(Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

[u/KusanagiGundam]

Speaking as an American who has studied the civil war all throughout my school years, this trope infuriates me to no end. There is no such thing as a kind slave master because slavery itself is cruel and inhumane. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROPERTY!

Naofumi (Shield Hero): Prime example of this trope. He enslaves multiple (underage) girls and an whole village and the fans still say he's a hero.

Rudeus (Jobless Reincarnation): As if being a pedo wasn't bad enough he had to buy a slave in season 2. Worse is that people still defend his actions.

Song of The South (Disney): Possibly the OG example of this trope. And the reason why Disney will never release it again.

[u/award_winning_writer]

There are several points in the books where it's noted that non-humans (elves, centaurs, giants, etc.) are generally treated as lesser lifeforms by most of wizarding society and that maybe someone should do something about that... oh, but not Harry, he has no stake in that struggle, why should he care?

[u/Irish_Whiskey → u/award_winning_writer]

are generally treated as lesser lifeforms by most of wizarding society

More specifically, they are confirmed to be criminalized and FORCED into a lessor status by things like criminal punishments if they pick up a wand.

The statue at the center of the Ministry of Magic has a male wizard standing proudly up as a women clutches to him for protection, as they stand atop a pile of 'lesser races' below their feet.

This is the same Ministry that Rowling later decides is fine existing as is. It only got corrupted through mind control and not because they fundamentally agree with Voldemort, and once Harry and Hermione get jobs there nothing major needs to change.

[u/FancyKetchup96 → u/Irish_Whiskey]

The original statue was the other magical races looking up in awe at the witch and wizard. In Deathly Hallows it was replaced with a witch and wizard sitting on a throne supported by the bodies of muggles.

[u/Irish_Whiskey → u/FancyKetchup96]

I'll just quote them both here for reference for anyone wondering.

The first statute:

Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. 

The second statute.

It was rather frightening, this vast sculpture of a witch and wizard sitting on ornately carved thrones...Engraved in foot-high letters at the base of the statue were the words MAGIC IS MIGHT...Harry looked more closely and realised that what he had thought were decoratively carved thrones were actually mounds of carved humans: hundreds and hundreds of naked bodies, men, women, and children, all with rather stupid, ugly faces, twisted and pressed together to support the weight of the handsomely robed wizards."

It says a lot that Rowling had to emphasize that they were naked children with ugly faces, to really reinforce THIS ONE IS BAD AND EVIL. It's also a really stupid design.

At their core it's the same concept, of Wizards on top and 'lessor races' under them. But the Magic is Might statue is just redone to have a big "I AM EVIL" sign and makes the subjects muggles instead of magical creatures.

After Voldemort is defeated they stick the original statue back with no one having a problem with it. It was wrong when he did it with Muggles, but magical creatures are lesser than Wizards so that's fine.

[u/Alagore → u/award_winning_writer]

To be fair to Harry, for the vast majority of the events of the novels he is under the age of 18 and being personally targeted by a terrorist and said terrorist's organization, including being attacked regularly since he was 11. I'm not sure to what extent I would blame someone in the same situation in real life for having a similar monofocus when it comes to societal issues. 

[u/Old-Tip-69 → u/Alagore]

Also, most of us are doing a lot less than Harry towards the actual shit going on in the real world. 

Like harry is not a bad character or person because he isnt running around upending every wizarding rule and norm of a place he was never from

[u/nowTHATSakatana1999 → u/Old-Tip-69]

People give Harry waaaay too much shit, I get JK sucks but it feels like the pendulum around the books’ reception has swung too far the other way and now because the author is an asshole it’s okay to treat the books in bad faith over literally every minute detail.

[u/Pencilshaved → u/award_winning_writer]

It is explicitly stated repeatedly that only humans have the privilege of using actual real wands for their magic (Hagrid’s magic umbrella wasn’t just a quirky choice, it was the only way he could use magic), and all nonhuman races are grouped into either “beasts” or “beings”, determined almost entirely by their ability to understand and integrate into human society. (Even “beings” are still second-class citizens though)

The only meaningful difference between Voldemort’s ideology and the status quo is that he wanted non-pure humans to be moved to the other side of the “actual person / just a ‘being’” divide. He just likes killing people about it.

[u/Alagore → u/Pencilshaved]

Hagrid's umbrella contains the remnants of his wand, which was destroyed after he was expelled. So he's not a good example. 

I think that goblins are an explicit example however. 

[u/Ergast → u/Pencilshaved]

What I got from the whole wand thing is that it is the equivalent of magic "tech" developed by wizards and witches, so they kinda have the right to do whatever they want with it.

And goblins are a bad example, they sure as hell don't share their magic items crafting techniques, or any of their secrets, and their idea of "selling" something is to rent it for as long as the "buyer" is alive.

The world of Harry Potter is fucked up beyond measure, but I don't think the wands are the biggest problem, or big at all.

[u/Old-Tip-69 → u/award_winning_writer]

Tbf to Harry, he is both a child and gor a lot of shit on his plate

[u/Hot_Fee1881 → u/award_winning_writer]

The latter books even make this almost comical, because the Order of the Phoenix is all like, “Voldemort is winning over the lesser species by promising them freedom and equality! How could we possibly combat this?”