diana selwyn, fair & balanced (artamos) wrote in cultureic, @ 2016-03-13 15:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! media: wizvis, diana selwyn |
The Selwyn Dispatch: 13th March
The typical THE SELWYN DISPATCH titles play before revealing Diana Selwyn not behind her desk, but instead standing outside among... Muggles? Countless people stroll back and forth, families having a wonderful time in a beautiful pastoral estate. A big band is playing in a garden visible on the horizon. Fountains artistically spout water a few yards away from Selwyn's smiling face. DS: Good evening, Wizarding Britain, and welcome to The Selwyn Dispatch for a Sunday Special Report.Cut to an aerial pan of Eaton Estate, open today for a special public event. Throngs of Muggle families are perusing impressive arts and crafts stalls, taking leisurely rides on a miniature steam train, and marvelling at falconry displays. Selwyn speaks in voiceover as the viewer takes in the staggering breadth of wealth on display: DS: Welcome to Eaton Estate outside Cheshire, home to opulent Eaton Hall. This is the seat of the Muggle Duke of Westminster, Charles Montgomery. The Montgomery Estates encompass not only Eaton Estate, but vast lands beyond as well! The Duke, sixth in his title after it was created by the Muggle Queen Victoria in 1874, is the richest Muggle property developer in all of Great Britain, with a net worth of approximately 9 and a half billion pounds. If you're unfamiliar with Muggle money, that's about 1 billion, 9 hundred million galleons. No small purse! Quite charitably, every now and then the family gives back to the local villagers with trifles and amusements like this 'Open Day'.Cut back to Diana on the grounds of the estate. It's clear the immediate area around her has been charmed with a general Confundus to deter Muggles, who instinctively give her a wide berth and stay out of earshot -- but it has no effect on one of the trained falcons, which zips merrily past her ear with a skree! before doing a barrel roll into the sky. DS: Why am I here today, in Muggle Cheshire, you ask? What does the Muggle Duke of Westminster mean to the Wizarding World? A fair question, of course. Allow me to elucidate.A montage of photographs, now. The first is the massive estate itself; the second, the Duke and Duchess, Charles and Leonora. This quickly gives way to a family photograph with their eldest son, his wife, and their children. DS: Charles Montgomery, Muggle Duke of Westminster, has two children, both sons. His heir, seen here on the left, is Edward, called "Ward", who is presently the Earl of Westminster. He is married to Eleanor, Countess Montgomery, pictured to his immediate right, and they have two children, Lady Christine -- called "Tini" -- and Lord Edward Charles -- called "Wardie".Cut to another photograph, this one of the Earl and his wife at Tini's christening. The camera pans to Ward's brother, present here, and zooms in on his face. DS: The younger son, Lord Christopher, is called "Kit". He is known to Muggle high society as a reclusive figure. He is known to us as an Auror in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, at the Ministry of Magic.Cut to Diana now seated at her news desk, expression grave. DS: He has lived this lie amongst us for over a decade. Merely a deception, a prince playing at the pauper? Or -- something more sinister? Espionage by the Muggle royals? Infiltration by a servant of the Muggle crown? Our reporters were unable to locate any former Hogwarts classmates or co-workers of Kit Montgomery's who could tell us anything substantive about his family.Diana spreads her hands, an image of Kit Montgomery at the DMLE superimposed to her right. DS: It's not a crime to lie. But to hide your true self from the public you claim to defend? This is a troubling thing to discover about a member of law enforcement, about someone with Ministry security clearance whom we are asked to trust in our homes and places of business. But more than simply lying about the vast privilege and wealth into which he was born in the Muggle world, Kit Montgomery has actively positioned himself as the voice of the allegedly oppressed, speaking on behalf of and in defence of the magical children of Muggles, or 'non-magical folk' as he calls them.Superimposed images follow, captured from the journal network. DS: Montgomery has openly questioned the nature of purism, acting as though it is baffling to him and imploring purists to explain their views. He has gone so far as to claim there is "no such thing as a pureblood". Funny, that, when he is the very Muggle equivalent of a pureblood -- his own ancestors have married within old Muggle noble families and structures for generations, furthering their ancestral connection with Muggle Britain and its history -- and reaping the benefits of that long history, with unimaginable wealth and connections beyond measure at the highest levels of society. How can he claim he does not understand purism when he is the scion of purists himself? Surely the logical leap from Muggle to Wizarding philosophy is not too difficult for him, if he is bright enough to be an Auror.Diana shakes her head disapprovingly, as more images and quotes from Kit appear to accompany her dialogue. DS: This is a man who chooses to leave the height of comfort and luxury in the Muggle world and come to be 'oppressed' in the Wizarding one. How can he claim to be the injured party? While I may be a separatist, I personally sympathise with the many magical children of Muggles who have nowhere else to go and face unfair discrimination in our society. But Lord Montgomery, here? This is not an oppressed person. This is not someone who is being targeted by anything other than his own arrogance. It's no wonder he says he doesn't 'identify' as a "Muggle-born". Why should he? He's rich as Croesus and playing at being a victim as a lark, choosing to suffer because he's never known suffering in his life and thought it might be interesting.Cut to Diana in front of a timeline on a green-screen, illustrating the Statute of Secrecy in 1692. DS: This is a man working at the highest levels of our government who did not know when the Statute of Secrecy came into effect. Of all the things we must ensure the magical children of Muggles understand, the import of the Statute is first and foremost. How can we trust the secret-keeping of an Auror who is not simply the child of Muggles, but indeed the child of famous Muggles? An Auror who himself is referenced extensively on the Muggle equivalent of Wizipedia?The green-screen shifts to display a Wikipedia page on the Duke, with one of his children listed as Christopher Alfred George Montgomery, Lord Montgomery. DS: 'But he's an Auror,' you say. 'Surely his judgement is sound. Surely he has acclimated to our ways.' To that I shall merely remind you of a DMLE radio interview on 4th February of this year, concerning the Unforgivable Curses. An interview in which Lord Montgomery exposed himself as a farcical ignoramus on the subject of the Dark Arts, in which he was insubordinate to a superior officer, and in which he embarrassed the entire Ministry.The feed cuts again to Diana at Eaton Estate, holding one of the trained falcons perched on her gloved hand. She eyes it for a moment, and it eyes her back. As she turns to the camera, the photographs of the Montgomery family are superimposed once again, panning over each noble in turn before zooming onto Kit's face. DS: The people of Wizarding Britain deserve protectors we can believe in. Not liars, not fools, and certainly no combination of the two. I encourage you to write your Wizengamot representatives and tell them Lord Montgomery Must Go.A sober nod to the camera, at that, and she boosts the falcon to fly off into the sky above. The big band in the garden begins to play "God Save The Queen". DS: For The Selwyn Dispatch this is Diana Selwyn, signing off. |