I have Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone going on in the background right now, and I figured this would be just a prime to write this article that’s been bouncing around in my head. I read the first Harry Potter book way back when it came out in 1998. I read it and to be honest I liked it. I kind of lost touch with the series after that though. I read about 1/4 of the second book, but hadn’t talked about or even looked at another book until about 2 months ago. My girlfriend was quite enamored with the series and with the new movie coming out and the movie series just about to be wrapped up I just decided to cave and see what the fuss was about. Surprisingly I didn’t hear any bits of the story even though just about everyone around me was flipping our about it.
I am not finished with them all yet (currently on book 4), but I do actually enjoy them. I see the appeal. The writing is solid and the story is exciting. I must put a disclaimer up because this article is written only knowing the story up to about 1/4 of the 4th book read. The one thing that bothered me is that Muggles are portrayed as kind of stupid or not as worthy as the magic folk.
Personally, being Muggle is way better. Most people find the adventure and intrigue the of the wizard far more interesting than any old Muggle. The ability to defy the laws of physics, conjure stuff out of the ether, sure sounds pretty awesome. My evidence against it all has to do with that ability. If you are not challenged you normally don’t change behavior. Look at their cities and schools. Everything is straight out of the 18 or 19th century. The wizarding world is stuck centuries behind the Muggle world. They have just ceased to evolve as a people. Muggle’s on the other hand didn’t have magic to do their bidding. They had their minds and the sweat on their brow. They/we learned to harness nature itself. We solved all our problems using just our minds. In many ways we have surpassed the magic world. The Weasleys don’t even know how to use a telephone and they have more expose to the Muggle world than most. We have jet planes, computers, telephones, and the internet. Hell we even left the planet with much less technology than we have today.
Now I don’t doubt that some Wizards went into science, mathematics, and engineering, but I am referring to the vast majority. I also understand this is all fictional and I am looking way to far into this debate that no one was having. I tend to overanalyze things that need you to just live within the confines of the story. It’s just who I am. Basically what I am trying to say is being Muggle is WAY better.