Dumbledore (was: The Sorting Hat)

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 87408

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" <gbannister10 at a...> > 

> Trusting, innocent? Oho no, I'm not, I'm a bit more streetwise than 
> that. Remember I speak as an ex-teacher who had a fair amount of 
> administrative experience and clout. 
snip
> When I took early 
> retirement, four of my colleagues also did at the same time because 
> we were tired of climbing a paper mountain and getting diverted from 
> the task of teaching which is why we were in the profession.
>

Kneasy:
Not quite the point I was making; you were valiantly trying to cope with
a Ministry from the outsiders position. You weren't one of the bastards in 
there making all the rules that folk like you had to comply with.

Umbridge was an insider, Trelawney and McGonagall weren't. There's a big
difference. Bureaucrats like her see any resistance to  the accepted doctrine
as a threat  to the system and to them personally as an upholder of it.

Hence the anti-Harry stance. To admit that he is correct would be
professionally devastating. Now she may or may not be pro-Voldy, that
is largely irrelevant in the circumstances; the Ministry had made a policy
decision - it must be defended no matter what the cost.

This is the defining function of a bureacracy; to protect itself against
outsiders and to expand its power and influence if possible - this way
lies promotion and glory. Be associated with a failed policy and your
career is blighted - perhaps for ever. Hence the proliferation of factions
within these beasts; it's a war of manoeuvre where even the losers get to 
collect a pension.

Geoff:
> Pen-pushing or not, Fudge managed to keep the return of Voldemort 
> under wraps for a year by keeping Dumbledore sidelined and by trying 
> to boot Harry out of Hogwarts and started this by arranging the 
> destruction of Barty Crouch.

Kneasy:
Not quite. He managed to discredit Harry and DD but the word was still
spreading. When you say that someone is talking rubbish you have to
specify what they are totally wrong about. Sure, it raised doubts in the 
mind of the wizard-in-the-street when a united front would have been 
better, but mostly he was telling people what they wanted to  hear.
Note also that DD didn't seem particularly bothered by it once he knew
what stance Fudge was going to take. He had his own network of wizards
that he trusted and Fudge and the Ministry he treated as minor irritations.


Geoff: 
> Hypothetical question. What would Devious!Dumbledore as you term him 
> have done in a similar position?

Kneasy:
Good question. What could he have done?
Could he trust the people in the Ministry? No, IMO.
He'd probably tell the truth about Voldy returning and then waste enormous
amounts of time and effort calming the ensuing panic - if, that is, friends
of Voldy didn't discredit him anyway. They'd certainly try to and the public
wouldn't want to believe him - proof would be demanded and what proof
existed? None except for the story Harry brings back from the graveyard.

I don't see that he could do anything really useful as Minister except be
a figure-head. Much more effective if he beavers away at Hogwarts and
with the Order.

Kneasy