a Ministry employee or a shopkeeper, I know there are few among you who do not have any family member affected by the half-blood regulations. There are precious few among you without a half-blood relative in your extended family, if not your immediate relatives. If you feel this point of order is not in order, then demand that the laws be repealed, rescinded or at least revised, to allow these children the access to their parents that any child deserves. Speak out on behalf of the Grim Truth: Denying parents the right to their children is nothing short of criminal, and by so doing, the Ministry is damaging and penalising a generation of young minds. Your children suffer because of this policy. Do not let them grow without the care and attention of their parents. Speak out and put an end to their penury.