“Wizards don’t do child abuse; the magical child is too valuable to them, and child abuse is almost unheard of.”
Tell me you don’t understand why child abuse happens in one sentence. That is what this feels like.
The number one factor in determining a countries child abuse rates is stability. Economic and social.
It’s not a coincidence that the countries with the lowest child abuse rates (Iceland, Finland, Norway etc.) have some of the most substantial social assistance programmes in the world and even then, child abuse rates are not zero.
Because shitty people exist everywhere.
So this trope drives me mad, because it stinks of propaganda. Another way of establishing that wizards are better than muggles with no real basis in reality.
The wizarding world’s social assistance programmes, from what we see in the books, boil down to one scholarship. Hogwarts has notoriously nonexistent oversight and it seems like the majority of adults in the book see absolutely nothing wrong with a child being harmed.
This trope drives me mad. Particularly as it’s usually presented as a reason the dark side are good ‘because they care about children.’
I’m sorry what? Mr I’m-going-to-give-a-dark-object-to-eleven-year-old-because-her-dad-is-mean-to-me Malfoy is suddenly concerned about children? Voldemort the failed baby killer is now a proponent for child safety?
At best you can convince me that the wizarding world cares about some children (hey purebloods) but even then we see plenty evidence that that care isn’t universal. Looking at you Sirius Black and Neville Longbottom.
And look, I get that this is canon evidence and usually this trope pops up in alternative universe stories but even then it drives me mad. Because people are still people, and shitty people exist in every society. If a wizard tried to tell me that child abuse didn’t exist in their society then my assumption is going to be either that they are ignoring it and pretending it isn’t a problem, or that magic makes it really easy to hide.
Welcome to the Ted talk on things that are driving Gimlili mad today. In other news, people who stop walking suddenly in public, just know that I hate you.
