Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil (Nel Question - LONG)

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 38336

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "jferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:

> Marina:"Being good is complicated undertaking -- too complicated for
a 
> single person to personify it. Dumbledore probably comes closest,
but 
> he's made his share of mistakes.  (For example, I believe that his 
> handling of the Prank and its aftermath was a case of failing to 
> figure out the right course  of action.  And so was his public 
> humiliation of Slytherin House at the end of PS/SS)"
> 
> I can't agree that his "public humiliation" of Slytherin was a
mistake 
> or a moral failing at all. It was just, as the Trio had certainly
done 
> something extraordinary earing their House merit and glory.

Oh, I have no objection to Dumbledore giving the points to Neville and
the Trio, and giving the House Cup to Gryffindor.  They certainly
earned it.  But I maintain that he should've awarded the points and
notified the winners before the feast started.  Telling the Slytherins
that they won, decorating the Great Hall in their colors, allowing
them to start celebrating in front of the whole school, and then
standing up and going "Psych! You lose!" was, IMO, deeply wrong.  I'm
sure that Dumbledore didn't do it to be meanspirited, but that's how
it came across to me.  

I may also prove extremely counterproductive in the long run.  Here
are a bunch of children who are already predisposed to be ambitious
and ruthless, who are already alienated from the rest of the school,
and who in many cases are already being pushed toward the Dark Side by
their ex-DE families.  Now the Light Side's main representative pulls
this sort of mean trick on them (and we know the Slytherins would see
it as a mean trick even though it wasn't).  Not exactly the best way
to demonstrate to these kids that evil isn't where it's at.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com