Owl Post Secret Activity 1: The Secret of Magic

[brightflower]

Activity: The Secret of Magic
Points: Long debate: Participation 10pts, Additional comment: 2pts.
Deadline: April 22, 11:59 PM UTC
Details:

Let's jump right into the magical world's secrets with a debate on the biggest secret of all: the secret of magic itself.

What are your opinions on the International Statute of Secrecy? Is it a fair law? When is it okay to break the law and reveal the secret of magic to Muggles? And what would you do if a Muggle discovered your secret and tried to take advantage of it?

Initial comment of at least 150 words for 10 points, additional comments 2 points each. Let's get a conversation going!


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Comments

[passerine.livejournal.com]

(not reading any other comments before I post my first one)

I think the Statute is really important and definitely fair. People are not extremely willing to accept the idea of magic, it's always considered an evil force. Think of the Salem Witch Trails, for instance. While I think the Muggle world is more tolerant than it used to be, it's not hard to imagine a huge backlash if people knew that there were actual wizards and witches and other supposedly mythological and imaginary creatures roaming the world. Muggles have something to lose without the ability to protect themselves against magic, so I could imagine more and more witch hunts and a whole lot of chaos and insanity and death and uggghhh. I would love to think that this wouldn't happen, but there are so many countries that have such a complex about perceived threats that I can't really ignore the plausibility of full scale war against the wizarding world because who knows what they're capable of.

i think it's okay to break it in cases of marriage and other things like that. If a witch or wizard can't perform magic in front of their Muggle spouse... well, something just seems wrong about that to me. "Don't be who you naturally are when the person you devoted your life to is in your presence". Yeah, okay.

As for cases of muggles discovering and taking advantage of their knowledge of someone being magical, I think there should be a department in the ministry that deals with this. The wizard who's been found out would contact the Ministry and then they would send off a very specialized Ministry employee to use memory charms on that person (instead of the wizard doing it themselves, because not everyone is great at memory charms and you would only want to erase that one bit of information... anything more is just cruel imo).

Julia // Gryffindor

[slumber.livejournal.com]

The Muggle world is still not as tolerant as it can be, to add another point there. And add to that the idea that this new kind of people actually have abilities that can be viewed as superior to what Muggles can do? Yikes, witch hunts are almost an inevitability! We fear what we don't understand.

Evyclaw

[flyingharmony.livejournal.com]

The problem is that society really hasn't learned a whole lot from the past when it comes to tolerance; sure, they're more educated now and the tolerance has improved some, but in the end there are way more incredibly intolerant (and powerful) people than one could assume; of course this is going to cause trouble - worst case, would be another witch hunt hysteria...

Avipuff/4

[kaitydid33087.livejournal.com]

I agree, that in cases of marriage, it should be okay to use your magic. I think its a bit ridiculous to be like "You're a wizard, you're married to this person, no you can't use your magic!". And just errasing that little bit, I would think that would be okay. But at the same time, I don't think I'd want that errased. If it were me, I wouldn't go spreading it around. I know there are some people who would though. Ugh, its a tough call.

5

[passerine.livejournal.com]

hmm, maybe the Ministry could have their special unit that investigates situations and determines whether or not they think the Muggle in question is likely to keep the secret or not, and only remove the memory from people who show evidence of wanting to let it out or something. I think that would be fair for people who have no bad intentions, and for the privacy and safety of the magic world.

Julia // Gryffindor