[HPforGrownups] Re: Lots of Topics

[heidi]

No: HPFGUIDX 3271

ht wrote:

> --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Joywitch " <joym999 at a...> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Catlady <catlady at w...> wrote:
> > I think Rita has hit upon something important here that we havent
> > discussed (imagine that!  an aspect of HP that we havent picked to
> > death yet!).  Why IS everyone so scared of Voldy?  All we know is
> > that he killed a bunch of people.  While that is pretty bad, is a
> > wizard serial killer bad enough to put a whole society in such a
> > fright?
>
> Voldy's not just a wizard serial killer. It's more like living in
> Berlin in the late 1930s, waiting for the Nazis to kick in the door.
> Gosh, you think that's what she intended? ;-)
>
> And even if he is just a serial killer, that's enough to put a
> society on edge. Think New York during the Son of Sam murders, or
> Atlanta during the 2 years Wayne Williams was killing African-
> American boys.

I agree with HT - and not just because my initials are the same - Voldemort
isn't just a mad, evil, lunatic guy - he's a mad, evil lunatic with
followers who are also mad, evil lunatics.

There's an element of terrorism in what the Death Eaters do as well -
leaving their symbol behind when they attack, going after people who are
completely uninvolved whatever situation is going on (i.e. the muggle
killings) - and I'm sure a lot of us in the US can remember what panic even
the isolated instances of terrorism, like the Oklahoma City bombing and the
Olympic bombing, or instances which turned out to likely not be terrorism,
like Flight 800, caused across the country, albeit temporarily - imagine
that kind of fear & crackdown on a daily basis. Pretty lame comparison, I
admit, but the closest I can get to from personal experience.

Although I can tell you that when Andrew Cunanen killed Versace down the
street from my dad's office, and then hid out basically across the water
from my parents' house, it was enough to make me panickey until they found
him dead.

And these were just mortal muggles.