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| Squibs: Magic’s Wayward Children or Civic Burden? We all know what a Squib is, don’t we? They’re not always spoken of in polite conversation but everyone knows what they are. Here’s how it’s officially defined, at any rate: Squib (n): A person being of magical descent but nevertheless lacking magical ability. I’d go a step further than this, though: Squibs aren’t merely persons of magical heritage that lack magical ability. They’re a drain on our collective resources as a nation and indeed as a world. After doing a little research on the issue I’ve discovered that Squibs are entitled to transportation and other magical help from those of us with magic. All Squibs are entitled to hold a Squib Registration Card which allows them to ask for and receive help of a magical nature – things such as transportation, cleaning and other tasks that would be impossible for someone without magic to complete. Would it, perhaps, be easier for Squib children to be partially Obliviated and sent to live in the muggle world? It would, of course, but of necessity the Obliviation would be wholly voluntary – but it would solve a lot of our world’s problems. Squib children are always in danger of fitting into neither world, and for good reason. They are typically without magic but have the ability to see past anti-muggle wards. They are neither in one world nor the other – they sit between two chairs, unable to rest fully on either one. Would it not be morally right to Obliviate the youngest of the Squib children so that they do not know have disabled they are? Surely that’s more humane than allowing them to live in a world where they’ll be treated as second-class citizens? Living your life as a muggle is surely better than living a life in which you’re aware, each and every day, of something that you will never be? At the heart of the matter are our rights as wizards: should we have to accommodate members of our society that would be best off elsewhere? Is it right for Squibs to be subjected to a life of second-class citizenship? Where is the equality in that? What say you, Mr Editor? |
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Unmasking Evil We're leery of the word evil these days. Every idea is relative--we believe. What last week's writer, steeped in the Pureblood culture of inadequacy--precisely inadequacy--has suggested is evil. He relies upon two central fallacies: one, that Squibs are handicapped, and two, that Muggles are kept out of Wizarding society because they are unproductive. The first suggestion is ludicrous--absolutely ludicrous. Squibs are complete human beings; they lack facility with magic, but then, magical talent in se is only the provenance of less than 5% of the world's population. I will spare you the discursus on genetics, but suffice it to say that magic, like mathematical brilliance, is a gift. Squibs, furthermore, can and do contribute to the magical community: they breed magical creatures--they brew potions--they've even created some of the most theoretically complex spells known to Wizarding society. But let us suppose that Squibs are handicapped. They are on par with, for example, a child with autism or Down's Syndrome. Shall we expect parents to put any and all 'damaged' children up for adoption, arguing, fallaciously, that a Muggle life is a full life? You may claim that if they never know what they're missing--this beautiful, complex, infinitely exciting world, the Magical world--but the fact remains--it is a hideously inhuman calculation to deprive them of the world into which they were born, to deprive them of their family and their culture. Do not delude yourselves. The calculation this embittered, doubtless morally impoverished anonymous writer has set forth is not meant to help Squibs. It is meant to salve the consciences of parents who want to abandon children who might 'ruin' a Pure bloodline. There is Purist rhetoric underlying this letter. Have we forgotten the lessons of the last century? Will we stand by and let evil speak? The execrable writer's second point is easy to overturn. We don't keep Muggles out of Wizarding culture because they 'couldn't contribute'. As it is, we rely increasingly upon Muggles, on their economy, on their technology--it's no coincidence that in the past three hundred years, magic has only aped what Muggle science has discovered! We keep Muggles out because they represent a danger--a physical danger, yes--but above all--a danger to our elitism. Muggles, Squibs--the magicless--could harness the magic of the few, of Wizarding kind, for projects unimaginable to us. Wizarding kind rests complacently on secrecy and smug elitism. We fear anything that would drive us forward. The craven anonymous writer clearly fears the idea of the productive Squib, the productive Muggle. He speaks like a fool, a coward, an idiot, less than human in his cruel calculation. His is the cowardice of the fearful. Recognize evil when you hear it. And stop listening. |