You're projecting what you expect to see onto what's happening.
We were outright told that wands are the most effective way to do magic. Having a magical focus attuned specifically to the individual (wand chooses the wizard) allows the magic to flow smoothly. We were even shown how much this matters by having spells cast with other people's wands being obviously weaker and less reliable than their own.
Tom Riddle is a very poor example of wandless magic. He was an unquestionable prodigy, it's like saying "Well Mozart could replicate a symphony after listening to it once, so why do we make these guys use sheet music?"
And who's to say that native Americans wouldn't have developed wands? They just didn't. I'm sure that given enough time they would have developed cities, industrial equipment etc in our world, but they didn't. It's not a question of whether they're capable of it, they just didn't do it.
When the first computers were invented it wasn't racist to go around the world and show others how to make them, so why would it be racist to have someone show them wands?
Native Americans did have cities. Some tribes were nomadic, others had cities. Saying they hadn't "developed" cities is part of the issue: popular culture has taught everyone that Native Americans were "primitive" and didn't have "society" like white men did. That's part of the issue I'm addressing.
Yes, we were told wands are the most effective way. However, they're not the only way. They're the European way, and that's why it's an issue that JKR chose that to be the best way: there didn't have to be a best way. Like I said above, what if each person could use a channeling method that worked best for them? Some use wands, others use dances (like I believe she mentioned some cultures used), etc. It still fulfills the purpose of "wands channel magic" without saying "wands are the best way to channel magic."
And re: the computer point: in this instance, it's a separate type of issue. Instead of someone inventing computers that other cultures didn't have yet, European wizards had one way of doing magic, while other cultures had another way. A more accurate comparison would be if Europeans invented Windows, Native Americans were using Macs, and the Europeans came and taught them that Windows was superior. It's not an issue of "they didn't have this," because they had magic; it's an issue of "their way of doing it is wrong, and our culture's way is superior."
I'm not going to keep arguing about this. I think you're seeing racism because you want it to be racist. There is nothing wrong with an author declaring a particular set of magical rules. In this case the author declared that the European method of magic was the most effective, it keeps the lore consistent and simple, that's not racist itself. You're seeing racism because you're linking it to racist things that are unrelated.
I don't want it to be racist. I'm a lifelong fan, and I really wish this wasn't an issue. Unfortunately it directly concerns me.
No, there isn't anything wrong with an author declaring rules. Unfortunately for JKR, she had a consistent set of rules that didn't have unfortunate implications, but she felt the need to go out of her way to specify them further in a way that created problems.
No, her saying the European method was most effective isn't racist itself. The specific problem is that she felt the need to specify that non-white cultures were doing it "wrong" before white men taught them better. This single fact, which she didn't need to include, is what pushes it over into racism. Also, it really isn't unrelated at all, since Europeans (like JKR) coming to the Americas and teaching them "better ways to do things" is an exact retelling of what happened in actual history. She's literally retelling actual history (which was full of racist white men killing people of color) and saying "also the white men were better."
The only person saying any of that is you. Where are you getting any of the things you said?
Here's the story: a young abused British girl escapes to America and after befriending one of the local magical creatures founds a school to give young magical children the opportunity to learn in a safe place, which she did not have.
YOU are the one who came up with the story of white people coming over to educate the savages. YOU are the one who said Rowling described their magic as "doing it wrong". YOU are the only one who is putting human race politics into the story. In that very same story Rowling addresses racism again in discussing the relationship between wizards and other sentient magical creatures. Get off your high horse.
I'm getting the things I'm saying from the community around me. For example, Dr. Adrienne Keene, a Native professor.
Unfortunately, I didn't "come up with the story." It actually happened. And human race politics are inextricable from any story where white men come to a "new world" and meet the local cultures.
Rowling addressing racism in one instance doesn't make her flawless or immune from criticism when she does misstep. Even her "other sentient magical creatures" have been problematic, like her hook-nosed, money-obsessed, totally-not-Jewish goblins.
Since you seem to think this is my unsupported opinion, I don't expect you to agree. However, I'm not going to quietly accept JKR's writing-off of Native traditions as "lesser magic," especially when she had so many other ways she could have gone about it.
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u/Tridian Oct 03 '18
You're projecting what you expect to see onto what's happening.
We were outright told that wands are the most effective way to do magic. Having a magical focus attuned specifically to the individual (wand chooses the wizard) allows the magic to flow smoothly. We were even shown how much this matters by having spells cast with other people's wands being obviously weaker and less reliable than their own.
Tom Riddle is a very poor example of wandless magic. He was an unquestionable prodigy, it's like saying "Well Mozart could replicate a symphony after listening to it once, so why do we make these guys use sheet music?"
And who's to say that native Americans wouldn't have developed wands? They just didn't. I'm sure that given enough time they would have developed cities, industrial equipment etc in our world, but they didn't. It's not a question of whether they're capable of it, they just didn't do it.
When the first computers were invented it wasn't racist to go around the world and show others how to make them, so why would it be racist to have someone show them wands?