looong - musings on Dumbledore - Even Longer

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 158611

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
<SNIP>
> I think it is unreasonable to think that Dumbledore 
> didn't weigh all the possibilities when determining 
> Harry's fate. He could have been left with a loving 
> wizarding family, but there are problems, as Dumbledore
> points out, with Harry continued existance in the British
> Wizarding World. If nothing else, his exposure and the 
> mass awareness of his location compounded by his fame. 
> He could have been placed with a wizard family in say 
> Austrailia, but that places him very far away from the 
> protection of Dumbledore and those who care about his 
> fate, and doesn't really guarantee his anonymity and 
> therefore doesn't guarantee his safety. He could have 
> been place in some muggle institution; orphanage, foster
> care, adoptive parents. But those too have their 
> drawbacks. Yes, they do have some advantages, but they
> also have drawbacks.
> 

And therein is exactly the problem, isn't it?  JKR wants us to 
believe that Dumbledore is the "epitome of goodness."  Frankly, given 
his decision to place Harry with the Dursleys and his failure to 
intervene firmly to stop their abuse of him (and other things not 
pertinent to this thread) a lot of us just don't buy it.  Indeed, I 
think if DD did consider all the options and the Dursleys was the 
best he could come up with *for Harry*, then he is the very 
definition of an incompetent old fool.  And if finding the best *for 
Harry* was not his primary goal, if he in any way allowed Harry to be 
abused for the "sake of the wizarding world" or any other such 
utilitarian nonsense, then I think he is the very definition of an 
ignoble old moron, not to mention an abusive monster.


Lupinlore, who really is mystified how JKR thinks she can sell that 
epitome of goodness line in the face of DD's repeated failure to 
protect Harry from abuse