[HPforGrownups] In defense of DD WAS musings on Dumbledore - Even Longer

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 158648

Diana:
 Harry's very
> life was at stake, so unloving foster parents was better than a
> horrible death at the hands of LV.  I also believe that DD did not
> want Harry growing up a pampered, stuck-up snob (a la Draco Malfoy)
> and knew that taking him out of the WW would not only be an extra
> safety precaution but would allow him to grow up fairly normal.  DD
> most likely truly believed that Dursleys would take in and grow to
> love Harry, but he ended up disappointed that his faith in the
> goodness of people had been wasted on them.

<massive snipping as I'm not going through everything pont by point>

Magpie:
I don't really think this is explaining things to people who have misread 
them, but simply re-stating the same things with the pov that it's not so 
bad (while other people read the same thing and find it a lot worse). 
Whether DD thought the Dursleys would be kind to Harry or not, for instance, 
he put him with them and never moved to keep them from mistreating him.  If 
you add in that Dumbledore thought it was up to him to make sure Harry 
didn't grow up into Draco Malfoy by putting him with the Dursleys I think it 
makes him look worse to people who don't like his actions, not better. 
After all, it's hardly his place to decide he's got to protect a kid from 
some nebulous concept of "being spoiled" by sticking him with people who 
actively hate him.

The other thing that I think was mentioned earlier, particularly in Steve's 
post, is that Dumbledore is so isolated because he's so wise (though he 
makes mistakes like anyone else) so has all this responsibility, and I think 
that's another place where some people just do not agree.  Dumbledore 
doesn't to me ever seem characterized as someone taking on responsibility 
reluctantly.  On the contrary, he demands full cooperation without being 
open about what he's doing. He doesn't share information.  So you've in the 
end still got everyone confused as to just what's happened and why they were 
trusting Snape--even somebody like Remus Lupin who seems perfectly 
intelligent himself.  If he's human like anyone else and makes mistakes 
that's a good reason he shouldn't be treated like some being too wise to 
confide in or listen to others.

The thing about DD having faults is that, imo, his having them means they 
can be criticized.  If you say, "He makes mistakes like anyone!" but then 
all his mistakes can be excused with "but how was he supposed to know...?" 
or "He was trying to do the right thing..." it isn't really analyzing the 
faults but defending the character.  The good thing about DD's habit of 
keeping all his intelligence to himself and always being in charge is that 
JKR allows that to actually be his flaw.  He screws up precisely this way a 
lot of the time.

It's true that he doesn't think he doesn't believe in controlling people and 
so lets them make their own choices even if they're wrong (letting bullies 
act out in his school--and Snape and Draco aren't the only people getting 
out of line), but the problems usually stem not from that but from the fact 
that DD usually seems to think he can handle all the consequences.  Life is 
like a chess game where he seems to think he can see all his opponents moves 
in advance.  He decides to do things but gets surprised that people don't 
act the way he'd allowed for.  I don't think this should be chalked up to 
"giving people second chances when he shouldn't" because first, I really 
don't think he sees good in people that isn't there--that's the DE view of 
DD and one I think is mistaken.  It's more, imo, that there's lots of things 
DD doesn't take into account when deciding what people will do.  It doesn't 
always sound like that's what he does because once the person does something 
he's there with the analysis as if this was part of a calculated risk he 
took, but I don't think that's really the case.  He gets blindsided by 
people acting on impulses he didn't forsee--and frankly, I think that's a 
good thing.  It actually makes the world more hopeful by placing more power 
back into these "little people" that DD thinks he's so far beyond that he 
can make all the decisions, even if it has disasterous results in the short 
run.  When people react badly to situations Dumbledore creates they're not 
always failing to be good, imo.  They're often acting in ways that were 
predictable--they just weren't to Dumbledore because he, like everyone else, 
probably underneath imagines that everyone is more like himself than they 
really are.  I think he also like many people sometimes sees his own 
motivations as more complex than those of others.

-m