Do Weapons = Freedom?

When we look at the past, we can find a most important difference between the histories of Wizard and Muggles communities. There was NO slavery in Wizard history. Never. At no time. Even the Imperius Curse is just an individual and briefly effective spell. But why? Maybe wizards are better than Muggles? More ethical? They are inherent good? No. There were many evil, cruel and greedy wizards, in any century and in any country.

There is only one explanation – it is too difficult to make a wizard (or witch) a slave. It would be as hard as taming a dragon. What should you do to effectively tame a dragon? Cut off its tail, pull out its fangs, clip its wings… But you could not extinguish the flame that burns in its chest! It is the same with wizards – nobody can extinguish the flame of Magic fire inside of his/her soul.

Also there is one more obstacle.

Every wizard/witch has a weapon – a wand. Every wizard/witch learned how to use this weapon from childhood. Every wizard/witch USES this weapon everyday starting from childhood. Maybe, it`s one of the reasons why wizards are individualists mostly, because the weapon creates barriers by itself. Is it possible to enslave an ARMED & VIGILANT society of INDIVIDUALISTS? No way. Not the slightest chance, sir/ma`am.

Even Grindelwald and Voldy tried to recruit supporters with lies and promises instead of directly to enslave them. That`s why the wizard governments – the Ministry for Magic, as it named in Britain and France, Trollting in Scandinavia, or the Department of Wizardry of the Congress in the USA – are just social administrations that have no more power than needed to solve regular daily problems and become weak and ineffective in times of war. (Now we have some changes with our brave Hermy at the helm of Ministry, but not too much).

That`s why there were NO war between wizards caused by nationality, religion, gold or Liebensraum (place for life in German). There were only two Wizard Wars in the whole of history – both with a Dark side, and there was no other difference between warring fighters. No other differences. And both wars were ended by duels – individual fighting between the leaders of the opposite sides, as we know. Dumbledore/Grindelwald-1945, Potter/Riddle-1998. Individual fighting by armed people, with certainty in their own power to defend their ideas.

A free man is not necessary an armed man. But an armed man cannot be easily enslaved against his will.

Is this true for Muggles too?

Muggles can`t boast of such freedom. For 99% of their history there has been slavery, tyrannical governments and wars. In Muggles societies only a section was allowed to have weapons, the government`s servants, (the army, police, tax collectors, etc). Other Muggles (that means – most of them) were not allowed to protect themselves. Never. This was the point of maximum care by every Muggle government, – to monitor and maintain such a condition, because it was the question of the survival of the core of Muggle pyramid-like, ant-like society. Never to be tolerant to individualists, to vigilantes, to activists. Never let such persons have weapons and the possibility to protect themselves unless by using gangsters. And usually Muggles leaders were in no hurry to fight with their own hands, leaving this honor to their servants. Because step by step it became shameful for leaders to be a warriors, they preferred to use warriors as slaves – just instruments for gaining more power.

Some Muggles` societies created a sustainable system with a mostly-armed population – for example, Israel and (much less armed) Switzerland. In Israel this situation is based on two principles, – the first is a constant threat from their Arab Muggle neighbours. Secondly, there are family-like strong connections between members of society and the government that create an exact self-identification by both sides as a part of a whole which is also maintained by constant threat. Still, that doesn`t mean an absence of terror attacks – such as the assassination of their Prime-Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Even so, Israel has the lowest possible level of internal armed rebels. Switzerland is based on an extremely high level of prosperity and social support, that decreases the threat of the armed population to the government. These are only two countries in the Muggles` world, – less than 0.1 per cent of the total population.

You will ask, why I do not count the USA? It is a big, wealthy, strong country that is very proud of The Second Amendment that reads: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The devil in the details – “well regulated” involved a lot of restrictions on keeping and carrying weapons (named by Muggles, the “guns“), and still this country has a very high level of crimes with “guns” and a lot of tribal gangs that hate each other. Their “White Resistance” counts their vigilantes in tens of thousands and it creates a huge threat for government. This situation confirms my thought – Muggles could not live in peace if weapons are easily accessible to all.

In the other countries without strict control on the weapon – in Africa mostly – you can find only chaos, constant tribal wars, everyday terror attacks, murders etc. It means the Muggle’s government system could not delegate the Right of Defense to their citizens.

Of course, such a situation never was accepted by Muggles calmly, – so a big part of their history was of rebellions. Sometimes rebels loose, sometimes – win, but each time oceans of blood were spilled by both sides. This standoff is reflected even in Muggles` religion. We could find in the Apocalypse, the holy book that describes the end of the Muggles` world, such words: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev. 13, 16-17). It`s so easy to recognize this marks as a cockades on the helmets and on the insignias of the sleeves of government servants. It means, Muggles perceive such servants as devils or monsters.

Weapon also create courtesy. It`s not a paradox. You cannot be rude or harsh to an armed person, no matter how strong you are. The Source-of-Sorcery gave a different power of magic to wizards, but their wands make them equal. So courtesy is created by equal danger, because if you know that your next word could be your last, you will choose it carefully. That`s why most of wizards` conflicts are solved by negotiations, and there are few duels ending with death, even in Dumbledore/Grindelwald duel both sides remain alive. We can observe the same situation in armed Muggles` societies – British knights, French chevaliers, Spanish hidalgos, Japan samurais, Russian noblemen and even ‘thieves-in-law’ – all of them were polite to each other (that doesn’t imply they were polite to other Muggles). But why? Because they were always armed and rudeness meant immediate death.

You will ask if I propose to arm all Muggles as a method of educating them in courtesy? NO. It`s too late for that. Weaponry in the hands of Muggles is dangerous. Could you imagine that a wizard teenager will start use an Avada Kedavra in Hogwarts and other kids will only fly away? Impossible! Such an assailant would be combated within moments. But in Muggles` world there is no such habit. For millennia Muggles have used “protectors” and don`t want to protect themselves. Most of them. That`s why terrorists, assassins, kidnappers exists only in the Muggles` world. Even these words came from their side. This is a truth for Muggles: The presence of a weapon provokes its use.

Also – Muggles have a way more powerful weapons than Wizards. Maybe too powerful to be controlled. In the world of Wizards, you cannot use a spell without indicating a precise target. Spells just will not work. Most spells need a single target. Muggles` bombs, rockets, whatever else ARE NOT individual. They come from the sky onto the people indiscriminately. Their automatic rifles and machine guns cause hundreds of deaths in seconds in all directions. It`s not a duel, it`s mass murder. It looks like there is no way to teach Muggles how to live with weapons.

So, the Wizarding world consists of strong a population and a weak government, as we could see at the times of WWII. And vice-versa, in the Muggles world are strong governments and a weak population. Both versions have their own advantages. Wizards have more personal rights, but Wizard society is in developmental stagnation – less technical progress, unable to perform global tasks and complete huge projects. Muggles` life is under pressure of government and violence threats, but because of this, they can consolidate their efforts for greater accomplishments – such as Space flights, road and bridge constructions, the development of huge cities, gaining control over nuclear power etc.

So – is there a way to free Muggles from slavery, from dependence on “protectors“/racketeers? Is there a way for Muggles to be more individual and still have the power of unified efforts?

I know – there is no simple answers at all. But the answer should be somewhere.

And perhaps the best way to find something is looking for it.