Power vs Morality (was LV never loved anyone)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 110336

"tonks_op" wrote:
> Now to the question.  Given the circumstances of his childhood is 
> Voldemort responsible for his actions?  Yes.  Even if he feels no 
> love or compassion for others he knows the difference between right 
> and wrong and in that way is responsible.

Del replies :
Thanks for all the background info about infant psychology. I am of
the opinion that having been loved or not is THE major difference
between Harry and LV. Love might indeed be the power LV has never
known, but not because of any choice of his.

Now I have another question to ask the psychologist in you : what
makes people choose to be/do good or evil ?

I ask you that because I'm very confused as to whether Tom had any
real incentive to become a good person. I'm not sure he ever truly
realised that being good could be a goal in itself. I don't think he
saw his choices as being between good and evil. We know what he based
his decisions on : power, not morality.

We know he could *pretend* to be a good person while at Hogwarts :
everyone (except DD) was impressed by him, he was made Prefect and
Head Boy, he received an award, and so on. He seemed to have put up a
good pretence to be a good boy, when in fact he despised that role.
But I find this quite scary, because it means that by the age of 11 he
was already so damaged that he could not enjoy the rewards that being
a good boy can bring you : attention, favours, honours and so on. He
seemed to have been past that already. It seems he was already
thinking that the only thing that matters is *power*. This is
something that his life at the orphanage undoubtedly taught him, but
it seems to have been ingrained so deeply into him that even the
discovery of a whole new world where he was offered a new clean start
was not enough to change his mindset.

So I'm asking you again : what makes people choose between right and
wrong ? What could have make Tom change his priority from searching
power to acting nice ? You say he was probably unable to bond and
experience love and caring, so *why* should he have believed that
being and doing good was more important than being powerful ?

Del, who thinks that LV is a typical example of what happens when raw
power is not being channelled into good works by constant care and
attention, whether it be in people or in nuclear power plants.