DH reread CH 20 - The Name of a Mobster

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 186771

 
> 
> a_svirn:
> No, he did not. He sat on the relevant information.

Pippin:
Dumbledore is characterized many times as working tirelessly against Voldemort, warning people that Voldemort is behind the disappearances and unexplained deaths that marked his rise to power. That information is relevant to what sort of leader Voldemort would be. His ancestry is not, IMO.  
 

> > Pippin:
> But the argument was that Dumbledore should have made an issue of Riddle's ancestry in order to discredit him. That would have proved detrimental to all those honest and hardworking people with Muggle ancestry who hadn't done anything wrong.
> 
> a_svirn:
> How? Your analogy with anti-Semitic government doesn't work with Scrimgeour, because the Ministry for all its many faults wasn't anti-Muggle.

Pippin:
But it was! There's plenty of canon for that.

The ministry is inclined to think that people who are pro-Muggle or  have Muggle ancestry lack 'proper wizard feeling', as Molly put it. That was one of the reasons that Tom himself gave for not pursuing a ministry career.

Alla:
I just do not see how. People who are supposed to be the target audience for the story of Tom Riddle's origins are **already** not trusting muggles, half-bloods, you name it.

Pippin:
And how do you propose that Dumbledore confine this information to the "target audience"? Won't it also reach the vast  number of people who respect Dumbledore's opinion? Won't it have far more influence on them than on the pureblood fanatics who are Dumbledore's enemies and don't trust him anyway? 

Is it possible to smear one person as Muggleborn and not another? That's what Snape thought, and boy was he wrong. As Lily said, why should she be any different?  If Voldemort isn't worthy to help lead the WW because he's part Muggle, than neither is Hermione. 

Pippin