History Headscratchers / HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality

** We haven't learned much about Charm/Potion Transfigurations yet, other than they can do things safely that are exceedingly dangerous with Free Transfigurations. Like allow a person to change into a cat and back, or permanently make your sister thinner and more attractive. Either way, its a NoodleIncident, [[Main/MST3KMantra you should really just relax.]]

* Squib is someone who has magical parent but no magical abilities. muggle is someone who has no magical parents and no magical abilities. So how can a child of a magical and a muggle parent be "either magical, or squbi, or muggle?" If one parent is magical, the child can't be muggle anymore.

******* But Wizards also do things involving the mind to other wizards. THey let Dementors at their prisoners after all. They just don't have the same opinions on the mind as Muggles do.

** The story probably did skip the drive - what would be the point of writing about Harry and his parents driving - and dentists do earn a lot.

* The Forge-prank referenced in chapter 98: Were they live millipedes transfigured into something else, or were they something else transfigured into live millipedes? If the former, wouldn't being transfigured kill the millipedes, or does it only work like that with humans? (For instance, in canon, they practiced transfiguring live animals into drinking goblets.) If the latter, what was gross about it, and why call it "transfigured live millipedes" as opposed to "transfigured whatever-they-got-transfigured-into" as that seems to be the way people talk in this universe?

* The Forge-prank referenced in chapter 98: Were they live millipedes transfigured into something else, or were they something else transfigured into live millipedes? If the former, wouldn't being transfigured kill the millipedes, or does it only work like that with humans? (For instance, in canon, they practiced transfiguring live animals into drinking goblets.) If the latter, what was gross about it, and why call it "transfigured live millipedes" as opposed to "transfigured whatever-they-got-transfigured-into" as that seems to be the way people talk in this universe?

* How do people enjoy this? It just screams insufferable bullshititus of someone who hasnt realized that they can in fact be wrong. They simply assume that everyone in a particular universe is utterly incompetent, instead of you know, there being unspoken but obvious factors contributing towards the use/disuse or disconcern of this or that. For example:No, Muggles are no longer any threat to Wizards and Witches. And since they would rather be left alone than have to deal eith Dumb Muggle Bullshit, which then no outside of a few very specific instances, Muggle tech and qpplication of Muggle logic is not going to improve anything. Transportation? Multiple forms of teleportation and brooms, brooms which have never been observed to run out of fuel in any timeframe of relevance. Food and shelter? Lolmagic wins. They could carry entire houses and mobile homes in their pckets. Muggle military? Imperio. Plus nukes. Means instant win for Wizards. If they hgave a fuck. Which they dont. So no, for the vast vast majority of things, Wizards would not care for or desire Muggle materials or technology. About the only major improvement that could possibly interest Wizards is modern Pen and Paper. Which is a convenience and nothing more. Wizards do not want to be bithered eith Muggles. And for the most part, Muggle have nothing to offer.
** It's not quite clear what problem this entry addresses. I suppose the claim is that Harry's view of the wizarding world as backwards and primitive is not justified, since the former is clearly superior in any way to the muggle world. Or is it that the entire premise is illogical since any reasonably competent evil wizard would own the muggle world in a jiffy? A clarification would be nice, as would be a spellcheck and a less aggressive stance when editing.

* How do people enjoy this? It just screams insufferable bullshititus of someone who hasnt realized that they can in fact be wrong. They simply assume that everyone in a particular universe is utterly incompetent, instead of you know, there being unspoken but obvious factors contributing towards the use/disuse or disconcern of this or that. For example:No, Muggles are no longer any threat to Wizards and Witches. And since they would rather be left alone than have to deal eith Dumb Muggle Bullshit, which then no outside of a few very specific instances, Muggle tech and qpplication of Muggle logic is not going to improve anything. Transportation? Multiple forms of teleportation and brooms, brooms which have never been observed to run out of fuel in any timeframe of relevance. Food and shelter? Lolmagic wins. They could carry entire houses and mobile homes in their pckets. Muggle military? Imperio. Plus nukes. Means instant win for Wizards. If they hgave a fuck. Which they dont. So no, for the vast vast majority of things, Wizards would not care for or desire Muggle materials or technology. About the only major improvement that could possibly interest Wizards is modern Pen and Paper. Which is a convenience and nothing more. Wizards do not want to be bithered eith Muggles. And for the most part, Muggle have nothing to offer.
** It's not quite clear what problem this entry addresses. I suppose the claim is that Harry's view of the wizarding world as backwards and primitive is not justified, since the former is clearly superior in any way to the muggle world. Or is it that the entire premise is illogical since any reasonably competent evil wizard would own the muggle world in a jiffy? A clarification would be nice, as would be a spellcheck and a less aggressive stance when editing.

* The Forge-prank referenced in chapter 98: Were they live millipedes transfigured into something else, or were they something else transfigured into live millipedes? If the former, wouldn't being transfigured kill the millipedes, or does it only work like that with humans? (For instance, in canon, they practiced transfiguring live animals into drinking goblets.) If the latter, what was gross about it, and why call it "transfigured live millipedes" as opposed to "transfigured whatever-they-got-transfigured-into" as that seems to be the way people talk in this universe?

* How do people enjoy this? It just screams insufferable bullshititus of someone who hasnt realized that they can in fact be wrong. They simply assume that everyone in a particular universe is utterly incompetent, instead of you know, there being unspoken but obvious factors contributing towards the use/disuse or disconcern of this or that. For example:No, Muggles are no longer any threat to Wizards and Witches. And since they would rather be left alone than have to deal eith Dumb Muggle Bullshit, which then no outside of a few very specific instances, Muggle tech and qpplication of Muggle logic is not going to improve anything. Transportation? Multiple forms of teleportation and brooms, brooms which have never been observed to run out of fuel in any timeframe of relevance. Food and shelter? Lolmagic wins. They could carry entire houses and mobile homes in their pckets. Muggle military? Imperio. Plus nukes. Means instant win for Wizards. If they hgave a fuck. Which they dont. So no, for the vast vast majority of things, Wizards would not care for or desire Muggle materials or technology. About the only major improvement that could possibly interest Wizards is modern Pen and Paper. Which is a convenience and nothing more. Wizards do not want to be bithered eith Muggles. And for the most part, Muggle have nothing to offer.

* Where does the author get the idea that muggles are treated as something akin to pets or babies? I don't remember seeing anything like that in canon.

** It's all over canon. Wizards think nothing of altering muggle memories to maintain the statue of secrecy (most evident at the World Cup), or of breaking into their house while they're on vacation and using it as a free hotel (neither Harry nor Dumbledore condemn Slughorn for this). When muggles are killed by giants and terrorist attacks on bridges, wizards don't care that their family members will never know the truth of the incident. When a muggle poses any kind of problem, a quick confounding charm is seen as a good solution (Dumbledore at the orphanage comes to mind). Wizards draw the line at killing muggles, or hurting them for your own amusement, but everything else is fair game. See [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6606864/1/The-Search-for-Supernatural-Life this]] fic for more. They are literally treated more like pets or children than like fellow adult humans.

** It's all over canon. Wizards think nothing of altering Muggle memories to maintain the statue of secrecy (most evident at the World Cup), or of breaking into their house while they're on vacation and using it as a free hotel (neither Harry nor Dumbledore condemn Slughorn for this). When muggles are killed by giants and terrorist attacks on bridges, wizards don't care that their family members will never know the truth of the incident. When a muggle poses any kind of problem, a quick confounding charm is seen as a good solution (Dumbledore at the orphanage comes to mind). Wizards draw the line at killing muggles, or hurting them for your own amusement, but everything else is fair game. See [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6606864/1/The-Search-for-Supernatural-Life this]] fic for more.

** All the time? Wizards think nothing of altering Muggle memories to maintain the statue of secrecy (most evident at the World Cup), or of breaking into their house while they're on vacation and using it as a free hotel (neither Harry nor Dumbledore condemn Slughorn for this). When muggles are killed by giants and terrorist attacks on bridges, wizards don't care that their family members will never know the truth of the incident. When a muggle poses any kind of problem, a quick confounding charm is seen as a good solution (Dumbledore at the orphanage comes to mind). Wizards draw the line at killing muggles, or hurting them for your own amusement, but everything else is fair game. See [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6606864/1/The-Search-for-Supernatural-Life this]] fic for more.

** All the time? Wizards think nothing of altering Muggle memories to maintain the statue of secrecy (most evident at the World Cup), or of breaking into their house while they're on vacation and using it as a free hotel (neither Harry nor Dumbledore condemn Slughorn for this). When muggles are killed by giants and terrorist attacks on bridges, wizards don't care that their family members will never know the truth of the incident. When a muggle poses any kind of problem, a quick confounding charm is seen as a good solution (Dumbledore at the orphanage comes to mind). See [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6606864/1/The-Search-for-Supernatural-Life this]] fic for more.

** Dumbledore must have warned him.

* In the Self-Actualization arc, why do the SPHEW constantly get punished by the teachers, while the bullies they are fighting against get away scot-free? I don't mean just Snape's final humiliation of Hermione (which, though crazy, is explained away by Dumbledore as a political act for protecting Hermione from reprisals). But why does it happen even in cases like in Chapter 73, where the bullies take Hannah hostage (who wasn't even participating in that particular fight), and attack Susan/Tonks so viciously that if she hadn't been a metamorphmagus in disguise, she probably would have been killed, or have a broken skull at least. Yet, when the fight is over, Flitwick gives the SPHEW members detentions, though all they did was defend one of their own. As far as we know, Flitwick isn't involved in the tortuous Slytherin politics, so what's his excuse for being so blatantly unfair?

** In the next chapter, we get a pretty strong hint as to what it was - Harry mentions that he has a few questions for the ancient Atlanteans and Merlin, which would very likely be boht his first thought as well as one he realizes needs to be kept under wraps.

** Because house elves enjoy being enslaved, while goblins clearly do not. I imagine he's got "make sure house elves aren't being mistreated" somewhere on his list, but they're a lower priority than the dangerously disgruntled race that controls the wizarding world's economy.

* Harry seems to be adamant about goblin rights but he dismisses house elves as a slave species. How the hell is that justified?