In defense of DD WAS musings on Dumbledore - Even Longer/Campbell myths

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 158742

> Tonks:
> Good. Now I think we should put the blame, if we must blame 
someone, 
> where it belongs, on JKR and not on DD.  
IMO, if JKR had know that 
> we would all be looking over the events in these books like 
members 
> of the FBI and CIA with micron microscopes, she might have been a 
> bit more careful to have written the story so the DD would not be 
in 
> the mess that he appears to be in on this list!  So *free DD*, 
hang 
> JKR!!  ;-)

Magpie:
Sorry, but I think most of us if not all of us ARE blaming JKR 
here.  But if other people keep jumping in to defend DD as if his 
actions are perfectly logical and examples of his great goodness 
we're going to say we don't think they are.  If one can claim 
Dumbledore did everything right logically and ethically based on the 
events in canon someone else can argue he didn't on the same level. 
It's not like everything that can reflect well on Dumbledore belongs 
to him and everything that's not quite so good gets deflected to the 
author. And I think they/we should also be able to do argue that 
without all the accusations of "hating" Dumbledore that keep 
cropping up that seem to suggest any disagreement must come from 
some irrational hatred of the character as a person.  

We're hardly talking micron microscopes here, after all. Sirius' 
story canonically rests on nobody doing any investigation.  They 
can't, because the frame-up just wasn't that sophisticated.  That's 
not a mistake on JKR's part, it's the way she chose to get Sirius 
into jail so that she *didn't* have to come up with some complicated 
magical forensics that made Sirius look guilty.

Diana:
I'm admittedly flabbergasted by the hatred being expressed toward
Dumbldore in so many of these posts. It surprises me that several
posters hold DD soley responsible for Sirius' imprisonment in
Azkaban. [snip] While so many of you are eager to blame Dumbledore, 
where is Sirius' responsibility for his own imprisonment?

Magpie:
I believe almost everyone has agreed that Dumbledore is in no way 
SOLEY responsible for Sirius' imprisonment, so why does this keep 
coming up?  I you're flabbergasted by the "hatred" expressed toward 
Dumbledore I'm equally amazed at why anyone thinks blaming the 
victim or pretending Dumbledore was just a simple schoolmaster when 
we know that's not the case is going to make Dumbledore seem so much 
better to people.  Sirius' state of mind is yet another thing that 
JKR uses to show why Sirius rotted in jail for so long--but it still 
comes down to the same thing it usually does in this world, which is 
that he "looked guilty" and they felt little reason to look further.

For all the reasons you've given for Dumbledore to think Sirius 
looked guilty there are equally logical reasons for Sirius to not 
have gone to Dumbledore after breaking out of jail.  Those arguments 
are actually far more backed up emotionally than ones for Dumbledore 
not caring to know the details of what really went down, in fact.  
Someone in jail for over a decade for a crime he didn't commit has 
reason to be paranoid and not trust that of course all the people 
who believed him guilty are just waiting to listen to his story and 
help him.  More reason than the leader of a resistance group with a 
mole in it has for not being interested in the alleged culprit. 

Diana:
Some might say that it's *irresponsible* to blame the victim. The
blame goes to where it belongs - to Sirius (who never spoke up for
himself or revealed the true events until 12 years after the fact),
Barty Crouch Sr. and the MoM (who didn't give Sirius a proper trial 
or investigate the events to ensure they had the truly guilty party 
going to Azkaban) and to Peter Pettigrew and Lord Voldemort (who 
framed Sirius quite successfully).

Magpie:
Yeah, it usually is irresponsible to blame the victim.  And I 
haven't seen anyone denying any of the aspects of Siirus' behavior 
that contributed to his being in jail.  Nor has anyone let Barty 
Crouch off the hook.  It seems of everyone involved it's only 
Dumbledore who must be free of all responsibility, and that casts 
Dumbledore in a worse light for me, not a better one.  It makes all 
his great goodness and wisdom seem like just part of the same 
aggressive defense/PR machine, as if he can't handle any scrutiny, 
can't be given responsibility for anything that doesn't make him 
ultimately look good or sympathetic.  Ironic but strangely 
unsurprising that Sirius' feeling guilt, his willingness to take 
guilt upon himself, makes him more guilty of the two. 

Steve:
So, Harry at the Dursleys was necessary as it is for all
mythilogical Heroes. He must be separated from and
unaware of his identity and his destiny.

Magpie:
Yes, but JKR also wanted to add the Cinderella aspect, which I think 
is why people have this discussion about Dumbledore. King Arthur, 
iirc especially in early versions of the tales, is very close to Kay 
with whom he grew up, even though Kay was always considered the 
greater of the two then. There's not always the same element of 
comeuppance associated with the story.  So yes, it is exactly the 
right choice to start off the hero ignorant of his destiny, but JKR 
tends to mix styles and genres.

-m