Sirius's hypocrisy was Re: Dumbledore's Hypocrisy/Sirius and Kreacher

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 129266

 
> Alla:
> And as to Dumbledore passing judgment, well, isn't it exactly what 
> he did?
> 
> He passed judgment on  the dead man in front of his grieving
godson,  no less and yes, I do find it extremely insensitive in the
very  least.
> 
> Again, I do understand the plot based necessity to comment on 
Sirius' mistakes, but the simple RL analogy makes me cringe my
teeth  every time I read this scene. No matter what you think about 
somebody, who just passed away, I was taught not to say anything
bad  about this person AT LEAST to the friends and relatives of such 
person, to show respect for their grief, especially if those people 
are friends of mine, even if the person who passed away wasn't.

Pippin:

And  does that apply to Sirius's parents too? Kreacher loved them if 
nobody else did. How do you think Harry will feel if Sirius's legal
heir decides to junk all of Sirius's possessions, wouldn't let Harry
keep so much as a photograph or a pair of pants to remember him
by, and  jeered at him for even wanting them? That's what Sirius
did to Kreacher.

Viewed that way, it  was an act of breathtaking cruelty, and far more 
spiteful than Sirius ever intended, IMO.  But that's what happens if
you regard someone as a servant unworthy of much interest. 

I don't think Dumbledore was ignoring Harry's feelings, however.
I think he understood that Harry had found all this very 
painful to hear. Why do you think he wept?
.
Still, he's not as rough on Sirius as JKR is.

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq_view.cfm?id=61
Sirius is very good at spouting bits of excellent personal
philosophy, but he does not always live up to them. For instance, 
he says in "Goblet of Fire" that if you want to know what a man 
is really like, 'look at how he treats his inferiors, not his
equals.' 
But Sirius loathes Kreacher, the house-elf he has inherited, and 
treats him with nothing but contempt.

---
Sounds like hypocrisy to me. I don't think it's a coincidence that
Sirius's animal has  an eagle in front and a horse's ***.


But Dumbledore does not label Sirius a hypocrite, though I'm sure
he's just as aware of Sirius's faults as JKR is. Dumbledore is not
trying to make Harry feel worse, or minimize his loss. He is trying, 
as he said, to make  Harry  understand what is the danger that 
besets him.

Voldemort is not the cause of the rot that permeates
the wizarding world. He is a symptom. The rot is in the heart of
every wizard who thinks he can lord it over other beings, whether 
it is purebloods over muggleborns, or humans over House Elves. 

Harry has never been so contemptuous  of anyone,   but then he's 
never been  treated as the Chosen One. Very soon now, Neville will be 
wondering what it would be like to be the king. If contempt for
lowlier creatures can destroy even as kind and generous a man as 
Sirius was, what might it do to Harry?

I don't think Dumbledore's warning is before time.


Pippin