A Dark Glamour - Voldemort's Appeal

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 178932

---  "Cat" <CatMcNulty at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "Mike" <mcrudele78@> wrote:
> >
> > "Riddle undoubtedly felt no affection for any of them. This
> > group had a kind of dark glamour within the castle. They 
> > were a motely collection; a mixture of the weak seeking 
> > protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and 
> > the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show 
> > them more refined forms of cruelty." ...Big snip...
> >
> 
> 
> Does the name Adolf Hitler ring a bell?  If you think about 
> it, the parallels are remarkable.
> 
> Cat
>

bboyminn:

Not just to Hitler, but to any corrupt and charismatic 
leader in history, whether they be cult leaders, political
leaders, Islamo-fascists, or leader of the 'Revolution'.

The formula is the same. First you convince people that 
they are superior, but that external enemies are oppressing
them and denying they their rightful place in history. Next,
you give them a common enemy; someone to hate and someone
to blame. Hitler decided to hate the Jew. Islamo-fascists
decided to hate America. Once you give people a common
enemy, that automatically bonds them together.

So, WE are superior, YOU are evil, and every bad thing
that happens to us, is your fault, therefore /you/
deserve to be conquered and oppressed. 

Next we need a leader. The leader convinces everyone that
he is the reluctant leader drawn to the cause by a higher
power. That he, the leader, is not seeking power, but 
merely performing a public service. 

Now we have an excuse, and a leader, the next thing we 
need is authority. What authority better than God? So,
nearly all leaders claim some divine authority. Kings
ruled by the Divine Right of Kings. Most others simply 
claim to know the mind of God, and are therefore 
authorized to speak for him. Hard to disobey someone who
claim they are the voice of God on earth.

Some of these only tangentially apply to Voldemort. He does
not claim to be the voice of God, but he eventually sets
himself up in the God-like role. He is all powerful, all
knowing, and infallible. If any of his wacky ill-conceived
plans goes wrong, it's not /his/ fault, it is the fault of
inept incompetent Death Eaters who tried to carry it out. 

Of course, these things are carried out in stages. It helps
if you can start with a group of marginalized disenfranchised
people. Because one you bring them into the fold, you 
convince them that they belong, that they have power, and
that they have been cheated out of what is rightly theirs.
That represents a huge uniting force. 

To understand why people follow Voldemort, we need only 
look at the local high school. There are simply people who
naturally draw people to them; they have charisma. Some have
a dark charisma that draws the goths and the punks. Some
have a more superfically positive presents, that draws the
jocks and the popular kids. But none the less, natural 
leader do emerge, even if that leadership is limited to
common social interactions.

Not go beyond that to someone with an agenda and a slick 
tongue, and many vulnerable people can be convinced of
the most outlandish things. Generally good but susceptible
people can be talked into murder, if it can be frame in a
apparently logical argument or justification. 

One the whole thing takes off, it take on a life of its 
own, with people being drawn deeper and deeper into the
cult mentality. As they are drawn in deeper, the 'king'
become more dominant and more authoritarian, until he
eventually become a total dictator, and his oppressed
subjects become willing accomplices.

History shows us this pattern again and again. Give us a
sense of superiority, a sense of oppression, a common
enemy, and charismatic leader and we can, and often do,
conquer the world.

As a side note; notice how many people find Slytherin 
House appealing. If /they/ were at Hogwarts, that is
the House they would want to be in. I think a part of this
is the 'bad boy' 'ladies love outlaw' mindset. It's no
fun being a goody-goody, if you want to have fun you've
got to be an outlaw; a 'rebel without a cause'.

Not sure I actually said much nor answered the core 
question, but none the less, there it is.

Steve/bboyminn