DD, the Dursleys, and Identifying with Muggles in Potterverse

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 158092

<SNIP>
>
> Phoenixgod:
> I refuse to believe that leaving Harry with the Dursleys was the
> best of all possible worlds for a wizard of Dumbledore's power,
> skill, and age.  It might have been the best for the Cinderfella
> story JKR wants to say, but I don't buy it in a world of magic on
> the level we've seen in the story.
>
> Pippin:
> Then you refuse to believe canon.
> Voldemort or his servants have found their way into every magical
> fortress and concealed stronghold we know of: Gringotts, Azkaban,
> Hogwarts, Godric's Hollow, Grimmauld Place, St Mungo's and the
> Ministry itself. Even the fear of Dumbledore did not hold them off
> forever.  The mind link means that no disguise would have
> prevented a resurgent Voldemort from learning that Harry is alive.
>

EXACTLY.  We just don't buy it.  Anyone who studies the situation for
a little while can come up with a dozen ways Dumbledore could have
handled the situation better and more morally, including telling
Vernon "let the kid out of the closet or I'll turn you into a
pumpkin."  JKR has simply done a terrible job of convincing us (we
who object to the whole "Dursley" angle in the story, and many
aspects of the "Snape" angle) that this is the way an "epitome of
goodness" who is the "greatest wizard in the world" would behave in
the face of child abuse -- especially child abuse brought on by his
own decision.

As for DD's overall motivation, the whole utilitarian "better that
one suffer than many" just doesn't wash, sorry.  Nor does any concern
about DD's status as the defender of muggle rights.  The good of the
many DOES NOT trump the good of the one, at least not always.  DD's
little speech about the good of "nameless faceless people" doesn't,
IMO, indicate that he was abdicating his responsibility, it showed
that he, by protecting Harry to an extent and trying to gaurantee his
happiness, was acting morally at long last.  His actions before were,
if motivated by such utilitarian calculations, utterly contemptible
IMO, as is his failure to put Snape firmly in his place.


Lupinlore, who would have been quite happy to see a much harsher
scene with the Dursleys, and who hopes there is one to come