[Humphrey’s] gambit in
"Man Overboard" to get rid of the Employment Secretary in order to foil his plan
to move half of the armed forces Oop North backfires spectacularly in the very
last minute of the episode when Hacker decides that now that the Employment
Secretary is gone, he can implement the plan anyway and take the credit for it
himself. It's only then that Humphrey realises that he spent so much time
engineering the Employment Secretary's downfall that he never bothered to
discredit the actual
plan,
leaving him with no counterargument— and as Hacker unwittingly points out, he's
actually strengthened several of the arguments for
it without realizing.
-TV Tropes, Yes Minister.
There is a very interesting Harry Potter
theory (look up ‘The
Slug Club – Social Mobility in a Medieval World’) that purports to explain
the oddities of the Death Eater Movement in the Wizarding World by suggesting it
was caused, directly or indirectly, by a programme of social engineering started
in the wake of a muggleborn insurgency in the late 19th century. The
reasoning was fairly solid. The combination of an upswing in the muggle birth
rates and a major improvement in muggle living conditions meant that Hogwarts
would see more muggleborn students, and those students would no longer be
content with remaining on the bottom of the wizarding social hierarchy. Some of
those students would be very clever and capable indeed, such as Hermione, and it
would not take more than a relative handful to cause very real problems for a
society as small as the Wizarding World.
The solution to this problem was simple: the Slug Club. Talented young
muggleborns would be paired with purebloods who would come to appreciate their
talents, providing the connections and patronage that would allow those
muggleborns to climb the ladder (and give them a stake in their society) and, at
the same time, shower their patrons with very real rewards for promoting them.
This was not actually uncommon in societies as diverse as Ancient Rome and
Victorian Britain, which appears to have flavoured the Wizarding World, although
it fell out of fashion as society became more egalitarian and less inclined to
tolerate (open) favour-trading and back-scratching. By ensuring muggleborns
could rise in society, instead of being kept down by objectively far less
capable but well-connected purebloods, the Wizarding World could integrate a
minority that would otherwise see no reason to be content with its lot and start
a revolution.
This social engineering had a downside. The winners were the wealthy and
powerful purebloods and the talented muggleborns; the losers were the purebloods
who considered themselves to be the elite but had very little to recommend them
beyond family connections and pedigree. As more muggleborns were promoted, these
purebloods found themselves increasingly shut out of posts they considered
theirs by right, through the reduced number of openings, a lack of raw talent
and the simple fact that grateful muggleborns might make better clients than
entitled purebloods. This led to bitterness, resentment, and a pool of recruits
for Lord Voldemort, when he started drawing in recruits to his banner. It is
unlikely Tom Riddle/Voldemort had any great belief in blood purity, or the
supremacy of the purebloods (not least because he was a halfblood himself), but
insisting he supported their cause gave him a pool of willing fighters who
believed they’d finally found a leader who would put the world back to where it
should be.
This may or may not have been intentional, on Rowling’s part, but it reflects a
fundamental problem driving modern politics, a problem far too many people try
to pretend doesn’t exist or stems from bigotry (however defined) rather than
very real issues. There are always winners and losers, and when the losers lose
badly they have no incentive to accept the new world order, and a great deal of
incentive to oppose it. When the winners mock and smear the losers, and don’t
even pretend to listen and take their
concerns into account, they turn the losers into irreconcilable enemies who will
tear everything down, simply because they have no stake in keeping it upright.
I
believe this is the root of many modern problems. The British vote to leave the
European Union was, to many, inexplicable. It was not. Put crudely, the upsides
and downsides of EU membership were not spread evenly. The upper and
upper-middle classes got all the rewards; the middle, lower-middle, and lower
classes got all the downsides. Free movement within the EU, for example, was
great for the upper classes: they got cheap labour, allowing them to keep wages
depressed, without facing any real competition. The lower classes, by contrast,
got it in the neck: free movement meant their wages remained low, while they
faced increased competition for housing, schooling, and many other problems the
upper classes rarely, if ever, had to worry about. One does not need Jim Crow
laws, or signs saying NO DOGS OR ETHNIC MINORITIES ALLOWED, to keep out the
riffraff; one just needs to live in a community where the cost of living is so
high that only the upper and upper-middle classes can afford to live there. Even
if the immigrants had been utter saints, their mere presence would have put a
great deal of pressure on the lower-class locals, and that pressure would have
led, inevitably, to a rise in anger and resentment; the simple failure to
recognise it, and take steps to provide relief, ensured the anger would build to
dangerous levels. Voting for BREXIT was an act of self-defence.
This explains a great many other current political upsets. Donald Trump would
never have become President of the United States if there wasn’t a seething mass
of anger and resentment he could use to rise to the White House. He would never
have won the chance to run for President and win
again if the issues that propelled
him had been acknowledged and tackled. And even if Donald Trump had lost in
November 2024 those problems wouldn’t go away. The same could easily be said for
the rise of the AfD in Germany. To paraphrase Scott Alexander, if you look down
from your lofty perch and deny there is a problem, and abuse anyone below you
who dares bring the subject up, you cede a great deal of influence and control
to the people who are willing to
admit there is a problem. And some of those people are very nasty indeed.
As
I have noted before, when Emily entered the Nameless World, she did so at a very
high level. A combination of raw talent, knowledge that was literally out of her
new world and a (supposed) father who was one of, if not
the, most powerful magicians in the
world gave her a great deal of leeway, allowing her to survive her early
missteps and learn from them, without facing disastrous consequences. Others are
not so lucky. Magicians from poorer backgrounds, without the talent and/or
potential to rise in the world, don’t win scholarships and don’t go to school.
Some are lucky enough to get a post as a shopboy/girl and learn enough magic to
get by (like Matt, who appears in The
Cunning Man trilogy);
others become blademasters, village magicians and get other very low-level jobs.
Their magic ensures they can’t hit rock bottom, but it isn’t strong enough to
help them rise in the world. They cling to their status as magicians because
that is all they have, and that makes them excellent recruits for the
Supremacists.
The development of magitech threatens those people in a way it simply does not
threaten the high-ranking magicians. They suddenly face a great deal of
competition, from mundanes brewing simple potions to magitech devices that can
duplicate other magical feats. They are reluctant to believe a mundane came up
with the idea (as you can see, throughout the text, the regime credits Emily
with developing magitech even though it had very little to do with her) and are
utterly unwilling to let themselves be pushed aside. Objectively speaking, they
have very little to fear; subjectively, that is not wholly true. The sudden
surge of competition poses a very real threat to people who already feel they
are on the edge, repressed by the wealthy and powerful who have no reason to
resent the new world order. This is not uncommon in human history. Open racism
and bigotry tends to be strongest amongst those who feel they not only have
something to lose, but are on the verge of losing it. This is often encouraged
by their social superiors, directly or indirectly. The poor whites in the
southern US were encouraged to look down on blacks because it kept them from
questioning the social order and challenging their genteel superiors.
Such resentments are easily exploited, both by Supremacists and the Hierarchy.
The vast majority of low-power magicians might not be openly unpleasant, or
bigoted against mundanes, but that doesn’t mean they’ll take a stand against
them. Their interests are threatened too, and it is very easy to turn a blind
eye to such people when you think they are acting in your own best interests
(even if you don’t want to admit it). Instead, they stand on the sidelines and
wait to see who comes out on top.
It
is not easy to tackle such a problem. One can discredit a politician only to
discover, as Sir Humphrey found out, that the problem itself remains to be
solved. Smearing everyone who agrees that yes, there is a problem is dangerously
counter-productive. It makes them hate you, and, worse yet, refuse to listen to
you when you’re actually right. Addressing the issue requires calm and patience
and, most importantly of all, a clear-eyed assessment of the cause of the
problem and a willingness to properly address it.
I
did not set out to write a story based on the current political headaches facing
the west – a political class that has lost touch with the people it is supposed
to serve, a working class under intense pressure, an upswing in anger and
resentment fuelling the rise of populist politicians offering simple and yet
impractical solutions and grifters intent on making money out of the crisis –
but it seems I succeeded regardless. And Emily has to clear up the mess.
This encounter is a skirmish, as Emily will come to realise, and while she has
given the regime a nasty shock, the Hierarchy has achieved its goals, and now
the real game can begin.
Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
And now you’ve read this far, I have a request to make.
It’s growing harder to make a living through writing these days.
If you liked this book, please leave a review where you found it, share
the link, let your friends know (etc, etc).
Every little bit helps (particularly reviews).
Thank you.
Christopher G. Nuttall
Edinburgh, 2024