"Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war ..."

[lenmachine]

No: HPFGUIDX 30905

I wrote:

<snip>
> > Before, the wizarding community was more or less unified 
> > against LV and his followers -- how will they cope now that there 
> is 
> > an apparent split in opinion as to whether he has truly returned ?
<snip>

Then Joshua Dyal wrote:

<snip>
> I don't believe this is the case.  Dumbledore mentioned at the end 
of 
> GF that Voldemort had an almost unparalleled ability to encourage 
> dissension and disunity.  On what are you basing the assumption 
that 
> the wizarding world was united unilaterally against him before?

On the fact that on the day Voldemort was defeated, nearly every 
witch and wizard in Britain celebrated -- they were ecstatic enough 
to let their guards slip, for just one moment. Why ? Because, despite 
any disagreements on policy or on strategy, most wizards wanted to 
see Voldemort defeated, even if they didn't know how it was ever 
going to happen. 

Whatever a wizard believed -- whether they preferred fair trials for 
all suspected DEs or just wanted to ship every single suspect up the 
river to Azkaban without a hearing -- they knew they could always be 
a likely target for Voldemort. There may have been internal strife 
when it came to deciding how to deal with things, but everyone could 
agree: Voldemort had to be vanquished. He existed. He was a real 
threat. We've heard of the many horrible things he did to both 
Muggles and wizards alike. Whether or not one wanted to face the fact 
that someone like Voldemort could exist, these events were indeed 
happening and the danger to the wizarding world was palpable.

(To give a real life example: This country is engaging in fierce 
debates about the war against terrorism. There are disagreements over 
the legitimacy of our being in Afghanistan, the new federal "anti-
terrorist" laws, over whether bin Laden and his associates should be 
brought back to the United States to stand trial, etc. But despite 
the many positions on how the U.S. should act, I think a majority of 
Americans would prefer the same result: to end the threat of 
terrorism in the world.)

As of the present time in the wizarding world (i.e. just after the 
events of GoF), many wizards will want to blind themselves to the 
fact that such a period of strife could ever repeat itself. Fudge 
(barring any theories that he may in fact be malevolent) seems to 
provide the perfect example of the Joe Q. Wizard who turns a blind 
eye to the evidence. He doesn't even say, "Well, it's a possibility; 
the evidence could go either way." He is vehement in his belief that 
he is right and Harry is wrong. (I'm sorry, I don't have my GoF on 
hand so I can't verify this particular passage.)

I think a number of wizards would have the same response. I wouldn't 
blame them; I think that's a perfectly reasonable response 
considering what many of these wizards have been through before. But 
most of them would not be convinced that Voldemort had truly returned 
until he launched his first attacks. Until then, can Dumbledore or 
Harry or anyone do anything to convince any doubting wizards to 
prepare for the upcoming onslaught ? That was the import of my 
question.


Sincerely,

Emily A. Chen