Pottermore: Random New PM-Canon Snippet

[vaysh]

Pure-blood: Magbobs, Pure-Blood Directory, Sacred Twenty-eight, fear or dislike of pigs as sign of pure-bloodness, Cantankterus Nott, Prof Mordicus Egg

Comments

[vaysh]

Hm. I have to disagree. (And please don't worry, we know each other well enough to have an exchange about this. But I need to defend my European heritage here. :)). When D.W. Griffith's racist movie about the emergence of the KKK, The Birth of Nation, came out in 1914, there was controversy, yes, but the movie was also a huge commercial success. Also, for the whole of American history, I don't think anyone can claim that racist beliefs are an anomaly. In fact, many historians today would claim that the very fundaments of American culture are based on racist beliefs in the superiority of white Christian people over the native populations and African-Americans. White Americans, for a long time, really have been European at heart, and share all the common racist prejudices. There is a very strong anti-racist discourse today in the US, especially in intellectual circles - a discourse I very much appreciate and wish Europe would learn from. But racism and the concern with keeping the country "100% American" (which is nothing else but keeping it "pure") are very much what mainstream America is about, in my view.

[absynthedrinker]

Oh honey, I can talk to you about anything! And I must say that I agree with much of what you've written here. The finer points will, however, have to wait until I've the time to write a lucid response to yours. Until then

Peace & Hugs,
Bubba