To whom it may concern
I know this ‘guest’ may not read this reply but I felt the need to reply just in case this concerns any of my other readers.
“You sure are a dumbkedore basher. I guess that's where we disagree. Its easier to see him as evil when you haven't adulted much and don't understand he made the choices he could with what he was given in life. Sometimes you aren't given any good chouces and have to make the best of it. Had harry had a life that was much better growing up, he likely wouldn't have had what it taken to sacrifice himself. I'm not trying to be rude, just hate these immature bashing stories.“ - guest
I suppose you could call me a ‘basher’ but I in all honestly my dislike for the man comes from a phycological standpoint. In ‘Defy and Define’ I did point out Dumbledore’s flaws, and I am sorry you dislike that, but I did not strayed from his character.
While Dumbledore was a man who did his best for the ‘greater good’ -in the end- he came about it in all the wrong ways. He decided his way was the only options when that was the furthest things from the truth. All in all, Dumbledore was human. He made mistakes but I also feel people ‘hero-worship’ him much like they do Snape.
Let me begin here, because I believe this was his greatest mistake and the one thing I find hard to look past: Dumbledore helped create Voldemort.
(once again I have to point out that I am looking at this from a phycological standpoint and that I am not trying to change your opinion, simply just explaining mine.)
Let me begin with statistics. Psychopaths aren't actually all killers, this is huge misconception created by media. While, yes the majority of people who become brutal serial killers are psychopaths, the percentage of Psychopaths becoming killers is around 20%. When the said person is an intelligent or highfuctioning psychopath (which is the class Tom Riddle falls into) they, usually, differ from those you find of lower IQ’s. These people still lack remorse/guilt, but they can empathize. I know that sounds strange but the easiest way to explain it is that they can see something terrible and if they imagine themselves in that situation they realize that it is unpleasant and they wouldn’t like it if it was done to themselves- though that empathy is easy to override and ignore.
Tom Riddle is born into a world that doesn't want him, which is hard enough on the regular joe, let alone on someone with an anti-social personality disorder who has to the fill in the gap of guilt with reason. Living conditions for children in orphanages were terrible and they were often exposed to abuse, both sexual and physical. Children who were ‘different’ or ‘disturbed’ were often singled out and treated the worst.
When Tom Riddle first meets Dumbledore, his first assumption is that they are trying to ship him off to an asylum. He believes they were lying to him and he acts out with anger due to people considering him mad, and probably out of the fear that they might be right. When he realises that it is magic is what makes him ‘different’ he is excited.
During this time Tom makes it clear that he doesn't need help, that he is used to being alone and Dumbledore does not interfere with this. Even Harry believed that Dumbledore would, but instead the boy was left to his own devises without a mentor. There was no one to explain the ‘logic’ most people with anti-social personality disorder need to relate to the everyday world. Secondly Dumbledore explains that he wanted to keep an eye on Tom not just for the sake of himself but mostly for others, yet once again Dumbledore only did this only from afar. Tom was, instead, left in the hands of Slughorn, whom was ignorant of Tom’s darker side and often encouraged him without knowing it. Tom would have needed someone who truly knew him, like Dumbledore, in order to process what he was doing wrong. He needed someone who could explain the logic of his choices. Dumbledore, in the least, should have explained to Slughorn what he had witness with Tom and encouraged Slughorn to keep the boy in the right path.
In my opinion, when Dumbledore did not step in to help (which he had every ability to do as headmaster ’in training’) he created a situation were Tom Riddle had to ignore his empathy. When people with anti-social personality disorders lose that aspect, they would utilise every possible tool to play their own, personal, ‘game of chess’. Since pain and fear are much strongest motivators he would have made abundant use of them to accomplish whatever objective they he was after. Losing would never be an option.
Tom Riddle finally felt like he belonged. He was magic, he was special. Even Dumbledore says that the magical world and Hogwarts was the only ‘home’ Tom Riddle knew. Sadly the reality of his social standing hit him the second the sorting hat was placed on his head. To everyone in Slytherin, Tom Riddle was a ‘mudblood’ and this ‘mudblood’ was in their own house. Riddle, in their eyes, sullied the name of Slytherin. Riddle would have become desperate to prove his worth, that he wasn’t a nobody and he was special.
Tom Riddle’s sense of logic would have adapted to how he was treated in the world. He was alone, abused and unwanted. He would have learned that the ‘social standing’ is all that mattered and respect was earned through power. If people feared him, they would respect him and they would leave him alone. Remember as a person with anti-social personality disorder he could apply empathy to his situation, he knew if it was something he found unpleasant then he also could apply this logic to the children who bullied him. The difference between Tom and them, is that Tom could override this empathy and attack back without any sympathy towards them. He could be crueler then them if he had to.
This became logical to him.
Tom believed it was his father who was the wizard, simply because his Mother died and that made her weak in his eyes. At this point he would have gone looking for the proof. (this is an moment where his ‘empathy’ applies the most, he knew his mother died - which he believed only happened because she was weak - and put himself in that situation. He didn’t like it.) He hinted to Dumbledore that he intended to find his father once he got to school. He would discover his father was actually muggle and his mother was the witch. His empathy would work against him at this point. He would realize that the ‘weaknesses’ he associated with his mother could apply to him. This is where his fear of death became came from.
My theory on this matter comes down to the fact that if Dumbledore gave Riddle the guidance he needed, if he would have mentored Riddle and helped a boy he knew was troubled, then the outcome probably would have been very different. Psychopaths can live normal lives if they are shown compassion and given the help they need to understand the world around them. This was something never given to Tom.
Dumbledore created a situation were he believed Tom was going to be a safety concern, so he watched and expected Tom to be so. By expecting a specific outcome, especially negative, of a single person you often mould that person to become that way. Yes Dumbledore is just a man, but he is a man who made a situation worse by ignoring it.
Don’t get me wrong, this doesn't make Tom a good person and I am, in no way, justifying what he did. In the end, even if it turned out differently, He would still have been more cold-hearted and manipulative then most but he would have be able to live in regular society.
Anyway, This is simply just one reason. The rest applies to his treatment of Harry and then all of the decisions he made after his parent’s death. I wont get into that as it will make this post much longer then it already is. lol. nobody needs that.
As much as you do not like it, dear reader, Dumbledore was extremely manipulative during the book and that was one of his biggest character flaws. I’m sorry you think you associate my dislike for him as a ‘lack of adulting’, I assure you this is not the case. There was choices, Dumbledore just made a lot of wrong ones and yes, once again he was Human... but in my opinion this was a situation he helped create himself and in the end it he was only trying to right his own wrongs.
Hopefully I haven't pissed anyone off. I am not a professional in this field, I research these subjects for my own fascination of personality disorders alone. But most importantly these are simply my own opinions. :)
Thank you for reading!
