You know what I think? I think terrorists like it when
countries are so occupied with fighting against themselves that they can’t work
together to present a unified front for combating terrorism. I believe that
they count on all of us, as individual citizens, feeling isolated, terrified,
and angry. Their success depends on our failure to act cohesively against them.
How do you take out one of the most powerful threats to your cause? You break
them down into their individual, weakest links, and dissolve their hopeful
morale so much until the unified hatred you can offer them is the best option
for solace they have – from the very fear which you manufactured and instilled
in them in the first place. United we stand, divided we fall.
That’s what Hitler did. He showed the German populace
that the Nazi regime was a valiant cause to protect German nationalism and the
best interests of the people. He told the citizens of a fearful, war-torn
country that he would help pull them out of the wreckage left behind from World
War I. He gave the hopeless, vulnerable people something they could believe in.
Then he twisted their well-meaning faith into brainwashing and persuaded many
to support a message which was contrary to his original rhetoric.
He conveniently provided the German people with a
scapegoat for their woes; an entire group of people where they could place the
blame. He focused his arguments around how these people were different from the
Germans – they were “others,” they were inferior, and they were most certainly worthy
of hatred. Hitler stripped the Jewish people of their humanity, and he made
doing so seem so trendy, that an entire country jumped on the bandwagon. And in
case they weren’t so easily convinced, he had a militant regime of
weapons-yielding marionettes ready to help enforce his hatred.
Hitler preyed on the Germans’ fear; he hooked them
with illusions of a better life, showed them the actions they could take to
make it a reality, and then he manipulated masses of people into fighting his
cause for him – his cause, of violence and bigotry, convincing the German
population to turn against themselves and fight their own brothers and sisters,
resulting in the most death the world has ever seen from a single war – a war
which dragged nearly every country in the world into violent death and despair. A war, started out of manufactured fear, and after which, FDR eloquently pointed out, "The only thing we've got to fear is fear itself."
Hitler was a real bad guy. He actually existed, he
lived and breathed, and walked among places we can still visit today. But since
Hitler’s time, fictitious bad guys have been based off of some of his qualities
– his authoritative leadership, his implicit coercion and explicit threats, his
dependence on fear and isolation among the masses. Take for instance,
Voldemort.
Voldemort did much the same thing as Hitler, though
Voldemort is a fictional character in Harry
Potter. The reason why so many fans love Harry Potter and its characters is because it is so relatable –
Voldemort is to the wizarding world what Hitler is to ours.
There is a scene, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, toward
the end of the movie, where the always-wise and unconventional Luna Lovegood
tells Harry, “If I were You-Know-Who, I'd want you to feel cut off from
everyone else. Because if it's just you alone, you're not as much of a threat.”
And that’s exactly it. People like Voldemort (referred to as “You-Know-Who
because people feared him that much)
and Hitler understand this fact better than anyone else, because it worked for
them. If a dictator – a terrorist – can
successfully isolate the people whom they wish to target, then it is suddenly
much easier to manipulate them. How does a terrorist successfully isolate people
whom they wish to target, you ask? Well, historically speaking, it seems fear
tactics are a pretty good place to start.
Voldemort murdered
hundreds of thousands of people needlessly; he enslaved others to do his
bidding for him; he held others hostage and tortured them for information. He
was a pretty bad guy, in general. But how did he get to such a position of
power? Fear.
He spouted rhetoric to the Pureblood witches and
wizards of the world that they were superior creatures. He provided this
fictional Aryan Race with a scapegoat of their own – the Muggles, and well,
anyone with a blood status less than Pureblood. He focused on how people were
different, strategically ignoring (and actually not even knowing) the humanity common to all. Voldemort told the masses that
these people were “others,” they were inferior, and they were most certainly worthy
of hatred. Sound familiar? He also had his very own legion of loyal, militant
puppets with weapons (okay, wands) ready to enforce his hatred.
Voldemort showed the Pureblood witches and wizards of
the world how Half-Bloods, Muggleborns, Muggles, house elves, centaurs, and pretty
much every other living creature on the planet contributed to the bane of their
existence. He promised the Purebloods their lives would be better if only they
could wipe out these inferior creatures – do his bidding for him – and those
most loyal to him (who committed the most war crimes) felt the safest from his
own dangerous power. In hurting others, they felt they were protecting
themselves from becoming targets. In fact, he invoked so much fear, that people were actually afraid of even saying Voldemort's name. However, as our beloved Hermione Granger points out, "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."
Voldemort reduced the wizarding world to fighting
against itself. He distracted great, intelligent witches and wizards from
fighting the true evil – hatred, fear, and bigotry – by emphasizing differences
among themselves and telling one group they were better than the rest. He
robbed his scapegoats of their humanity, just as Hitler did with the Jews, and
he taught the aggressors that they would finally have the power and respect
they deserved, if only they could eradicate the world of its scourge of
Muggles.
He did all of this by preying on the fear of
Purebloods. He was able to convince one half of the population to murder the
other by simply playing into the things that scared them most – losing their lives,
their loved ones, their power, their reputation. Whatever the individual
feared, Voldemort worked on a personal level to threaten, in order to rise to
power. He did so by strategically disintegrating any remaining sense of
community among witches and wizards. He made sure everyone felt alone and
vulnerable, untrusting of those around them, and concerned only with protecting
their own self interests. By fostering a toxic environment rife with
uncertainty, fear, and hatred, Voldemort was able to manipulate full-grown
adults into waging a war against themselves, against humanity.
Why is any of this relevant? Why am I sitting at my
keyboard, passionately typing away in a blaze of fury about Hitler and
Voldemort, drawing comparisons between the two and their fear tactics? I’ll
tell you: Hitler and Voldemort were dictators, yes. They were also terrorists. They struck fear and hatred into the hearts
and minds of millions. They both began wars with their respective worlds, born
out of their own prejudices and bigotry. They manufactured fear in large groups
of people, fear that did not exist before, and then they conveniently provided
a solution to the problem they just created.
They told their audiences: “Look
at how miserable you are! Aren’t you miserable? I know why. You are miserable
because of this other group of people. They are different from you, and you are
better than them. Your life is worth more than theirs. In fact, your life would
be better if theirs ceased to exist. They are the cause of all of your
problems. Hate them. Kill them. Follow me. I will help you in this cause, and
together we will be happier without them.” They preyed on the fear of their
audiences and brainwashed them into fighting an imaginary war which had real
consequences.
This is what terrorists do. They terrorize. They create fear in others that never would have
grown organically. They plant the seed of doubt in the minds of so many; and
they water it occasionally, fertilizing it with hatred, bigotry, xenophobia,
and transferring blame and responsibility to someone else. They tend to this
garden regularly, and eventually, fear has grown to its full size. Then they
harvest this fear they’ve created and nurtured from conception, and just like a
vegetable, they use it to nourish themselves, to further their cause. Fear
provides nutrients to terrorists. It is what they depend on to survive.
If you fear another group of people, who don’t look
like you, speak like you, dress like you, or come from the same place as you,
then you will likely turn to what is more familiar and comfortable to you. And
what is easier and more comfortable for us than blaming someone else, who we
already fear, for the problems we think
we have?
Don’t let the terrorists win. They’ve already won too
many battles before. Don’t let them create a feeling of fear inside of you that
doesn’t need to exist. The best way to do this is by reaching out, facing that supposed
fear. If you would only take a moment to recognize the humanity which resides
in all of us, you would realize that people who are different from us are
nothing to be feared. If you do not allow the terrorists to cultivate a shadow
of doubt within you, then you will understand that we are all one common, human
race; and that in hating our sisters and brothers, we are, in fact, hating
ourselves.
The terrorists have planted the seed. They are
encouraging it to grow. They’re counting on it for their harvest in order to
survive. We can choose to believe their fear tactics and water the seed, or we
can remain resilient in our faith in humanity, and resolve to be as hard to
crack as the Kansas earth in the planting season.
There’s another scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which comes to mind. Upon
realizing the seriousness of the impending war, Harry remarks, “Even though
we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have…
Something worth fighting for.” Harry knows that unity among all is the answer, and he knows that Voldemort literally
cannot feel love. That is why he strives so hard to achieve power through
hatred and evil. But Harry understands that the solution for winning a war
against terrorists like Voldemort is not fighting against a cause or a group of people. It's not fighting among ourselves which will win. The answer is fighting for all the things and people you love,
with all of the differences between you which make up a united, differentiated
front. Fear of others never had a chance to blossom inside of Harry, because he
was too busy nurturing love for all.
Turning our backs on those who need help and lumping entire groups of people together as scapegoats is not only morally irresponsible, but it is playing directly into the hands of the terrorists. Fear in the hearts of the masses is the best tool they have for succeeding, and they know it. They're bloodthirsty for it. Holding love in our hearts, in place of fear, is our best weapon against them.
