Can the MoM's self-defense booklet backfire?

[Miikka R.]

No: HPFGUIDX 124946


Yet another idea that I had in chat. It's stated at the end of book
five that the Ministry will be distributing basic DADA instructions
during the summer to every wizarding home.

All's well and good, until you realize that the Death Eaters will be
getting them too. There's really no feasible way of preventing them
from laying hand on any copies. This means that Voldy will be getting
a chance to read exactly what the Ministry is suggesting to its
subjects, analyze it for weaknesses and formulate counter-plans. To
paraphrase Sun Tzu, the best way to wage war is to attack the enemy's
strategy. Unless the authors and the readers figure out that the
opposing side is going to have access to exactly the same information,
there's going to be trouble.

Furthermore, how effective will the thing be? It's good to teach every
possible person to repel Dementors, yes, but this war isn't going to
be an open one. As we've seen, the second war consisted of guerrilla
activity and psychological warfare, not open conflict. Given this
model, attacks will be well-planned and researched, and with a good
force behind them. Your average witch or wizard will not stand much of
a chance when surprised (as is most likely to happen) by a DE death
squad. It might even be counterproductive - making some victims fight
when they would've been better off running, et cetera.

Or, to go all Quibbler for a moment, it might be meant to improve
morale more than chances of survival.

PS. Cmbrichards, I just realized that I should've called the results
of your proposition a witch-hunt. Why do I always think of these
things a day too late?

- Kizor