Monday, July 4, 2022

Joining an Evil Leader for Power and Self-Preservation

 


The impression that I got from the Harry Potter franchise was that if Lord Voldemort was successful, most of the world was going to suffer greatly. Basically everyone would serve Voldemort as slaves or die. So what's the point of serving someone who's probably going to ultimately end up betraying and/or enslaving you? I know the Death Eaters hated Muggles, but is that really enough to justify tearing down Wizard society? Why exactly do the Death Eaters serve Lord Voldemort? Fear?
Voldemort was a VERY charismatic and persuasive dark wizard. Meanwhile, Death Eaters seemed like a bunch of overprivileged, rich people who decided to be dicks for no reason. I mean Voldemort didn't even treat them well, why would they follow him? Voldemort didn't even have a legitimate ideology besides "huuur duur kill mudbloods".
Voldemort gained followers by validating their sense of superiority and promising them luxury, power, and safety from the Muggle/non-pureblood threat. Some purebloods also undoubtedly love to believe that they are privy to the advantages they have because they truly are better than muggles/non-pureblood wizards, so any ideology that threatens that belief system and their place in the Wizarding hierarchy terrifies them.
I'm sure that Voldemort's ideals would be highly comforting to these wizards, and they would love the reassurance that under Voldemort's regime, purebloods would maintain their status at the top of wizarding society. In this case, pureblood families are scared of the growing influence of wizards and witches of lesser blood purity - as muggleborns/half-bloods/blood traitors become more acceptable and gain more privileges, they begin to accumulate more resources and power. This undermines the established power system in which pureblood families enjoy significant advantages which allow them to hoard the majority of the money/power in the wizarding world.
Perpetuating the idea that Muggles and muggle-born wizards are inherently inferior beings is a convenient way to rationalize the restriction of their freedoms, thereby allowing purebloods to maintain their disproportionate share of wealth and influence.
Same reasons people followed every charismatic and/or powerful evil monster - from Hitler to Stalin, Saddam to Vladmir Putin to name just a few recent examples.
Most of which reasons boil down to basic game theory and human nature.
The main possible reasons (or their combinations) being:
• They lust for real power. Being "enslaved" by Voldie while lording it over pretty much everyone else doesn't sound like a bad deal to a LOT of people. The kinds that make the best lieutenants. See Malfoys.
• They are just generally evil, and will gladly follow someone who enables their evil inclinations to be expressed. See Crabb/Goyle types for small-time kind of example, or Dolores Umbridge for larger. Or Malfoys again (or better yet the psychopath/sociopath Lestrange).
• They agree with Dark Helmet's axiom that "Evil will always triumph because Good is… DUMB". And they want to be on the winning side.
• They (despite never having seen Spaceballs) make a rational assumption that Voldemort will win based on his power/history. And they want to be on the winning side.
• They agree with Death Eaters/Voldemort's politics (wizards should rule over Muggles, stronger wizards should rule over weaker ones). See Malfoys. But MANY MANY would agree (think how many people bought into Hitler's Master Race idea, both within and outside of Germany, and that was given a TOTAL absence of a proof, as opposed to having magical powers vs. not). Blood purity was a big thing in Wizarding world, both in the past (elaborated a lot on Pottermore) and in the present (Fudge, Umbridge etc...)
• They are weak personalities easily swayed by a crowd or a strong charismatic leader (which Tom Riddle most certainly was). See Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail.
• The "enemy of my enemy" factor - someone hates a specific Muggle/wizard, and Death Eaters provide both a means of revenge AND moral support. See Snape vs. James Potter.
• The friendship/other relationship factor. Your family belongs to Death Eaters or your best friend is one, and you follow. See many Slytherins (e.g. Crabb, Goyle, Draco).
• For many, being "enslaved" by Voldemort isn't that much of a deal - in reality they are just low-level followers of a faction/army and the alternative is a low-paying wizard job/unemployment/unfulfilling life

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