This blog is a vomit.

Metaphorically / 20 / she/her or they/them /my two moods are my header and avatar

[harrypotterconfessions]

I’ve never thought that Pureblood-ism was a good allegory for racism. Like, racism is racism, it’s kind of difficult to turn it into a metaphor. I think the whole Pureblood thing actually works better for attitudes about immigration. Here’s my reasoning (and this is just my personal analysis/opinion, I’m not saying anyone else has to think this way, these are just my thoughts): - the discrimination people face tends to be based on who their parents are and where they came from, regardless of the individual’s actual status. - in some cases, a person’s background can probably be hidden if they just don’t mention it? People might be able to tell by their name’s uniqueness or simple lack of notoriety within the particular society they’ve joined, but unless it comes up in conversation there’s no way to know for sure. - they’re sometimes literally in between two cultures and worlds, and based on who they’re around, some feel like they have to keep each one world a secret from the other because of stigma. - the people who look down on these others do so because they don’t come from whatever group originally, they’re coming into the society later in life and the ones who discriminate think that makes them better for some reason. Also there’s a societal “hierarchy” imposed by the ones at the “top” which translates pretty literally for an immigration allegory: Pureblood - they and their parents and ancestors for several generations were born in this country. Half blood - their parents or grandparents immigrated from another country but they were born here or were born in another country but moved when they were too young to really remember. Muggleborn - they were born in another country and immigrated some time after that. And the “highest” ranking tends to look down on the “lowest” category while at minimum, approving of the middle category despite the fact that they’re really all in the same boat just at different stages of the journey.

[formerlychucks]

Yessss!!! It grinds my gears so much when people go all pureblood supremacy = rAcIsM!! - it’s not the same. It’s just not. Even if that was what JKR was going for, and I’m not actually convinced that she really thought these things through quite as deeply as us fans do, it does not work as a direct equivalent for many reasons that I’m too lazy to get into this late at Easter night and because everyone has probably heard them before. The HP series is a good start for children and teens to learn about tolerance/anti-racism/anti-whatever-ism (or at least anti-extremism – let’s be honest, the "blood purity”-theme was barely more nuanced than “gEnOciDe bAd!!1″) but I constantly see people discuss the series as if the theme of blood purity was completely equal to actual real life racism and even accuse other fans of being full-blown racists/nazis over not agreeing with their views, and that’s just NOT IT.

Let’s just all remember that the muggleborns are a fully fictional group of people, and the discrimination against them does not 100% work like any real type of discrimination – it should not be treated with the same gravity as real-life social issues, because it’s fictional and as such, doesn’t affect real people. Let’s save our outrage for issues that have actual consequences for people who actually exist, why don’t we?

And I get that the way the series narrowly focuses on the wizarding world and neglects the larger perspective leads us very easily to think that the pureblood wizards/supremacists are successfully written as direct equivalent to white supremacists, people who are the epitome of privilege and feel irrationally threatened by any diversity in their society – but why not consider that the wizards, in-universe, are actually a minority group (like, massively outnumbered by muggles in any country) with their own distinct culture, who have been collectively hunted down and killed in history, and as a result they have been forced to hide their entire society from the majority population of muggles. When you take this into account, it’s actually not all that difficult to understand except for the genocidal maniacs, genocide is never justified why the wizarding society is generally a bit apprehensive when it comes to muggles, and by extension muggle-borns – who have ties into the muggle society through their muggle family members who are let in on the secret, some of whom in canon (or at least the muggles who married/procreated with a wizard) have been shown to react badly to the revelation that their family member is magical, and even turn abusive over it. 

And yes, the wizards are OP compared to the muggles because of their magic and I’m not convinced JKR’s early attempt to balance it out with “muggles are better at LoGiC” is actually reflected in the text, but that power imbalance is a whole another can of worms. Frankly, the fact that wizards and muggles, unlike different real life “races” or ethnicities, DO objectively have significant differences in abilities just complicates things further. It’s like... imagine regular racism, but one of the ethnicities involved has actual genetic, inborn ability to essentially bend reality that the other can never obtain, which makes them very overpowered compared to the other. Looking at a black muggle and a white muggle, I can’t think of one rational reason to believe one or the other would be inherently superior to another. However, if I’m looking at two people who are fundamentally similar on every other level, except one of them has magical powers and the other does not... I would be lying to myself if I said I wouldn’t consider the one with magical powers superior. I would not be able to convince myself they are inherently equal, because objectively they would not be. I feel like claiming anything else would be self-deception.

So... considering that wizards:

Are a historically (and otherwise) demonized and oppressed minority, and

Possess an inherent talent which makes them overpowered compared to muggles and is inborn and unique to wizards, while being completely unobtainable for those who are born without it,

it seems like drawing a direct comparison between pureblood supremacists and white supremacists (or pureblood wizards and white people) carries... some unfortunate implications. At least that’s how it comes across to me.

IDK, I’m not all that good at making a point, I didn’t mean to go off and I said I wouldn’t get into the reasons, but some food for thought.

[formerlychucks]

Not to rag on Mary GrandPré but w h a t is this anatomy

[harrypotterconfessions]

The whole series is about how your circumstances don’t matter. This is why I hate it when people excuse shit people like Draco did. Harry grew up in an abusive household. So did Voldemort. They turned out so different. Stop excusing what Draco did. Harry is the literal proof that your circumstances don’t define you.

[formerlychucks]

The thing about this is that from the perspective of modern psychology, the lesson that "your circumstances don't matter" is blatantly false. Our personalities are shaped not only by genetics, but the environment we grow up in. This is fact. This is why no human being is the same as another - and why it's harmful to truly compare ourselves to anyone else but our past selves. Sorry, but we shouldn't take the "lessons" from a YA fantasy book series as if they were fact. We are allowed to be - and it's good that many fans are - critical of the themes portrayed in fiction, especially when they contradict researched information.

There is a reason why certain backgrounds strongly correlate with certain outcomes. Most will not "beat the odds" and successfully overcome unfortunate circumstances on their own - and we like to convince ourselves that it's undoubtedly their own fault, the result of their own choices, because that way, we don't have to face the distressing reality in which the world is not a fair and just place where everyone starts off equal, everything happens for a reason and everyone gets what they deserve.

[just-shower-thoughts]

It’s perfectly possible that you’ve crossed paths with a murderer who looked at you and thought ‘not them’

[formerlychucks]

Rejected once again

[formerlychucks]

Honestly I feel Severus when he accused James of saving him only for the sake of himself and his friends. Considering how he was treated for the entirety of his early life, it's likely that even as an adult he genuinely cannot comprehend why someone would actively not want him to die, especially his number one bully and enemy. Because (from his POV) really, why would anyone, let alone someone who views him with obvious derision and torments him for the shits and giggles actually care about him dying, if not for the sake of avoiding the trouble/guilt that would result for himself?

The shit I went through as a kid was so tame in comparison to pretty much anyone else that I'm embarrassed to even bring it up but I still find it absurdly difficult to just accept that the general decency and kindness of other people extends to me too and that it's not a 'trick' when people are even casually kind to me. I might be projecting a bit, lol.

[formerlychucks]

Tumblr reply field: Send something nice :) Unleash a compliment :)) for once in your life try to act like decent humans on the internet you unsocialized gremlin fuckers :))) Add something wonderful :))))

[tastefullyoffensive]

Heyo!

[harrypotterconfessions]

It’s canon that Snape suspected Remus was a werewolf before Sirius ever told him how to get past the Willow. In “The Prince’s Tale”, Lily coldly tells him “I know your theory” and asks why he’s so obsessed with the Marauders, clearly indicating that this is a conversation they have had multiple times before. Not only is he attempting to violate Remus’ privacy, it proves that Snape already knew or at least strongly suspected what he would find when he followed Sirius’ instructions to poke the knot on the Willow.

[formerlychucks]

I wish the werewolf incident was better explained in the books, because a lot of it doesn't make much sense. It seems so OOC for Severus to apparently knowingly walk down the tunnel to face a werewolf and then genuinely blame the Marauders for trying to 'murder' him. It doesn't make sense to me that he would go there at all if he had suspicions - unless he was passively suicidal and cared more about being right and getting back at his enemies than getting himself hurt or killed. But if that was the case, why would he continue carrying a grudge against Sirius for the 'murder attempt' years later?

It just occurred to me that maybe he intended to get the Marauders expelled not by exposing Remus as a werewolf, but by actually getting himself hurt or killed by the werewolf. Maybe the reason why he was left so upset about the entire incident was not because he felt 'fooled', but because he was saved, and even worse, James managed to make himself look like a hero by stopping him. It's a bit of a dark explanation, but it fits his 'obsession' with the Marauders.

Maybe it would be much easier for Severus to publicly blame Sirius and the Marauders for 'tricking' him than for actually ruining his plans by saving him, because valuing your own life so little that you would endanger it in order to ruin others' is obviously not normal and healthy behavior and even Severus probably knows that much. Making himself out to be the victim of a cruel, messed up, murderous prank might make him seem gullible and stupid, but it might be worth the little bit of sympathy it could gain him - whereas admitting to self-destructive intentions would no doubt earn him the label of unbalanced, insane, considering the WW's archaic views on mental health.

Dumbledore, being a Legilimens, obviously knew the truth. In the end of POA, he kind of brushes Severus off in the hospital wing when he starts once again going off about 'Black being capable of murder at 16'. I'm inclined to think this isn't just Dumbledore being cold - he knows the grudge runs deeper than that, he doesn't buy it and he isn't going to indulge Severus.

I can only think of two other explanations, but neither really makes sense IMO:

Severus really was handed a HUGE idiot ball that day and despite longtime suspicions and snooping around, he somehow wasn't expecting to meet a werewolf. Requires him to be lethally stupid, at least momentarily.

Severus went down the tunnel expecting to meet a werewolf, delusional enough to think of himself as invincible/able to defeat a werewolf. Pulled a surprised Pikachu when shit hit the fan and James had to swoop in to save him. His ego couldn't take the humiliation so he shifted all blame on the Marauders for 'tricking' him and refused to take responsibility for his own choice to go down the tunnel. This level of delusion requires him to be a full-blown pathological narcissist, which I really can't see him as. Canon Severus might be bitter and angry, but he's not egotistical - in fact, he seems to be the opposite.

...

Yes, I am definitely overthinking this.

[fifinez]

[alexxdaniela]

was anyone going to tell me sirius’ hair is described as “elbow length” in poa or was I supposed to remember that myself as I re-read it for the 364747th time?

[formerlychucks]

long hair boi

[formerlychucks]

a friend mentioned this to me, and i don't want to sound stupid so would you care to explain it to me? what is... "sleep"?

It’s a cyclical, physically and mentally restoring process during which metabolic waste is removed from the brain and information is processed. It’s very important to get some sleep because you will absolutely die without it.

also known as something that school and my own dumbass brain won’t let me have enough of

[formerlychucks]

how dare this color quiz call me out like this (accurately)

[depsidase]

[excitementshewrote]

[excitementshewrote]

[formerlychucks]

Albus Rubeus Glaucus Viridis Lazulius Niger Potter, you were named after Theodoric of Freiberg’s system of six simple colors

[codependentclowns-archived-deac]

It’s 2020 and some of y’all have still not realized that your perception of Severus Snape as “creepy” and James Potter as “feminist” has everything to do with classism, lookism, and ableism and nothing whatsoever to do with textual evidence because James is the one who threatened and blackmailed Lily into dating him in one of their only (and the longest) canon interactions whereas Severus never did anything to violate Lily’s autonomy and only once indirectly called her a slur (that also applies to himself!!!) in response to James’, his abuser’s, taunting while he was being assaulted and traumatized.

But, sure, your Hot Take that being “greasy” (a very classist and ableist insult in of itself) and having few friends/social skills is evil, but a rich, conventionally attractive white boy sadistically abusing people for fun and ‘because he exists’ is just Boys Being Boys (despire the fact that they literally Did Not “grow out of it”) is soooo woke and not at all the ideology of every single privileged bully. Mmhmm.

[formerlychucks]

But, sure, your Hot Take that being “greasy” (a very classist and ableist insult in of itself) and having few friends/social skills is evil 

As a formerly socially awkward and “weird” child who’s been made to feel like “the bad guy” too many times for that reason, THIS SHITTY attitude right here is what pisses me off the most about the HP fandom. I can’t help but get the feeling that the people who shit on child Sev for being neglected, poor, unattractive and lacking social skills don’t have any empathy for children and teens in that same situation in real life either. (A nine-year old child watching a child of another gender from behind a bush? Obviously a budding ~sexual~ predator being creepy on purpose, and not just a shy, socially awkward child who’s desperate for a friend but doesn’t understand that their behavior is coming across as odd!)

Some of you were clearly the kind of socially well adjusted kids that bullied and ostracized kids like me and never grew out of the childish attitude that People Who Are Not Like Me Are Bad And Wrong and that shows.

(Also why are people calling James a feminist when he tried to blackmail a girl into going out with him, in addition to never expressing any feminist views whatsoever? It’s okay, James stans, you can like a character without projecting your political beliefs on them when they clearly don’t fit. You are allowed to like characters who have problematic beliefs/do problematic actions. Shhh, it’s okay. I understand.)