Dumbledore Does Lie - Sort Of

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 159114

> Alla:
> 
> That's sort of true, but only sort of IMO, because Dumbledore is not 
> on equal footing with other people. He can decide to hold off 
> information from everybody and nobody can hold off information from 
> him, no?

Pippin:
Are you talking about legilimency, or do you just mean that people
feel they have to tell Dumbledore whatever he wants to know? Because
I don't get that at all. Harry certainly keeps information back from
Dumbledore, the Marauders kept information from Dumbledore 
and continued to do so as Order members, and so on.

Alla:
> I guess I would say that **need to know** should be decided mutually, 
> it should not be strictly up to Dumbledore to decide that.

Pippin:
Er, how would that work? Dumbledore and whoever discuss things,
and then Dumbledore obliviates that person if they mutually decide that
there's something that person shouldn't have known? :)

In Harry's case, adults have a responsibility to decide what
information would be harmful to a child. It isn't fair to the
child to let the child decide.  Dumbledore was wrong not to
realize that Harry had grown up enough that this sort of protection
was doing more harm than good, but he wasn't wrong to
think it was his responsibility to decide.


 Alla: 
> Now, I understand how hard it is for Dumbledore to tell Harry about 
> that burden, etc. On the other hand, it also shows IMO how very 
> patronising Dumbledore was being. It is not like before OOP Harry did 
> not know that Voldemort was after him, and lead happy childhood and 
> if Dumbledore told him , Harry would have suddenly learned about the 
> burden he carries.

Pippin:
But it was like that. Harry knew that Voldemort wanted him dead, but
he preferred not to think about it. Remember his reaction to the dream
he had in GoF? He thought it would sound overly dramatic to say that
Voldemort had been talking about killing him. I agree that Dumbledore
waited too long to tell him, but not by all that much. He wanted to
wait until Harry could understand his explanation of how the prophecy
works and not feel that he was being dragged into the arena by fate.

> Alla:
> 
> Well, I also think that only Dumbledore and Harry know about 
> prophecy, but who gave Dumbledore a right to decide what other people 
> need to know to do their jobs?

Pippin:
Dumbledore makes need to know decisions for the Hogwarts staff
and the Order because  managing information is
one of the things the boss does. Nobody is being forced to work 
for him. If they don't like his style, they can quit. There's also
a bit of a contradiction between wanting Dumbledore to be
more transparent and wanting him to make people think
for themselves. If Harry questions what Dumbledore is up
to, it's because Dumbledore *hasn't* explained himself fully.

Many people are perfectly happy to let someone else do the
thinking for them. It's not all Dumbledore. When Hermione
comes up with a  plan, do Ron and Harry doubt her? No, they
just follow along, even though she's led them into trouble
in the past, because it's easier than thinking for themselves.

Pipppin