Inaugural address and Mandy Croyance on Assumption

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 97791

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Nora Renka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amanda" <mandy_croyance at m...>
 wrote:
 
>>
Mandy:
Why would Voldemort solely choose Slytherin anyhow? That 
would limit his options as different types of people think in 
different ways and thus would prove useful resources.
>>

>
Nora:
To make an argument I'm working on in more detail short 
(it'll be posted when papers/finals/master classes are over),
because Slytherins *in general* have the most to gain from 
following Voldemort. While blood is not the sole defining 
characteristic of Slytherin House, we're not sure whether half-
blood Tom Riddle is an exception or more widely permitted, 
but we know that Slytherin won't take Muggleborns. My 
hypothesis? This kind of exclusion has put a profound damper
 on any potential corrections or re-engagements provided by
an influx of people with new ideas, meaning that  Slytherin 
House has a tendency to a certain cultural homogeneity...

And cultural homogeneity is something that Voldemort wants.
Getting rid of Muggleborns and half-bloods, putting the 
purebloods in power...this is the agenda that a lot of people
in the WW *agreed* with, before Voldemort started killing people
and showed how ruthless he is.
>

Kneasy:
It's interesting how perceptions can differ.
To a degree I would concur with what can be extrapolated from
Nora's post; it's not that Voldemort chooses Slytherins, it's that
(in general) Slytherins choose Voldemort.

Slytherins can be presented as, or believe themselves to be, a
beleaguered minority desperate to maintain traditional standards
in the face of an ever-encroaching tide of change. The fact that
this same tide has been lapping at their doorsteps since the time
of Salazar without  their world falling apart is largely irrelevant to
them. Society in the WW is  self-evidently going to the dogs and 
this trend must be halted and if possible reversed. All that is  
required is a sufficiently powerful figure that can condense these
inchoate fears into words *and* actions.

Mrs Black is an archetype; she was undoubtedly voicing the same
opinions long before Voldemort appeared on the scene. To repeat
a thought used in a previous post: 
"I look on him not as the cause but the catalyst. Attitudes that 
have caused friction for years suddenly have a focus; rather like a
speck of dust falling into a super-saturated solution, crystalisation
occurs. People take sides, not because of right or wrong, but 
because of what they already are. Their roles were cast long before
Voldy appeared."

Very few demagogues can whip up a social, cultural or ideological
paranoia that doesn't already exist in the community in some form
or another, be it ever so unconscious or subliminal. They invariably
take advantage of what already exists. This raises an interesting 
thought; the defeat of Voldy will not fundamentally change the 
attitudes of his followers. They may keep a lower profile if he's
defeated, but they are unlikely to alter their mind-set. The best
you can expect is lip-service to the new orthodoxy - until another
Voldy appears. All you need is love? I don't think so. 

I'm not sure if I'll go along with Nora's assumption that somehow
Slytherin House decides who is and isn't suitable for placement in
the House. 'Slytherin' is little more than a label and labels don't 
choose; others decide if the label is appropriate, in this case the 
Sorting Hat. The cultural homogeneity in Slytherin exists because 
it's members were selected on the basis of "birds of a  feather flock
together." The Hat whitters on about Houses must combine, yet it is 
the Hat's choices that reinforce the divisions no matter that it wishes
to do otherwise.

We know of one Muggle-born considered as prime Slytherin material
- Harry. OK, he's maybe a special case and it was probably a plot
device anyway, but the Hat never bothered with his antecedents, only
his mind. Indeed, the Hat's song in GoF ends:
"I've never yet been wrong
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!"

Slytherin himself may have wanted to bar the door to all but purebloods,
but the Hat never mentions it among it's criteria for admission to his
House; cunning and  ambition seem to be the attributes that matter. 
This was key even in the old days:
"For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,"   (OoP Sorting Hat song)

A student may have been pureblood but still not acceptable to 
Slytherin. The Weasleys, for instance.
Given that we have been told how unlikely the concept of 'pureblood'
(in it's literal meaning) is, it's difficult to conceive how Slytherin House
could continue if varying dilutions of wizarding blood were not 
admitted. The pretensions of the Malfoys et al to pureblood status 
are a conceit that is incongruent with reality. No claim to that condition
would stand close examination if what we are told is true. To accept
Tom as a member of Slytherin posits that either standards must have
slipped a bit since old Sally's day or a different standard prevails. 
I go for the latter.

>
Nora:
Who has the most to gain from this? The pureblooded. The rich and
pureblooded (Malfoys, Blacks) preserve their status which is challenged
by a meritocratic system and an influx of outsiders, the less well-off 
but still pureblooded (Snape? perhaps--explains some things) get a
gain in status.
>

Kneasy:
Status or power? Or status based on power? Or meaningless power 
based on a status that is meaningless in the eyes of others?
Status based on power is the only one that works. Power is what
matters to those who are cunning and ambitious - it is the 
glittering prize. If you have enough power your antecedents become
irrelevant; it's what you've become rather than where you've come 
from that cuts the mustard. In this respect Voldy  is a meritocrat -
the one with the power and the talent ends up on top and he's 
applying for the post.

>
Nora: 
Of course there are other factors at work (I'm itching to know Peter's
story), but given some aspects of Voldemort's GoF speech and 
Bellatrix's utter freak-out at being told the truth about Voldemort's
parentage (note how she also immediately tags Harry as a half-blood),
I think that the blood ideology is not merely a mask for an 
unadulterated power grab, but something significant. Voldemort has
gotten to the point where he really believes his own propaganda...
>

Kneasy:
"And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition." (GoF again).

Bellatrix may just be a chip off the Mrs Black block. Power is 
seductively attractive but it may be uncomfortable to be reminded
that the beliefs of a lifetime have been compromised in the attempt
to get close to it.

Go back fifty years or so and offer Tom the power to become top 
dog. He'll bite your hand off and accept without qualms any minor
irrelevancies, such as the deaths and sacrifices of others, as part of
the package. Perfectly justified - in his eyes.

Voldy can be considered as a supremely ambitious individual with
Salazar's ethics grafted on as an after-thought. Tom sees Salazar's
beliefs as the means to his ends and Salazar would see Tom as 
the means to his ends. A perfect partnership. If Voldy wins they 
would both get what they want - Tom gets to run the WW, Salazar
finally gets a pureblood supremacy running the WW.  

Well, I would think that, wouldn't I? It's key to my possession theory.  

Kneasy