[HPforGrownups] Why Voldemort is a fascist... (LONG)

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 108831


--- Nora Renka <nrenka at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Why Voldemort is a Fascist, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and 
> March in Step (LONG)
> 
> 1)  This is pretty clear.  Voldemort aspires to be the greatest 
> sorcerer in the world, with an army, servants, bad devotional art, 
> etc.  He was 'taking over everywhere', seizing power, looking for 
> immortality.  The WW has strong tendencies towards absolutism,
> as shown in the models of Barty Crouch and Fudge--Voldemort is not 
> fundamentally different at the base, but one-ups them.  Voldemort 
> thinks of himself as an aristocrat, as opposed to his mortal 
> enemy: "that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles,
> Albus Dumbledore" (GoF, ch. 33).  

Good analysis and I'll buy almost all of it - but I don't think the
WW "has strong tendencies towards absolutism".  Their idea of
government tends to be reactive rather than proactive and they view
it as something that deals with specific problems (ie, thin cauldron
bottoms that might prove hazardous to users).  Voldemort's genius lay
in using his outsider's vantage point to recognize the WW's
weaknesses and exploit them in his first bid for ultimate power. 
It's clear from a number of characters - Dumbledore, Sirius, Hagrid,
Arthur Weasley - that the MoM was totally out of its depth in dealing
with Voldemort and turned in desperation to Barty Crouch Sr. the Man
Who Had All The Answers to save them.  Then when Voldemort was
apparently gone for good, the WW threw a bunch of parties, toasted
the Boy Who Lived and turned against Crouch Sr. 

That doesn't strike me as absolutism, even a tendency towards it.

Magda


		
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