Good People and Death Eaters

For those of us in different fandoms across the fictional realm, we think “What could go wrong?” Nothing, right? Fandoms are supposed to be happy places right? No evil?

Libby Ennenga, fellow Potter Geek and author of Muggle’s Marauders Map to Harry Potter, has brought up a sad point. There are people out there called the Harry Potter Association, or the HPA, which is an advocacy group that butts their head in political disputes, social issues, and humanitarian activism. On the surface the HPA doesn’t seem so bad, right? I mean they are just getting involved and taking advantage of their First Amendment Right. 

But the HPA definitely has their Death Eater moments. The HPA doesn’t specify their real motives. They target the Potter Geeks to try and support their movement without really telling them what’s really going one. These Potter Geeks have, what Libby calls, an “itch” to get involved in every Harry Potter related activity possible. So, some of these fans will support the HPA because they are looking for another group that shares the same motives to belong to. 

Don’t at all think that I am blaming the Potter Geeks. I’m not. It’s not their fault for becoming a part of a group without knowing everything because the HPA chooses not to disclose all of their information. Libby even puts pictures from the HPA “movement.” The HPA uses quotes like “What would Dumbledore do?” Well, coming from a Potter Geek, I feel like I have to look into this organization if they’re talking about Dumbledore. I owe it to the fictional Dumbledore. See, how they are manipulating the fans?

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (can you tell it’s my personal favorite?), Sirius Black is talking to Harry at the Order Headquarters and he says, “The world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters. 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.” (Rowling Chapter 14) 

That in itself should say that there is evil in the world, but that doesn’t mean it’s all evil. There are both light and dark in the real world and the fandom world.