Doris Crockford (ex_correspon130) wrote in an_ill_wind, @ 2009-05-14 05:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !! npc, - 1980/05 may, [wwn], doris crockford |
WWN Broadcast - 13 May 1980
Host(s): Doris Crockford Program: Late Night News with Doris Crockford |
Interview with Hortense Clay from the Society for the Promotion of Muggleborn Welfare |
Doris Crockford: Doris Crockford here with Hortense Clay, president of the Society for the Promotion of Muggleborn Welfare. Good evening, Ms Clay. Hortense Clay: Evening, Doris. Good to be back. DC: At the time of our previous interview, last month, you were protesting the new muggleborn registration law. Much has happened since then, in particular You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters targeting Muggles all over London. What was your first reaction when you heard about the attacks? HC: Disgust. Disgust and overwhelming sadness. I don't understand what it was even meant to demonstrate other than that the only purpose of You-Know-Who and his pathetic peons is to destroy civilization for the fun of it, just because they can. "Ooh, look at us! We're all excellent and what not in our masks and with our mass murders and self-entitlement! Hooray for purebloods!" Really, killing a load of people isn't exactly an effective way to champion any cause. I mean, I think there's nothing wrong with muggleborn witches and wizards, so to make my point, should I go out and set fire to wizarding villages like Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow? No. DC: You-Know-Who and his troups have moved from a political discourse to war years ago, yet they took it to a new level with these attacks. We can speculate that their goal was to induce fear and show what could happen to those who stand in their way - namely groups like yours. Does it scare you? HC: Of course. You'd have to have no emotions to not be scared after this. It's a travesty of epic proportions. They took down Tower Bridge, for sh--goodness' sake, and set fiendfyre loose. It's intimidating as anything. But that doesn't mean that people should sit back and go "there now, they've scared me good. They can do whatever the heck they please," and then step aside so they can just... eradicate anyone who doesn't fit into their little boxes. That's genocide, for the love of Helga. DC: The population of wizarding Britain is horrified and shocked, the barrage of owls received by both the WWN and the Daily Prophet has confirmed it if anyone had any doubt. Most people wouldn't dare to go further though. What do you suggest them to do? What are the SPMW plans in regard to the attacks and the current situation? HC: As the muggle kids say, we keep on truckin'. We keep protesting and voicing our opinions where they can be read. Every voice makes a difference. Every person has the ability to help change the world for the better. If we stop, then that's one battle closer to winning the war for You-Know-Who. If we let him win, then we're silenced or we're dead. I'm not sure what's better or worse, at this point in the game. DC: Is the SPMW planning another protest march soon? HC: We're waiting to see where this new legislation of Lestrange's is going. Nowhere good, likely. DC: You don't seem to expect much good from the Minister's administration. What makes you so pessimistic? HC: I'm not pessimistic. I'm realistic. And I'm reading between the lines in all of Lestrange's fancy smancy, politically correct speeches. He might be saying the right thing now, but how long before his true colors come through? How long until he's cracking people's wands in half and employing hitwizards to take out anyone who dares speak out against his status quo. He's a thirty year old diplomat and he made a complete novice his senior undersecretary and an intern his junior undersecretary. All family. Lucius Malfoy is marrying Lestrange's wife's sister, and Regulus Black is Lestrange's wife's cousin. Purist circles run tight. DC: You're accusing the Minister of patronage and of being a purist; that's quite serious. HC: Yeah, well, when the shoe fits, I say. It's not as though the "old" families aren't known to be big supporters of purist culture and blah blah. It's not some hush hush secret that they think muggles are filth. Slurs for muggleborns started somewhere. I sure heard them enough when I was at Hogwarts. A lot of muggleborns did. It was never just a purely academic or quidditch war between the houses. DC: So you assume that every member of old pureblood families and every member of certain Hogwarts houses are purists. That seems excessive. Did I understand you correctly? HC: No, no. Don't take it out of context. Everyone sorted into Slytherin ever isn't a purist or a bigot or a Death Eater in disguise. It's the whole likeminded thing that sorts people where they end up and you know. Traits like cunning and ambition and blah blah, they go with your Everyday Joe sorts so much as your Mr Let's Kill Muggles After Tea sorts. But you see a lot of those old family names sticking with Slytherin for generations and generations, like the Blacks and Lestranges and Malfoys. It's a point of pride. These are families that are known to support the "old ways" right? Pureblood tradition and society. They say that purebloods should only make babies with other purebloods. They arrange marriages to keep the bloodlines flowing. They make sure they have an heir to the family name and fortune. It's a pretty big reflection on the hierarchy in muggle royalty. But tradition dictates that muggles and muggleborns are lesser and that purebloods who marry or have kids with people who aren't purebloods are "blood-traitors" or what have you. DC: So, based on those criteria, would you disapprove any Minister coming from one of those families? HC: If they're singing the praises of purism then they're certainly not thinking of what's best for all members of wizarding society. Saying that you want to preserve the "noble history of wizarding culture" is more like saying, "Hey muggleborns, get out of my society." DC: Yet Millicent Bagnold came from an old pureblood family. HC: It isn't as though there aren't exceptions. Lestrange could be Prince Charming but it certainly doesn't come across that way in what he says, to me. But the Blacks have had two major disownments in the last decade, haven't they? I was in school around the same time as Andromeda Black and she married a muggleborn. And one of her cousins faffed off sometime after... Regulus' brother. Some star or constellation or another. He was a Gryffindor even--that was a big scandal at the time, if I remember right. And Bagnold herself was a fair woman with the best interests of society at heart, sure, but look what happened to her. She got offed by a Death Eater who just waltzed right into the Ministry. I mean, jeez. And then out of no where, Wilde takes a piss--sorry--on democracy and just appoints Lestrange to the position out of nowhere! Why didn't the Wizengamot step in? There are laws for this sort of thing. Not to mention that Wilde never had a purist bone in his body and his last official act as Minister, other than to appoint Lestrange, is to put his name on a bill that supports muggleborn registration? Smells fishy to me. Too convenient. DC: Are you saying that this was an elaborate set-up? If so, by who and for what reasons? HC: Bugger if I know. You-Know-Who? Somebody. Death Eaters could be anywhere and everywhere. They could be anybody, blend in wherever they like. In the Ministry, in regular business, in the papers, who knows. DC: That's very serious, Ms. Clay. You are suggesting that You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters have been manipulating the former Minister and the Wizengamot in order to pass legislation and place their own Minister. Do you have any proof to back such accusations? HC: No. Where would I even get it? But someone has to suggest something. Someone has to point out how this shit--sorry--doesn't add up right. We can't have for sure, clear as day evidence for everything that has and that will happen. But the inconsistencies and the facts and sure a bit of assuming and finger pointing can come together and make a truth. You don't have to believe me. I expect most people are going to go, "That bird on the WWN last night is off her bloody rocker!" among other creative insults. I'm sure I'll get some fantastic post tomorrow. But just wait. Just watch. DC: It's unfortunately all the time we have tonight, so we'll have to leave on those controversial theories that are sure to bring up heated discussions among our listeners. Thank you, Ms. Clay, for your visit. HC: Thanks for your time. DC: This is Doris Crockford for the WWN. Have a good evening! |