Self Deception: The Politics of Harry Potter
"What would you think of a government that engaged in this list of tyrannical activities: tortured children for lying; designed its prison specifically to suck all life and hope out of the inmates; placed citizens in that prison without a hearing; ordered the death penalty without a trial; allowed the powerful, rich, or famous to control policy; selectively prosecuted crimes (the powerful go unpunished and the unpopular face trumped-up charges); conducted criminal trials without defense counsel; used truth serum to force confessions; maintained constant surveillance over all citizens; offered no elections and no democratic lawmaking process; and controlled the press?" - Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy, p.1523-1524
Self-deception has played an enormous role throughout the Harry Potter series. We see this act of self-deception with the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Magic. It is this bureaucracy that is consistently deceiving themselves into thinking they are making progress and that is what hinders any improvements for the state of the Wizarding community. We see this when Cornelius Fudge lies to himself about Voldemort rising again, thus allowing him to build his army with no one to stop him. Again with Rufus Scrimgeour, who insists on arresting people to make it seem as if he is winning the war. Finally with Pius Thicknesse, who under the Imperius, allows himself to serve as Voldemort's puppet and pass obscene and prejudice laws. We also see how the bureaucrats use self-deception and their position in power to justify their actions and beliefs. For example, how Dolores Umbridge passes all her legislation against half-breeds and Muggle-borns. It is due to holding these positions of power that the bureaucrats will do anything to retain it, even if it is convincing the Wizarding World and themselves that what they are doing is right. "They overlook fundamental harms of self-deception, such as painful reminders of the truth, pressures to protect the core deceit with layers of further lies, and habits of denial and rationalization nurtured by even small deceptions." [Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, p.36]
"'I see no evidence to the contrary!' shouted Fudge, now matching her anger, his face purpling. 'It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!'
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had always thought of Fudge as a kindly figure, a little blustering, a little pompous, but essentially good-natured. But now a short, angry wizard stood before him refusing, point-blank, to accept the prospect of disruption in his comfortable and ordered world - to believe that Voldemort could have risen." - Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire, p.707
Cornelius Oswald Fudge is the epitome of the negative consequences of self-deception. He goes so far as to sentence a man to a Dementor's kiss [the Wizarding equivalent of the death penalty] just to keep the truth of Voldemort's resurrection a secret. He is so frightened of plunging into another war that he would rather deny the existence of any threat. This is a prime example of self-deception amongst people with power, because Fudge will go to any lengths to keep his seat as the Minister of Magic. "Like many real-life self-deceivers, Cornelius Fudge must tell both himself and others a multitude of absurd rationalizations in order to maintain his core pretense. " [Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, p.26] Thus his deceptions and rationalizations do get more absurd throughout the year until it has stopped becoming about denying Voldemort's rise to power to preventing Dumbledore's rise to power. He lets himself believe that Dumbledore is raising an army at Hogwarts in order to "destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!" Fudge allows himself to believe that Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix are working against him instead of Voldemort. This is all do to the fact that he won't allow himself to accept the inevitable truth, that Voldemort has returned. Cornelius Fudge delves so far into his denial of the truth, that he allows Voldemort to freely gain supporters while Fudge wages a war against Dumbledore and Harry. It only ends when he realizes the truth by seeing Voldemort at the Ministry, which results in his removal of office and the realization that a year has been wasted waging a war against the wrong people. "My dear Prime Minister, you can't honestly think I'm still Minister of Magic after all this? I was sacked three days ago!" [Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince, p.15]
"Yeah, and others might say it's your duty to check people actually are Death Eaters before you chuck them in prison! You're doing what Barty Crouch did. You never get it right, you people, do you?! Either we've got Fudge, pretending everything's lovely while people get murdered under their noses, or we've got you, putting the wrong people in prison and pretending you've got the Chosen One working for you!" - Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince p.346-347
Rufus Scrimgeour's rise to power seems a refreshing change at first. With him as Minister, there is an impression that he would stop at nothing to defeat Voldemort; as he is a former veteran, former Head Auror, and described as "rather like an old lion… There was an immediate impression of shrewdness and toughness;" [Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince, p.16]. However, the hope is struck when we realize that he is continuing to follow Fudge's plans. "'I wish him luck,' said Fudge, sounding bitter for the first time. 'I've been writing to Dumbledore twice a day for the past fortnight, but he won't budge. If he'd just been prepared to persuade the boy, I might still be … Well, maybe Scrimgeour will have more success.'" [Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince, p.15] Scrimgeour seems to follow in Fudge's footsteps, however he is deceiving himself in an entirely different manner. While Fudge was bent on denying Voldemort's return, Scrimgeour is pretending that the Ministry is fighting him. He is locking up innocent people without a trial in order to preserve his position of power. Even more so, he continues to employ Dolores Umbridge as his Senior Undersecretary and denies his wrongdoing. In addition, he is attempting to make Harry into a mascot in order to raise the community's morale. "…You don't care whether I live or die, but you do care that I help you convince everyone you're winning the war against Voldemort. I haven't forgotten, Minister … ' He raised his right fist. There … were the scars which Dolores Umbridge had forced him to carve into his own flesh: I must not tell lies." [Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince, p.347]
As Scrimgeour continued this facade of fighting and winning the war, the state of the Wizarding community continued to deteriorate. "So is this what you've been doing, Minister, shut up in your office, trying to break open a Snitch? People are dying … but there's been no word about any of that from the Ministry, has there? And you still expect us to cooperate with you!" [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.130] Scrimgeour's self deception only helped Voldemort's rise to power, just as Fudge's denial did. Even though he accepted the truth of Voldemort's return, he did nothing substantial for the objective of defeating Voldemort. While Scrimgeour continued to waste time on the trivial matters of discovering Dumbledore's motives and using Harry, the Death Eaters finally overtook the Ministry and murdered Scrimgeour; only for him to be replaced by Pius Thicknesse, a puppet under the Imperius.
"'He doesn't need to, Ron. Effectively he is the Minister, but why should he sit behind a desk at the Ministry? His puppet, Thicknesse, is taking care of everyday business, leaving Voldemort free to extend his power beyond the Ministry … Yes, Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion: Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear." - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.208
Thus, Pius Thicknesse comes into power — or really Voldemort. With Thicknesse as Minister, Voldemort sows fear and doubt amongst the Wizarding community and allows the freedom to instill wicked legislation and ruling. Umbridge creates the Muggle-born Registration Commission, whose sole purpose is to round up Muggle-borns and lock them up for "stealing" magic. In addition, Harry was declared as Undesirable Number One and requested for questioning about Dumbledore's murder in order to implant more doubt about the supposed "Chosen One". This self-deception was more about the Wizarding community deceiving itself, rather than just one person doing so. It took time for people to finally realize the coup had happened and to do something about it. People were too afraid to confide in anyone and allowed their world to be overrun with injustice. "…many are whispering that Voldemort must be behind it. However, that is the point: They whisper. They daren't confide in each other, not knowing whom to trust;" [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.208]
"She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily. Harry felt horribly powerless without his own wand as he watched her.
'You are forcing me, Potter … I do not want to,' said Umbridge, still moving restlessly on the spot, 'but sometimes circumstances justify the use … I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice … " Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix, p.746
Finally, self-deception at its worst. The self-deception Dolores Jane Umbridge exercises isn't one to protect her position of power, but rather to exploit it. She uses her power to justify her warped beliefs and actions. She truly believes that what she is doing is right and will better the community. This is Death Eater mentality. She didn't need to be put under an Imperius to employ her anti half-breeds and Muggle-born legislation. She did it all of her own volition because she truly believed in what she was doing. "MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society … There was no author's name upon the pamphlet, but again, the scars on the back of his right hand seemed to tingle as he examined it." [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.249] Umbridge strives to follow the rules and enforce them; however when the rules don't suit her, she creates new ones using her position in power. "It is clear that the Ministry enforces the laws, and there are discussions in the books about adopting new laws, but there is never any mention of a legislature or legislative process … These omissions are purposeful, authorial decisions by Rowling. A government that has no elections and no democratic process for lawmaking obviously lacks the legitimacy of a democratic regime." [Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy, p.1532-1533] Since there is no legislative process, or process of voting on which laws to pass; once in a position of power, Umbridge has free reign to pass and enforce any law that suits her fancy. This power, combined with her belief system and need to justify it, ultimately leads to disastrous consequences for the Wizarding community. Willfully allowing someone like Umbridge into office can only be succeeded with Voldemort's inevitable usurping of the Ministry.
"However, unlike the mere deceiver of others, the self-deceiver cannot consciously and meticulously craft his additional self-deceptions—at least not while remaining blind to the truth. Consequently, the self-deceiver is largely powerless to prevent the destructive expansion of his original deception into new and ever more dangerous territory." - Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, p.26
Ultimately, the Ministry of Magic is constantly deceiving itself for the sake of retaining order and power. Whether it is telling the public that Voldemort hasn't risen, pretending that it is winning the war against Voldemort, or feigning that everything is in order and that Voldemort has no control over the Ministry. Due to the fact that the Ministry doesn't have to report to anyone, they have the power to manipulate anything to their benefit. "… the functions of government, the structure of government, and the bureaucrats who run the show. All three elements work together to depict a Ministry of Magic run by self-interested bureaucrats bent on increasing and protecting their power, often to the detriment of the public at large" [Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy, p.1525] It is people's inclination to deceive themselves in order to retain power, that eventually leads to the dissolution of everything they have allowed themselves to believe and the destabilization of all they have constructed around those beliefs.
Works Cited
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Bassham, Gregory. The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Print.
Hsieh, Diana M. "Dursley Duplicity." Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts. By David Baggett and Shawn Klein. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2004. Print.
Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine, 2007. Print.
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Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine, 2005. Print.
Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine, 2003. Print.
Whited, Lana A. The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon. Columbia: University of Missouri, 2002. Print.