Truth or consequences

[snow15145]

Kneasy snipped:
Three lecturers are travelling on a train to Scotland and as they 
cross
the border a thick fog descends. A while later there's a clear spot,
they look out of the window and see a sheep in a field - and the sheep
is black.
"Oh, look!" says the sociologist, "The sheep in Scotland are black."
"You can't say that," says the biologist, "only that *some* sheep in
Scotland are black."
In the corner the mathematician raises his eyes to heaven. "All that
can be said is that in Scotland there is at least one field, 
containing
at least one sheep, at least one side of which is black."

Snow:
I guess I'm part mathematician because I agree with all of his 
statements except the last statement of one side of the sheep being 
black. "The sheep is black" sounds like a secure statement, no reason 
to suspect that the sheep was turned sideways so that you could not 
see the other side. 

Kneasy snipped:
There's been a fair amount of discussion over the years as to DD's
veracity. Many accept him as the epitome of truth and justice, that
what he says can be relied on without question. Not I. He's a 
conniving
manipulative cold-hearted duplicitous old axe-grinder as far as I'm
concerned. He's got to be, otherwise that plan will never come to
fruition.


Snow:
Oh but he isn't lying, he is only telling half a truth; just like you 
said about the attorneys' and their brilliant way in which to sway 
the conversation in their favor. (Dumbledore, like his creator, is 
evasive as hell) If you ask an accused if they punched the child in 
his face, and the person slapped the child in the face, a no answer 
can honestly be given by the accused. An attorney must be on top of 
things and ask a question so there is no squeak room for the accused 
to get away with an evasive answer; did you strike this child on any 
part of his body with any object or any part of your body. In the 
situation with JKR you must do one better when asking her a 
straightforward no squeak room type of question because she will give 
you a no comment answer. Dumbledore is the same way. When Harry 
explicitly asks Dumbledore why he thinks Snape is no longer a 
Voldemort supporter, Dumbledore (no squeak room) gives the no comment 
answer of: "that, Harry, is a matter between Professor Snape and 
myself". 

You gave a great example, Kneasy "I do believe he worked so hard to 
protect you this year...." of how evasive Dumbledore speaks. This "I 
do believe" statement is equivalent to the "It certainly seems so" to 
Harry's question of "Voldemort put a bit of himself in me". Both of 
these answers to Harry leave a gaping hole for suspicion as to the 
certainty of Dumbledore's assuredness or completeness of his 
answering. Dumbledore does a lot of "I think so" type statements but 
what is he really attempting to convey? Is it that he doesn't really 
know but just suspects or is it that he does know but is only giving 
a partial answer
 an answer that perhaps is fitting for one so young. 

Kneasy:
And in the traditional end of book explication (OoP) he more
or less admits it:-
"I cared more about your happiness than your knowing the truth ..." 
and
on it goes in nauseous self-justification. He seems to have missed the
fact that Harry hasn't actually been happy anyway; just the opposite
for most of the time. What is this "truth" that he's on about anyway?


Snow:
We are still seeing this through Harry's eyes and Dumbledore is only 
allowing Harry partial knowledge
knowledge fit for the age that Harry 
is in each book. (You can't teach a five-year-old everything there is 
to know about reproduction when they ask were does a baby come from) 
Little by little Dumbledore feeds Harry the information that is 
necessary, and age appropriate, for his next encounter. 

Kneasy snipped:
Of course since we only see what Harry sees (except for a couple of
chapters) then we must have been fed the same load of old tripe as
Harry. This is not conducive to confident theorising.

Snow:
Yep! And that's why we do and have justification for doing so
Harry 
isn't being told everything that old codger knows and therefore nor 
are we the reader. Alas as you say, Kneasy, it does not make for 
confident theorizing. 

Kneasy:
However, we may well have been offered the same garden path to 
scamper up, but lots of fan speculation is opposed to the conclusions 
that young Potter has reached. Snape, Peter, Sirius, Lupin, James, 
DD, even Voldy and Lily have been subjects for contrary analysis. And 
why? Because many don't believe that what they've read is the whole 
truth and nothing but the truth. Naughty, suspicious fans!

Snow:
I think that even the most naughty of fans, that realize this as a 
certain fact, will be turned on edge when JKR is done with them. I 
see her laughing her royal buttocks off with anticipation at the 
unseen look on her readers face when we finally get the next 
installment. I think this is really why she likes this book so much. 
JKR and Dumbledore are indeed one and the same in their likeness of 
spooning information on a need to know basis
and the next spoonful 
may not be sugar
and I have a feeling not at all to the FAITH reader.