In Defense of Scrimgeour & Offense against DD

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 179543

> lizzyben:
> 
> And honestly, I'm trying to remember what was so awful about 
> Scrimgeour. Didn't he want Harry to be involved in the 
> Ministry's fight against Voldemort?
>   -<snip>-
>  & again asks him to release Stan Shunpike. 
> At the time, I was self-righteously nodding along 
> w/Harry - you tell that Scrimgeour! Stand up to authority!

Mike:
Yeah, I was hoodwinked too. All I was thinking about was Sirius 
and his unjust imprisonment. Which JKR wanted me to think, based 
on Harry's comments to Scrimmy during Christmas. All that throwing 
the wrong people into jail stuff and you people are all the same 
comments that Harry throws out at Scrimmy. And, with Arthur's help, 
we get it that Stan isn't a DE, he's just a kid trying to sound 
important.

JKR did a good job on selling me on the 'question authority' motif 
that I was primed to follow after Sirius and Crouch. How could 
anyone trust a Ministry that would do that to Sirius? And now 
they're doing it again to the dumb conductor. Then what happens 
after Xmas? While we're at it, let's throw in there a couple of 
more cases wherein Tom Riddle gets the stupid Ministry to blaim 
his crimes on other innocents. Geez, this Ministry can't do 
anything right. Remember, they tried to get Harry kicked out of 
school and were planning on snapping his wand until Harry's hero 
stepped in. Bad ole Ministry, bad, bad people! <eg>


> lizzyben:
>  -<snip>-
> Srimgeour implies that DD has kept Harry from any other 
> officials who might want his support or might want to gather
> more information about LV.

Mike:
Well, DD can't let anyone have access to his puppet, ... umm, his 
minion, ... no, how about his protege. Yeah, that one will do. <g>



> lizzyben:
> 
> And the end of the chapter is now chilling to me  
> -<canon snip>-
> I think old Scrimmy had Dumbledore's number all along. 
> 
> After the funeral, he again asks Harry to help to raise people's 
> morale, & offers Aurors as protection for Harry. 

Mike:
Strange, isn't it, how "raising the people's morale" seems to be a 
worthless endeavor in the eyes of Harry and DD. Maybe worse than 
worthless, maybe they were thinking it was an effort at false hope 
and that they wouldn't be a party to it. Mr. Manipulation I can see 
not giving two hoots of a snowy owl's worth thought to raising the 
spirits of the common folk. But I would have thought that Harry 
would actually care what the common people thought after his ordeal 
in OotP. 


> lizzyben:
> 
> Oh, oh, he also repeats DD's sickening slogan from COS about 
> showing personal loyalty to Him.  -<snip>-

Mike:
Thank you lizzyben. Call me thick, but I never really understood 
when folks were talking about "cult of personality" with 
regards to the books. Something clicked when you wrote this post.
I get it now. And I see it clearly.


> lizzyben:
> I now totally identify w/Scrimgeour in these scenes. They're 
> fighting a dangerous wizard, and people need hope & promise 
> that the MOM can succeed. And here's Harry Potter, so 
> brainwashed by DD that he'll repeat everything DD says, allow 
> DD to isolate him from the MOM, & even refuse to assist in the 
> fight against LV in favor of following DD's orders only.  DD did
> indeed do a good number on Harry Potter, & Scrimmy knows it.

Mike:
It's not the book as written, but imagine if DD had spread the word 
loud and wide that Lord Voldemort was really the half-blood Tom 
Riddle, that he had split his soul several times and encased the 
pieces in Horcruxes, that he had killed his own father and that you
can tell one of his DEs by the Dark Mark on their left forearm. To
me, it emphasizes how idiotic DD's way of fighting, including his 
shutting out of the Ministry and all his secrecy.

Poor Scrimmy, he inherited his predecessor's problems and ill will, 
with the added benefit of a rogue idiot savant controlling the one 
person that could turn the tide in his favor. Rasputin couldn't 
have done it any better than Albus Dumbledore.



> lizzyben
>  
> There's the MOM falling easily to the Death Eaters because
> people don't have the courage, hope or morale to fight. There's 
> Harry w/o any protection or contacts at all. 

Mike:
A side note - I didn't believe how easily the MoM falls. It's needed 
to further the story, but I remember thinking there aren't enough 
DEs to accomplish everything that LV was able to make happen.

Harry without any Ministry contacts? Just as DD wanted. Because 
Harry has to search for the Horcruxes with just R&H's help.
Otherwise, the secret would get out and maybe hundreds of people
would be looking for Horcruxes. And after all, the most brilliant 
wizard of the age found one and a half Horcruxes in the four years 
(at least) of searching. It shouldn't take three teenagers that long 
to find and destroy the other four, should it?


> lizzyben:
> There's Scimgeour, tortured to death for refusing to reveal 
> Harry's whereabouts. 

Mike:
And barely getting a sidelong glance from the Trio. "Hmm, the guy 
died protecting me. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Nah. Hey Remus, what's 
up?"


> lizzyben:
> I think Scrimgeour was a good guy who was looking for Harry's
> assistance in the battle against LV. And DD's attempts to 
> isolate & control Harry prevented the MOM from getting that 
> assistance - thereby allowing the MOM to quickly fall, & leaving 
> Harry w/o any protection or assistance in his own fight. 

Mike:
Speaking of protection, where was the Order. Did they just disband
after the flight from Outhouse,... uh, Privet Drive? Kingsley did
his turn at Pottercast and the rest,... went into hiding I guess.
What exactly did Lupin's spying on the werewolves accomplish? What
about his wife, the one that could assume any appearance she chose?
Couldn't we have at least heard that Mr. Weasley turned Delores into 
an actual toad before he went into hiding?

Mike, taking his tongue out of his cheek and seriously questioning
why all these things about Tom Riddle had to be kept secret.