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They are able to cure basically anything. And yet, they allow millions of Muggles (including children) to die painfully of cancer and other nasty diseases.

Why?

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    Wizards can do a lot of things, but I don't believe there's any canon indication that they can cure cancer. – F1Krazy May 16 '18 at 18:39
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    @F1Krazy - Actually they can cure any mundane disease – Valorum May 16 '18 at 18:50
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    Any proof wizards can cure cancer? Cancer isn't as mundane. – Bernard the Bear May 16 '18 at 19:25
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    @BernardtheBear - Mundane as in non-magical; "I decided that, broadly speaking, wizards would have the power to correct or override ‘mundane’ nature, but not ‘magical’ nature. Therefore, a wizard could catch anything a Muggle might catch, but he could cure all of it;" - https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/illness-and-disability – Valorum May 16 '18 at 19:32
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    Not Opinion Based. Any question that has a canon answer is automatically not opinion-based, and this clearly has a canon answer. – TheAsh May 16 '18 at 19:49
  • @TheAsh I don't think the "why" has never been addressed, hence why this might be POB. Of course the simple answer is "because it would break the international statute of secrecy"... – Skooba May 16 '18 at 21:06
  • Are First World Countries Obscenely Selfish For Letting Other People Die Of Malaria Etc? – Conrad Bennish Jr May 16 '18 at 23:00
  • @TheAsh I'm sorry but I think it is POB, the title is "Are Harry Potter Wizards Obscenely Selfish" and the body is very much not a neutral question. If we edit the question into a neutral question such as "Why did wizards not intervene to help Muggles with health care &c." then I think this old question pretty much covers it: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/14087/why-is-the-magical-world-kept-hidden-from-the-muggle-world – Au101 May 16 '18 at 23:11
  • Hmmm. In Elizier Yudowsky's take on HP, doing so would literally result in the end of the world, but I don't think the reasoning holds up in the original canon. – Harry Johnston May 17 '18 at 00:25
  • @ConradBennishJr - Yes. – Valorum May 17 '18 at 19:45
  • @Valorum well said – Conrad Bennish Jr May 29 '18 at 22:08

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This is directly addressed in the opening of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

“But what does a Ministry of Magic do?”

“Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there’s still witches an’ wizards up an’ down the country.”

“Why?”

“Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone’d be wantin’ magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we’re best left alone.”

So yes, it would appear that the wizarding world is callously indifferent to the plight of Muggles or at least recognises that if they provide magical help, it might expose their world and make them into a resource to be exploited.

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    It's odd that they don't see this as an opportunity to become obscenely rich. – MissMonicaE May 16 '18 at 19:00
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    What bugs me is that apparently wizards don't care about the environment either, even though everyone, even wizards, would benefit if they used magic to clean it up. I'm picturing wizard recycling shops where they just continuously transfigure garbage into something useful. – Kai May 16 '18 at 19:10
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    @MissMonicaE - Honestly I don't think the worldbuilding in HP holds up that well once you start to prod and poke at it. – Valorum May 16 '18 at 19:11
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    Wizards in HP are not the most caring type. They still hold house elves slave and see themselves above over humanoid creatures. Their prison system was basically torture. It was quite clear in the book that wizardkind aren't nobody's angel. – Bernard the Bear May 16 '18 at 19:28
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    @BernardtheBear - You might also want to add "widespread use of date-rape drugs" to that list – Valorum May 16 '18 at 19:31
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    RESOLVED: Wizards are jerks. – MissMonicaE May 16 '18 at 19:51
  • @Bernard The Bear What do you think Professor Minerva McGonagall would say if this question was put to her? – White Prime May 16 '18 at 19:53
  • Umm... how about the point behind the International Statute of Secrecy: avoid being exterminated and/or exploited by the muggles, against whom the wizards are not sure they could win a war. Ron's point isn't necessarily flippant apathy, but a matter of free survival. – Dúthomhas May 16 '18 at 19:56
  • @Valorum Of course! One of the few potions/other miscellaneous items from the Harry Potter world that I would recognize immediately! – Darth Vader May 16 '18 at 19:57
  • Does the International Statute of Secrecy possibly have anything to do with it? I think actually yes. Even if some wizards and witches have anti-Muggle sentiments it’s unfair and more so unrealistic to judge them on that when the statute is in place. Oh and seems I am not the only one to think of it. Sorry but it has more to do with the statute than anything else and any suggestion to the contrary is unrealistic post statute. Doesn’t mean they all care but it’s a moot point. – Pryftan May 17 '18 at 01:56
  • Jk Rowling used garden world building rather then planned world building, hence why there are so many inconsistencies in her books – Pliny May 20 '18 at 15:28