: Moody -- "Types"--Where Are the Bleeding Hearts? by Elkins'

[kempermentor]

No: HPFGUIDX 125396


Alla wrote:

<snip of bleeding heart liberals stuff>  I am more interested in your 
views on real Moody behaviour during the first war. From what I 
gather  Elkins is not very happy with his 
behaviour during that times and during Pensieve trials. Are you?
 
I don't know. I happen to think that the mentioning that Moody always 
tried to bring prisoners alive is a shorthand for the fact that Moody 
tried to behave more or less decently even during a war. 

Any thoughts?


Antosha responded to Alla:

It's hard to guess Moody's politics, since we see so little of the 
actual Moody. And what we see betrays more about his attitude than 
his political leanings.

BUT! We do in fact have one very clear example of a bleeding heart 
liberal (a label that I 
myself proudly bear): Hermione. If bleeding-heart liberalism is 
characterized by rooting 
for the underdog, support of rights, opposition of oppression that is 
based on mere 
tradition--the tradition that conservatives are trying to conserve--
then SPEW seems like a 
BHL movement to me!


Kemper now:

Moody
 my impression from GoF pensieve scenes is that he is a bit 
resentful of some, if not most, of the DE's and of Crouch letting 
people off that he knows without a doubt are guilty.  Moody is under 
the impression in the Pensieve that Crouch will let Karkaroff.  Why 
is Moody under that impression?  Probably because Crouch has done so 
in the past  Moody spent 6 months tracking Karkaroff.  He believes 
Karkaroff will be set free, so he's probably feeling a sense of 
futility with his work.

So what do most of us do when our job is pissing us off?  We vent, 
and we say things we don't necessarily believe.  Moody is venting a 
bit to DD.  

Bleeding Heart Liberals
 I don't see any in the books.  I see two, 
possibly three, Progressives:  Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley, 
possibly Lily.   Hermione is definitely Progressive leaning, but she 
needs a mentor.  

In GoF, SPEW has good intentions, but Hermione is placing her value 
system onto a different species and a different culture that is not 
ready to hear what an outsider has to say about their lifestyle.  In 
OoP, she attempts to trick the House Elves into freedom.  
This `trick' does not allow the House Elf to be in choice.  
The `trick' is unethical and therefore wrong.  Hermione Granger is no 
Harriet Tubman (for those having grown-up outside the US, I encourage 
you to Google her and learn her story).  Harriet did not free slaves 
who did not want to be freed.

-Kemper