Death Eaters Are Bad

Serena Manzi
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

Everyone knows Death Eaters are bad. No one in the HP world questions that to choose to be a Death Eater, you’re choosing evil and hatred. So why then, do we make excuses for today’s neo-Nazis? Great question, Serena. Thanks, Serena!

So. Let me take you to HP5, arguably the angstiest and darkest book of the series. Spoiler alert, 15 year old Harry is literally being possessed by Voldemort aka the most evil dude ever. And whilst being possessed, is worried about if he’s bad person. Like. Yes. This is why we love you Harry (cuz it’s sure as heck not your sharpness or attention to detail). On top of that, he is being tormented by possibly the most odious character in the entire 7 books, Dolores Umbridge. If you haven’t read Harry, here are a few of the many tweets about her and that big golfer guy. You know the one.

And while I don’t believe Donny John could cast a Patronus, because that requires having a certain amount of love in your heart (and to be honest, a Patronus would so be used against him not by him) this one cracks me up:

Alright, so why am I bringing up Umbridge? Page 302 in Order of the Phoenix. Harry is talking to Sirius about how foul Umbridge is (so foul) and how she’s horrible enough to be a Death Eater, to which Sirius delivers his famous line. He says, “Yes, but the world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters,”. Now before we get into this, please note I am usually that girl. The “don’t judge a book by its movie” girl. I may have a shirt that says those words. I know. Judge me. Whatever. BUT. HP5 actually did a nice thing in the movie, one that I can get down with, just this once. In the movie, Sirius adds, “we’ve all got both light and dark inside us, what matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are,” (Warner Bros).

So. Harry is concerned about if he is good or bad. He sees a clearly foul human (Umbridge) and a group of horrible humans who choose evil (Death Eaters). Then, his godfather tells him it’s not that simple, that we all have light and dark inside of us. We aren’t split into Death Eaters and good people, Harry. But what DOES matter is what we choose to do with the light and dark inside us. So, Umbridge is evil. She chooses the dark. So do the Death Eaters. We can easily recognize this, even in characters like the Malfoys (we’ll get to them more later) that offer an explanation for why anyone would even bother to choose that kind of evil. An explanation, but not an excuse. That’s the difference.

Like with the Malfoys, I am able to use my empathy to see why people in this country revert to racism/sexism/etc without apology. I can understand the circumstances that lead them there, but I do not condone it. I do not understand unapologetically making that choice. I 100% comdemn it. It is horrible. Period. Whatever reason you choose to be evil, it doesn’t make up for the fact that you’re being evil. Simple as that.

Math of the day: Not all bad things = Nazi, but all Nazis = bad.

So why do we, in this country, not feel “comfortable” with condemning Nazis? Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, I can go on with the -phobics and -ists. There are too many.

We all have light and dark inside. As Hannah Montana once said, everybody makes mistakes. But being a Nazi isn’t a mistake. That’s a choice. So I abolsutely without a doubt can say I do not respect anyone who sympathizes with the current administration and Nazis running around our country.

There are not faults on both sides. The actions that oppressed groups resort to in order to counter their oppression does not equal the fault of the oppressors.

I’ll leave you with this: fear and silence is not an acceptable excuse. More on that tomorrow.

Sources:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2007.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Scholastic, Inc., 2003.

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Serena Manzi

Written by

I like stories & making people laugh. serenamanzi9@gmail.com

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