Dumbledore the General

[Debbie]

No: HPFGUIDX 124249


Just a quick response to a couple of points, as I have to leave for 
work --

phoenixgod2000 wrote:

> I admire DD, because for all his faults, he is a forward minded 
> person when it comes social justice. But the middle of war is not 
the 
> time to be engaging in it. He should wait till he's done and start 
> spending all that political capital and good will he will have 
> earned. The middle of a war is not the time or place for a social 
> revolution, IMO.

If you set aside your principles of justice for the purpose of 
conducting a war, then when the war is over, you won't have the 
moral capital to be pushing for social change.

> So you would argue that female spies who sometimes used their 
wiles 
> and bodies to gain valuable intelligence in WWII and many times 
> before and after, were engaging in morally wrong acts even if they 
> managed to save lives with the information gained? Am I reading 
you 
> right?

A good part of my objection had to do with the use of Fleur in 
particular, since she's not in the Order.

> With all due respect I think that is naive. Wars are won by many 
> means, but superionr morals are never one of them. DD should win 
> first and then engage in his social reforms.

I consider Dumbledore and the Order to be in a unique position.  The 
primary responsibility for conducting the war rests with the 
Ministry, not the Order.  Thus, at the end of GoF Dumbledore gave 
advice to Fudge as to what the Ministry should be doing.  By denying 
that Voldemort was back, the Ministry abdicated its responsibility.  
So, in a way, the action in OOP was damage control while the Order 
worked to get the Ministry to understand the threat and take proper 
action.

The Order's role should complement what the Ministry is doing.  The 
Aurors and the rest of the Ministry's forces should be the ones 
primarily responsible for the war against Voldemort.  (Moody, for 
example, fought the DEs in VWI in his capacity as an Auror, not as 
an Order member.)  I think Dumbledore and the Order, however, have a 
different role, which includes the quiet pursuit of social change.  
And to champion that goal, they have to be a moral force, not simply 
a military force. 

Debbie
aware that her views may be a bit radical