“Wolves, dogs, even chickens, fight for dominance among themselves. What I finally understood, from that clerk’s mind, was that to him Lucius Malfoy had dominance, Lord Voldemort had dominance, and David Monroe and Albus Dumbledore did not. By taking the side of good, by professing to abide in the light, they had made themselves unthreatening. In Britain, Lucius Malfoy has dominance, for he can call in your loans, or send Ministry bureaucrats against your shop, or crucify you in the Daily Prophet, if you go openly against his will. And the most powerful wizard in the world has no dominance, because everyone knows that he is a hero out of stories, relentlessly self-effacing and too humble for vengeance … In Hogwarts, Dumbledore does punish certain transgressions against his will, so he is feared to some degree, though the students still make free to mock him in more than whispers. Outside this castle, Dumbledore is sneered at; they began to call him mad, and he aped the part like a fool. Step into the role of a savior out of plays, and people see you as a slave to whose services they are entitled and whom it is their enjoyment to criticize; for it is the privilege of masters to sit back and call forth helpful corrections while the slaves labor … I understood that day in the Ministry that by envying Dumbledore, I had shown myself as deluded as Dumbledore himself. I understood that I had been trying for the wrong place all along. You should know this to be true, boy, for you have made freer to speak ill of Dumbledore than you ever dared speak ill of me. Even in your own thoughts, I wager, for instinct runs deep. You knew that it might be to your cost to mock the strong and vengeful Professor Quirrell, but that there was no cost in disrespecting the weak and harmless Dumbledore.”
… in at least some ways, it’s important to have Quirrells and Lucius Malfoys around on the side of LW’s culture, and not just David Monroes and Dumbledores.
… in at least some ways, it’s important to have Quirrells and Lucius Malfoys around on the side of LW’s culture, and not just David Monroes and Dumbledores.
This is an interesting point—and, ISTM, a reason not to be too demanding about people coming to LW itself with a purely “good faith” attitude! To some extent, “bad faith” and even fights for dominance just come with the territory of Hobbesian social and political struggle—and if you care about “hav[ing] Quirrells and Lucius Malfoys” on our side, you’re clearly making a point about politics as well, at least in the very broadest sense.
One other HPMOR quote that feels relevant:
… in at least some ways, it’s important to have Quirrells and Lucius Malfoys around on the side of LW’s culture, and not just David Monroes and Dumbledores.
This is an interesting point—and, ISTM, a reason not to be too demanding about people coming to LW itself with a purely “good faith” attitude! To some extent, “bad faith” and even fights for dominance just come with the territory of Hobbesian social and political struggle—and if you care about “hav[ing] Quirrells and Lucius Malfoys” on our side, you’re clearly making a point about politics as well, at least in the very broadest sense.