In the final volume, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, released on Friday, the Ministry of Magic has fallen to Voldemort's forces and the totalitarian state is emerging. The plan is that the magic world will take over the Muggle world which is to be a vast slave labour camp. Muggles (ourselves) are the lesser breeds - the Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, blacks. Those drawn to Voldemort's cause are obsessed with ideas of racial purity, they pride themselves on being 'pure-blood' (entirely magic) and despise those 'half-bloods', the products of mixed-marriages (though ironically Voldemort himself is a half-blood) or worse, the 'mudbloods', those wizards and witches who are Muggle-born.
In one of the most horrifying sections of the book, Voldemort introduces Nuremberg Laws. Families are investigated for potential half-blood ancestry and the 'mudbloods' are accused of having stolen their magic powers from real magic people. Deprived of their magic wands, the source of their power, they are reduced to pitiful beggars in Diagon Alley, in scenes reminiscent of the Warsaw Ghetto.
But what of the 'good' wizards, those who have heroically fought the takeover? They are not without the taint of evil themselves, for they are slave-owners - of the degraded house-elves who are under an oath of loyalty to the family who owns them, whatever the orders. One scene, towards the end of the book, shows the burial of a house-elf given his freedom, and the simple inscription on his grave: 'Here lies Dobby, a free elf.' In order to defeat evil, dubious alliances must be made: for example, with the goblins, the makers of swords and the guarders of gold, who regard all property as owned by the maker of it, and only 'leased' to others for their own lifetime; at the point of the leaser's death, it must revert to its maker. The wizards' cheating of these rules is, says one character, something on which they should reflect. Many species will not ally with the wizards because of bad relations, old grudges and grievances.
In America, the Christian right has condemned the Harry Potter books. They regard them as leading their children to Satan. Perhaps they should be more worried that the real danger in these works lies in their sophisticated and empathetic account of the grey areas that exist within both good and evil, and the hard choices we all have to make to find a path through the darkness.
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In almost completely unrelated matters, I was thinking today that I have a lot of very idealistic views about Singapore in general, and sometimes, I guess it's hard for people to understand what I'm saying because it's so far detached from our realities. Sometimes it's hard for me to understand why I am convinced that there should be this change. And , the trouble and hassle that comes with it... I'm often speechless when people give me the "why go to all that trouble for a right?" attitude. And then we have the "why do it if it's not going to translate into cold hard cash/benefits" mindset as well. Oh and before I forget, the "why don't you just keep your majoritarian privilges and shut up" perspectives. I wish I could, but it doesn't make sense to wait for society to be mature enough before initiating change. If we don't initiate change, society will never mature.
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Part of getting inked is about being young. I know that the rhetorical question - "why make a mistake, when you know it is one?" makes a very compelling case against getting it. But that assumes that I will definitely regret it. The appeal of a permanent and indelible mark, I think for me, is about having a permanent and poignant reminder of my youth on myself. This is a time of recklessness, when it doesn't matter what consequence the decision brings. The only thing that matters, is whether I want it enough. And yes, I know it's very dismissive of many things else, and considerations which should be important, but one thing I cherish most about myself this very moment is the sense of spirit which I think may extinguish when adulthood makes obstacles much more unsurmountable than they perhaps really are.
But most importantly, if a tattoo is so much an expression of simply seizing the day, why is this the second entry about it?
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Recently, I have been debating and arguing with friends about political/anthropological/social/generally intellectual issues. And I am so thankful that all my closest friends are not apathetic, socially aware, opinionated, intelligent and generally well-informed people. For all of our differences in opinions, I respect whatever they have to say even though I growl, snarl and generally am not a very pleasan person to cross when putting across my ideas). If I could engage in that sort of class debate which i have during each chill-out session, I would be very smart indeed.
In other more ensy news, Thai is killing me. I have a paper on Saturday. As usual, I don't know where my time went to - how can it be Friday tomorrow? In my panic-induced state, I have returned home, convinced that it is a more stress-free environment conducive for studying but thus far I have read the papers, watched America's next top model, read Harry Potter forum discussions.
PS: Usually, I shop like a maniac during exam time, but to quote loke, my financial status is now at "a-blowjob-for-500-pop-doesn't-sound-so-bad." Thereforem am unable to relieve stress and will eventually balloon to be so fat that you'll need a satellite to camwhore with me. Warning to lipinglovely.
honey you cannot afford me
the one who got away
i'd like to take a slow boat to china
the baker
trent!!
lil missdrinkalot
tres bitchy
fuggers
secret wank shed
blood ninja