No one lives in isolation, for every terrorist, or mass murderer there are a whole host of way society as whole has failed them. I do agree that the society in which Voldemort grew up in is also accountable.
However we now come to the very tricky question of just how much individual freedom do we actually have to make our own choices. Its the age old dilemma, if you have a gun pointed at your head, do you really have a choice? In the same way, are Voldemort's choices actually meaningful or just a inevitable product of his social conditioning?
Whilst we always have high praise for people who have overcome negative life experiences, should we really condemn people who couldn't?
I personally feel that though Voldemort had many negative life experiences, and was socially conditioned to hate muggles, this does not equate automatically to him instigating genocide. After all his peers and fellow slytherins might hate muggles but they still stay well within the bounds of the law.
Like you said, Voldemort had no incentive to behave as a good person, but he must have intellectually understood the consequences of his actions. He certainly did not seem to care that he was destroying very fabric the society that he lived in. He has definite self-destructive side, not caring what was happening to his body but only interested in immortality, even though logically he could have used his intellect to find less destructive ways to his end goal.
I don't see Voldemort has a very logical person at all. He seems ruled by impulses (if very long lasting impulses). Although he pretends to be in control, he has really never learnt to control his wants and desires. Instead he spends all his life chasing after things he can't have. This suggests to me more willful immaturity than true evil but certainly not something that he could not a correct himself if he wanted to.
But our main concern is that Voldemort didn't want to reign in his impulses and that is a choice he made, rather than a choice may for him by society.
No one lives in isolation, for every terrorist, or mass murderer there are a whole host of way society as whole has failed them. I do agree that the society in which Voldemort grew up in is also accountable.
However we now come to the very tricky question of just how much individual freedom do we actually have to make our own choices. Its the age old dilemma, if you have a gun pointed at your head, do you really have a choice? In the same way, are Voldemort's choices actually meaningful or just a inevitable product of his social conditioning?
Whilst we always have high praise for people who have overcome negative life experiences, should we really condemn people who couldn't?
I personally feel that though Voldemort had many negative life experiences, and was socially conditioned to hate muggles, this does not equate automatically to him instigating genocide. After all his peers and fellow slytherins might hate muggles but they still stay well within the bounds of the law.
Like you said, Voldemort had no incentive to behave as a good person, but he must have intellectually understood the consequences of his actions. He certainly did not seem to care that he was destroying very fabric the society that he lived in. He has definite self-destructive side, not caring what was happening to his body but only interested in immortality, even though logically he could have used his intellect to find less destructive ways to his end goal.
I don't see Voldemort has a very logical person at all. He seems ruled by impulses (if very long lasting impulses). Although he pretends to be in control, he has really never learnt to control his wants and desires. Instead he spends all his life chasing after things he can't have. This suggests to me more willful immaturity than true evil but certainly not something that he could not a correct himself if he wanted to.
But our main concern is that Voldemort didn't want to reign in his impulses and that is a choice he made, rather than a choice may for him by society.
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