MAGIC DISHWASHER explanation (was: Re: Assassin!Snape's Next Victim)

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 46861

Wendy wrote:
> Hmnh. Is it out of character for Snape? More on that later. My real 
> problem here is that I find it out of character for Dumbledore. That 
> assumes, of course, that Dumbledore knows what Snape is being asked 
> to do. And I just don't see Dumbledore sending Snape off to murder 
> someone, even someone like Karkaroff. And even if he didn't know 
> about it beforehand, the truth would surely out once Karkaroff turned 
> up dead. So, Snape would not only have to conceal his actions from 
> Dumbledore beforehand, but would have to do some very smooth talking 
> afterwards to explain it. If Snape were to kill someone in 
> self-defense, I'm sure Dumbledore would accept that, but not 
> pre-meditated murder, even for the "common good." And, since I 
> believe that Dumbledore's opinion is VERY VERY important to Snape, if 
> Dumbledore doesn't approve, then I'm not sure how Snape would be able 
> to justify it to himself, let alone to Dumbledore or anyone else. (I 
> suppose that MAGIC DISHWASHER Dumbledore might not have a problem 
> with this? But I don't subscribe to that theory in any case).
> 
> Wendy

It seems that the issue is still confused (that is one of the reasons I 
decided to do a poll on MAGIC DISHWASHER in the first place). No matter 
how many times we try and explain it, MD is still pretty obscure. Of 
course, I'm not going to remember to answer this question in a month 
(although hopefully if I finally do the unifying post it will be 
answered), and besides, waiting a month for an answer is no fun, so I'm 
going to tackle this one right away.

No, MAGIC DISHWASHER does *NOT* have an Evil!Dumbledore. It has a 
spymaster!Dumbledore, which is very different. So far, the books have 
shown Dumbledore to be a person very free at giving second chances and 
in general someone who would never deliberately kill another being. His 
self-given task is to protect wizards and muggles from Voldemort, not 
to do his dirty work. So far, none of the possible master plans 
proposed by MAGIC DISHWASHER includes murder of any kind (with the 
exception of what they're planning to do with Voldemort himself, 
although he could, in principle, be redeemed).

Why does MAGIC DISHWASHER has such a bad image, then, to the point of 
having Wendy say that she doesn't subscribe to the theory *in any 
case,* even though she doesn't understand it? It's as if it was *wrong* 
to believe in MAGIC DISHWASHER, and Wendy makes it look it so: no 
matter what MAGIC DISHWASHER defends, she will not be part of it. (Yes, 
I'm hurt by that comment. I hope it shows).

I suspect that the problem probably comes from one of the last attacks 
on the theory: that Dumbledore was evil because he had helped to 
resurrect Voldemort. This is partialy true: Dumbledore needs Voldemort 
to be mortal so it can be destroyed (or redeemed, or whatever), and has 
guided Voldemort into using a potion that is flawed. This method has 
caused accidental deaths, and this is what the attack used to say that 
Dumbledore is respoinsible for Voldemort's actions. The fact that, left 
to his own devices, Voldemort would've killed many more people has been 
ignored by the oposition (IIRC, the last time that point was debated, I 
proposed a simple moral problem: if you are faced with a building in 
flames, and you can only save a room with eight people, or one with 
two, what would you do? I was told that, no matter what you chose, 
you'd be evil. I certainly don't agree with that reasoning).

After all, the other option (i.e, if they hadn't helped Voldemort to 
use the potion) was that Dumbledore et co. should sit on their 
backsides and grow cobwebs while Voldemort used his very own method to 
come back, maybe even managing to become inmortal and have a body at 
the same time. Maybe it wouldn't have happened in Dumbledore's or even 
Harry's lifetime, but Vapour!Voldemort is immortal (a vapour cannot 
grow old, so he could go on possesing animals for centuries), and if 
Dumbledore hadn't done anything, Voldemort could've waited until he had 
been all but forgotten, possesed some wizard that passed though his 
forest a couple of centuries later and come back. At that point, many 
people would die (and certainly many more than in the books so far, or 
even in total).

It comes down to: what is the most sensible tactical decision: to have 
an enemy that is going to attack come to you in your own terms, or in 
his terms? I certainly believe that it is best to have him come in your 
own terms.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf, who wishes to remind everyone that this is, at best, a minor 
consideration within the MAGIC DISHWASHER theory, which is, after all, 
based around Dumbledore's and Voldemort's actions in the spy war they 
are waging.