Can the MoM's self-defense booklet backfire?

[luna_loco]

No: HPFGUIDX 124999


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Miikka R." <ryokas at h...> wrote:
> 
> 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.

The guides will probably be similiar to the type of information many
muggle police departments provide to help reduce crime.  General
advice such as locking your home and broom, keeping your valuables out
of site, being aware of your surroundings, joining with other witches
and wizards to form community watch programs, and the best ways to
contact the Ministry if you notice something out of the ordinary.  On
top of this, the ministry can add a paragraph or two about how to deal
with dementors, methods to resist an Imperius curse, and other likely
threats.

The idea is not to change the Stan Shunpikes of the wizarding world
into trained hit wizards.  The Ministry does not need to advertise all
the details of it's anti-Voldemort plans either.  Just raising the
general awareness of the wizarding community as a whole, and thus
reducing the number of easy targets, can go a long way in reducing
Voldemort's influence.

Allen