Well, not exactly ranting, but thinking critically while I was sleeping.
Before I forget.
On Torchwood, the new series, Miracle Day, is very disappointing. Capn Jack becomes gay; which he never was before. And the Bad Guys are played out in the shape of "racist" "Tea Party" "rednecks" and Christians. This kind of pseudo-moral liberal stuff is cheap, cartoonish, self-serving, contemptible, dishonest and cowardly. It's turned into unwatchable crap. So bad that I turned it off and sent an angry email to John Barrowman. It's come to that.
The Harry Potter series and politics. Despite the background moral theme of Pure Bloods vs Mixed Bloods, two important points. This is a question of two different species really. Not Magical Humans vs NonMagical Humans, as we are led to read it, but two different species. Harry et al are humanoid but not human, any more than Superman or the X Men*. And the allegorical "race" issue really does not reflect the situation of Britain or Europe generally. Why? As played, the Muggles vs Wizard issue is played out almost entirely between White characters. The racially different characters in the Wizard world are never more than a few individuals or functional extras: they never appear as racial groups. Which is where the issues always lie. There are no problematic Groups of Color in the UK Wizarding world. It is a solidly White dominated world with very secondary characters of color who only influence the story as single individuals, never as parts of groups. They have no cultural influence whatever. Turning them all into White Englishmen would not alter the story one single bit.
In this way, JK Rowling gets to play off an ethical high ground that she never actually stands on or engages. The current riots in the UK are not the result of Pure Bloods' racism, but group degeneracy among the non-whites and the "chav" whites who have been forced to compete with them (and wind up sharing and co-creating bad culture with them) thru the forced Mixed Blood policies of the UK elites.
More at 11.
PS. At a later time, I realize this is wrong. Muggles and Magicals breed easily and so they are really a single humanoid species, much more like different races or breeds. The difference species in that world are the elves or goblins, etc. of which there are no examples of cross-breeding with Magicals. And I note again, the humanoid Magicals dominate all the other species, without apology.
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