The Motivations of Fudge and Dumbledore (WAS:Fudge: DE or not?)

[Tom Wall]

No: HPFGUIDX 55240


Phyllis wrote:
I think Dumbledore is keeping secrets from Fudge because he knows 
what the implications would be if certain information is revealed – 
what if Fudge did know about Harry being a parselmouth, and did know 
about the pains in Harry's scar? He would think Harry isn't to be 
trusted, just as he states at the end of GoF.

I reply:
I think I see where you're going with it, but I'm not so sure about 
this: after all, at the end of PoA, we hear Fudge say that "Ah, well, 
Snape... Harry Potter, you know... we've all got a bit of a blind 
spot where he's concerned." (PoA, US paperback, Ch.21, 387) So, at 
least we know that previously, Fudge was willing to give Harry the 
benefit of the doubt, and that means that both Dumbledore and Harry 
had some measure of good-will with Fudge that post-GoF they do not 
seem to have any longer. I guess I'm wondering how that erosion of 
trust came to be.

My point with this post was to indicate that Dumbledore, by keeping 
Harry's fits, scar pains and visions, along with the Parselmouth-bit 
a secret, not from the WW, but from Fudge, might have squandered some 
of this good-will. (I leave out the interview with Crouch Jr. on 
Veritaserum, which I believe was only a tactical error on Albus' 
part, not all-out secrecy.) 

And working from my personal perspective here, what's better: to hear 
that you've been deceived by your colleague/friend from that person 
directly, or to read about it in the media? Surely, feelings of 
betrayal and mistrust will be enhanced by revelations and 
affirmations courtesy of an obnoxious third party.

I mean, I agree with most of what you wrote, because from the 
Harry/Dumbledore/readership axis-of-thought you are entirely in the 
majority here, and devil's advocacy aside, I concur. ;-) I think that 
most of us look at the situation this way. 

But, trying to perhaps see things from Fudge's perspective is 
something that I'm sure JKR is doing, so that the story makes that 
much more sense, right? I mean, the author wouldn't be writing a 
story where only the main characters' percpective is valid – 
otherwise the story would be a sham. That JKR writes so realistically 
is what I find so intriguing about discussions like this – because 
rather than suggest that Fudge is just wrong, I believe she suggests 
that he actually does have a perspective, and perhaps a mildly 
selfish but also a valid viewpoint on this, and when we look at 
events as they've unfolded, Dumbledore is partially responsible for 
shaping Fudge's present perspective, IMO. And Fudge's present 
perspective is going to make things easier for Voldemort and harder 
for our heroes.

I agree with you one-hundred percent on the CoS debacle though – why 
doesn't Fudge know earlier? I guess that this is one of those 
suspension of disbelief points in the plotline. ;-)


Phyllis wrote:
I agree that Fudge believes he has to act according to public opinion 
(which, I note, is the reason why the public elects high-level 
government officials in the first place ;), but I think it's 
important to assess the motivation behind his actions. What 
motivates him, IMO, is power, which is what I think Dumbledore is 
referencing when he states that Fudge is blinded by the love of the 
office he holds. So in order to stay in power, he has to please the 
public, and he believes it will displease the public to send envoys 
to the giants and to take Azkaban out of the control of the 
dementors. I don't see Fudge as acting according to public opinion 
in order to please the public; I see him pleasing the public in order 
to stay in office.

I reply:
I acknowledge your distinction, and agree, but partially... because 
(I know that this might be going out on a spinning limb here) what if 
Fudge feels like he's the one best suited to serve the public? 
Indeed, taking Dumbledore out of the equation, most of the people on 
our list seem to want Arthur to assume the Minister's office, and I 
see that as most unlikely for now. So, are there more qualified 
people out there? Probably, but we don't know about them. At any 
rate, if Fudge believes that he's the best man for the job, then he'd 
also believe that it was best for him to stay in power. 

And in addition to this situation, we've seen several others with 
Fudge believing that he must act for the public – Hagrid's jailing in 
CoS and Sirius's capture in PoA. But, examples aside, I think that 
this is a common criticism of almost every public official known to 
man: most will see both their own standing with the public, as well 
as the public's desires, as important and critical issues, so I think 
it's unfair to judge Cornelius totally on that. Partially, yes, this 
is a valid criticism, but I think that JKR's doing more than create 
another stereotypical politician in Fudge - I think she's showing us 
that even the good guys make mistakes that have consequences. 

For instance, when we take Dumbledore's speech to the students at the 
end of GoF into account ("Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord 
and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally 
strong bond of friendship and trust." (GoF, US paperback, Ch.37, 
723)) we see that Dumbledore, at least as far as Fudge is concerned, 
doesn't seem to be practicing what he preaches... of course, since 
this comes after the Parting of the Ways, this speech could, in part, 
be read as a partial admission on Dumbledore's behalf that he made a 
mistake. Well, it *could* be. ;-)

At any rate, Fudge should have known these bits about Harry's ability 
to speak Parseltongue, and about the fits and visions. As the 
Minister of Magic, almost no one (save perhaps Dumbledore himself) 
would be in a better position to divert resources into the situation, 
not to mention that honesty would have preserved the bond of trust. 
For instance, so what: Harry's a Parselmouth. Get a few Aurors in an 
have a look, have an interview. Harry's innocent, right, so what harm 
would that have brought? My point is that if they had been working 
together all along, instead of Albus hiding certain things from Fudge 
(with good reasons or not,) then things would be better now for the 
good-guys, and worse-off for Voldemort.

-Tom