Inside Bella - Social & Psychological Motivation... and the KKK

[kempermentor]

No: HPFGUIDX 126433


Bboyminn:
Several aspects come into play in any 'Bella'-like personality.

The first aspect is POWER. <snip>

This is very common in people who either feel or fear their own
inferiority, whether it be rapist, oppressive bosses, or loud
obnoxious kids at the mall. Each struggles for a sense of superiority
while fighting against a sense of inferiority.

<snip>

One might ask, why does the bully bully? The answer is of course he
does because he can. Even playground bullies have this false sense of
superiority, and fear of not having it, that provokes them to prove
again and again that they are superior, and can do as they damn well
please.

Kemper now:
I think you are right on about the sense of inferiority driving some 
to seek superiority over others, but I disagree, in a sense, that a 
bully bullies because he can.  Rather, he bullies because others 
allow him to: whether it's the victim not fighting back against the 
bully or the witnesses not telling the bully that his actions suck.  
Bullies only do as they damn well please as long as others allow it.


bboyminn continues:
<snip>

Now as to how such an egotistical megalomaniacal self-important person
can bring themselves to bow down to Voldemort, while complicated, is
not really that hard to understand.

In a sense, Voldemort is not /a/ Lord (title), he is THE Lord (supreme
being). His teaching, his beliefs, his rhetoric is the seat of all
power. He is the being that represents himself as the ultimate in this
school of superiority. It is he, in whose veins flows the blood of
Salazar Slytherin himself; the key and most significant figure in all
of wizarding history, whose own beliefs validate their own. And
validation is the key.

I used the following statement in an earlier thread in a different
context, but it fit this thread and it's context perfectly, especially
when referring to power-crazy, self-supierior, cruel tyrannical
fanatics; "That which does not validate me is not valid". In a twisted
sense, respect and even worships Voldemort because he is the source
from which she achieve all validity.

Kemper adds:
The twisted validation is an excellent theory on why Bella would 
bow.  But I've been thinking
 since OoP, when Harry `outed' 
Voldemort, Bella had a seed of doubt planted in her regarding 
Voldemort.  This would mean that she is starting to develop two 
conflicting world views. 
 
1.	Pure-bloods are Superior to non-pure-bloods
2.	My Superior (the Dark Lord) is not a Pure-blood 

For Bella, these two views can't co-exist for long, one will need to 
win over the other.  Bella will either believe:

1.	Pure bloods are Superior to non-pure-bloods, so the Dark Lord 
is not my Superior

or

2.	My Superior (the Dark Lord) is not a Pure-blood, so Pure-
bloods are not superior to non-pure-bloods

This is cognitive dissonance.  Which way will Bella go?  

Steve, in another post, suggested that Voldemort come clean about his 
heritage to the DE's, explaining his ire at the Mudblood who spoiled 
the bloodline of Salazar Slytherin and what he did to bring justice 
to that slight
 kill his Mudblood father and grandparents.  This 
sounds believable to me.  I can see Bella wanting to buy into it so 
that the dissonance, if not completely resolved is at least faded 
considerably.


Charme & Tonks and many other posters:

Charme - I start to feel she's bent towards zealotry, and even Nazism

Tonks - I have often thought of Bella as Nazi like. I saw a PBS 
special a couple of week ago about the Nazis and the concentration 
camps. The show told of a woman SS officer that was worse than any of 
the men. When I saw that I wondered if she was the basis for Bella. I 
seriously wonder if JKR used the Nazis as the role models for the DE. 
If that were the case than this woman officer was the model for Bella.

Many other posters – Nazis
DE's.


Kemper now:
I, too, thought of the Nazis as a way to equate the DE's to the Real 
World.  But no longer.  Now I think of the Ku Klux Klan instead.  The 
Nazi's seemed to have more outward support of the community and 
didn't have to hide who they were.  Whereas the KKK came about 
through some general held beliefs within the community but took those 
beliefs to the extreme.  So extreme, in fact, that they had to keep 
their identity hidden and all that could be seen of their faces were 
eyes glinting through slits in hoods.