How often does Harry's withholding of information actually get people hurt...

[morriswalters]

3. If Harry Flippin' Dresden, Big Bad Brother Harry, as Butters calls him—the guy who the Alphas saw take down an entire group of Fae cavalry with one spell, a guy they've personally witnessed take on a pack of Hexenwulves AND a loup-garou, a guy with a reputation for being tough, competent, and extremely powerful (relative to them)—if THAT guy came to me, desperately calculating prime numbers to maintain his grip on his sanity, white as a sheet, telling me that he needed a dark, quiet place for an hour and a half before he was stable enough to function, and that whatever was after him was "really bad," my first response wouldn't be "Let's post two guards several dozen yards away from any kind of protection." It would be "Everyone come into my apartment; we're going to keep watch through the windows and guard ourselves behind a threshold, because something terrifying and powerful enough to send the most badass person we've ever met into gibbering madness is coming, and it's pretty obvious we should do whatever we can to protect ourselves without engaging it.""

At what point do you think the Alphas could have done anything, had the Skin Walker wanted all of them dead?  In a bunch or one by one, it would have made zero difference.

Later in the book the skin walker will attack at the Raith Mansion.  There are 3 or 4 White Court vampires at home, not to mention a passel of merc's.  The house is booby trapped and two powerful Wardens are on the ground and aware of what might be chasing them.  The Skin Walker goes through the place like s**t through a goose and leaves a trail of dead and injured and only leaves because he made his point.  Kirby was a snippet of Morse code, a message.  A corpse used to send a message to Harry.

Bad Alias wrote this response and I was tired so my response was poor.

@Morris: I always took the last sentence of that quote to be about the political situation more than the "how dangerous some entities are" side of it. I also think Billy knows more than Dresden thinks Billy knows, or at least he did in the earlier books.

The whole point of the attack was about Council politics and  Peabody's attempt to cover his mistakes to maintain his position as a mole in the White Council.  Things that Dresden had withheld from his Mushrooms(the Alphas).  They knew almost nothing of the Council or the fact that that there was an overarching plot in the works to destroy the Council by a traitor.  Which is, if I may say, several orders of magnitude above any threat the Alphas had been exposed to by that point.

In the case of Susan and Kim Harry either makes too much or too little information available.  In Susan's case she is a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect, she over estimates her competence, Harry would have done better to involve her more and make her aware of the hazards and the mechanics of how the supernatural world works, like the privileges of guests for example.  In Kim's case if he wasn't going to help he should have never drawn the circle on the piece of paper, the same piece that triggers Murphy's attack.

[Mira]

My things with Kirby are that
1. when the Alphas actually engaged the Skinwalker immediately after Kirby got his throat ripped out and Andi was beaten, they successfully drove it off. They didn't beat it, or hurt it, but they put it at a temporary disadvantage long enough for it to not see enough profit in continuing the engagement. So I don't think the Alphas were defenseless. Kirby just picked up the Idiot Ball. It was like he was the character in a ghost story going to investigate the strange noise in the attic by climbing up the stairs backwards with a flashlight that keeps turning off.
2. Kirby was standing watch on the other side of the parking lot, dozens of yards away from any help. He was standing under a streetlight, as a human rather than a wolf, holding a brightly lit cellphone in his hand. He wasn't ready for a surprise attack, even though the guy was supposed to be standing watch. Dresden recognizes the danger Kirby's in, and runs out to call him back when the Skinwalker gets him.
3. If Harry Flippin' Dresden, Big Bad Brother Harry, as Butters calls him—the guy who the Alphas saw take down an entire group of Fae cavalry with one spell, a guy they've personally witnessed take on a pack of Hexenwulves AND a loup-garou, a guy with a reputation for being tough, competent, and extremely powerful (relative to them)—if THAT guy came to me, desperately calculating prime numbers to maintain his grip on his sanity, white as a sheet, telling me that he needed a dark, quiet place for an hour and a half before he was stable enough to function, and that whatever was after him was "really bad," my first response wouldn't be "Let's post two guards several dozen yards away from any kind of protection." It would be "Everyone come into my apartment; we're going to keep watch through the windows and guard ourselves behind a threshold, because something terrifying and powerful enough to send the most badass person we've ever met into gibbering madness is coming, and it's pretty obvious we should do whatever we can to protect ourselves without engaging it."

I mean, shouldn't Billy or Georgia have been smart enough to think, "Hey, maybe this thing could reduce us to insanity too?" And shouldn't Kirby have thought, "Hey, I not only have better senses as a wolf, but I'm faster, stronger, and harder to kill, so I should probably stay as a wolf while I know something dangerous is around?"

Yes, Harry led the skinwalker to the area. But a couple of things about that. 1. Harry didn't have much of a choice. There was, quite literally, nowhere else to go. He couldn't have made it back to his apartment where a threshold would have protected him in the state he was in. He couldn't hide in a crowd of people, because there would be too much noise or light for him to do what he had to. Billy's place was the only one that would be both safe and quiet enough for him to recover. And 2. They don't take Harry's warning seriously enough. Applying even an ounce of genre savviness would have been enough for the Alphas to have escaped without permanent injury.

Maybe you can argue that Harry should have given Billy the rundown on the greater supernatural world, but I don't think it would've done them any good. They already knew there were things like the Loup Garou out there that they couldn't handle. They knew that there were WolfWeres like Tera West that were old and powerful enough to train humans to turn into wolves, so they had to know that the supernatural was bigger, weirder, and more dangerous than they thought. And when you have the guy who sets the bar for humanity's stand against the Spooky Things in the Night come to you and tell you that something really bad is coming, you take all the steps you can to make sure that you and yours stay alive.

Exactly to all of that... That is basically what Will told Harry as well, they knew the risks, they are adults they made their choice it wasn't his fault...  Later on page 220 is a bit different, Will mentions Kirby, but not because he is blaming Harry for his death, but because of his willing sacrifice and the fact that they are not kids any more,  Harry doesn't need to and shouldn't shield them or think he has to shield them from the ugliness out there..  They want to help and fight along side of him, so Harry shouldn't hide anything from them.  And Harry agreed..

In the case of Susan and Kim Harry either makes too much or too little information available.  In Susan's case she is a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect, she over estimates her competence, Harry would have done better to involve her more and make her aware of the hazards and the mechanics of how the supernatural world works, like the privileges of guests for example.  In Kim's case if he wasn't going to help he should have never drawn the circle on the piece of paper, the same piece that triggers Murphy's attack.

He did...  She was there when he took down the Loop, made hay with her newspaper over the scoop..  If that didn't tell her how dangerous things can get, what would..  But she wanted the scoop and the fame that gave her, plus part of her never bought into how fricking dangerous these beings can be... Her reaction when Harry tried to tell her was he was being over protective of her... Truth of the matter is she never listened to a word he said on the matter.

As far as Kim goes, she swore to him it was merely an academic exercise, and continues to swear that it is.  Why wouldn't he teach her the basics?  In physics class the instructor may draw out the basic plan as to how an A-Bomb works, even how to build one..  However I doubt the same instructor would do it if he or she knew you had enough weapons grade uranium back in your locker to make a bomb.. 

[noblehunter]

What Harry could have done with Susan--which after learning better, he does with Murphy--is recognize that she wasn't to going to listen to advice that amounted to leave the supernatural alone because it's too dangerous. Since she was never going to be sensible, he probably should have clued her enough that she understood that she needed to drastically change how she approached the  supernatural.

[morriswalters]

What Harry could have done with Susan--which after learning better, he does with Murphy--is recognize that she wasn't to going to listen to advice that amounted to leave the supernatural alone because it's too dangerous. Since she was never going to be sensible, he probably should have clued her enough that she understood that she needed to drastically change how she approached the  supernatural.

Exactly.  Susan's case was too little info.  He should have fed her more.
Kim Delaney was the exact opposite.  Too much info. Without the diagram she couldn't have done Jack.

[Mr. Death]

Telling someone that the supernatural is dangerous is not the same as telling them how it's dangerous.

Susan knew the supernatural was dangerous -- that's why she goes to the party with holy water and a gun. But she thought she could handle it because Harry didn't really detail how dangerous it would be, i.e., that if she was caught with a fake invitation she wouldn't just be kicked out, she'd be eaten or worse.

Exactly.  Susan's case was too little info.  He should have fed her more.
Kim Delaney was the exact opposite.  Too much info. Without the diagram she couldn't have done Jack.

I thought Kim already had the diagram when she came to Harry.

[Mira]

Susan knew the supernatural was dangerous -- that's why she goes to the party with holy water and a gun. But she thought she could handle it because Harry didn't really detail how dangerous it would be, i.e., that if she was caught with a fake invitation she wouldn't just be kicked out, she'd be eaten or worse.

First of all he didn't know until he saw her at the party that she had stolen then forged, then crashed the party..  Harry very clearly warns her, "they are vampires, they eat people..."  He wasn't going to go because he felt it was too dangerous for him.  She was hot to trot about the scoop and she handled the Loop etc...  Yeah, she'd seen a few Dracula movies and perhaps read the book so she was prepared...  How much information beyond "they eat people" do you need?  Susan is a smart girl, she never asked, "what do you mean they eat people? How do they do that?"  No, she was too focused on the scoop, the exclusive...

[morriswalters]

I thought Kim already had the diagram when she came to Harry.

I stand corrected.  Then instead it is too little.

I had done the right thing. Keeping that kind of information out of Kim’s hands had been the right decision. I had been protecting her from danger she didn’t, couldn’t, fully appreciate.
I had done the right thing—even if she had trusted me to provide answers for her, as I had in the past, when teaching her to contain and control her modest magical talents. Even if she had trusted me to show her the answers she needed, to be her guide through the darkness.
I’d done the right thing.
Dammit.

Where have we heard this before?

[Bad Alias]

I don't think so. Book 1 for example. Even if Murphy know that Bianca is a vampire, she can tore the mask open. Bianca also does not go around sucking Murphy's blood just because Murphy is annoying her. Unless someone truly touch her bottom line, the likes of Bianca will play via mortal means. Using money and political pressure to handle matters.

So even one have contact with a supernatural like Bianca, it is not that easy to actually enter the game. This is especially true during the early part of the series. The supernatural world is still peaceful at the time, and even the war with the red court is unlikely to start so early if not for Harry triggering it. Under such a peaceful times, the supernaturals tends to hide more. Later part of the series, especially after the red court is wiped and the appearance of the fomor resulted in the loosening  of the veil of secrecy, but that is far from book 3. If Susan could survive until book 12 on her own, she'll would become a different person.

Using Bianca as an example, Murphy questioning her about the death of a prostitute is nothing like Susan trying to expose Bianca as a vampire to the general public. The reason Bianca doesn't kill Murphy is because that sort of thing is likely lead to a mob burning the scary monster.

Really?  page 35 Turn Coat...There is nothing equivocal about that statement..  Kirby chose to put himself in harm's way.. He was an adult making adult choices..  He had chosen to be part of the pack as a werewolf long before he met Harry..   

Harry: I'm sorry.
Billy: [Shrugs. Portion you quoted].

This could be taken as "yeah it is your fault, but Kirby knew that you were going to get us killed eventually." I don't read it like that, but I don't read it as "it's not your fault, Harry" either. I don't know what's more equivocal than a shrug. To "raise (one's shoulders) slightly and momentarily to express doubt, ignorance, or indifference." I think the strongest readings are doubt as to if it's Harry's fault on one end and indifference on the other.

@Kindler: Hit the nail on the head, though Morris is right that one of the exposed Alphas was dead whether or not Kirby picked up the idiot ball and ran with it. I'm not entirely sure if staying behind a threshold would be of sufficient protection. If we go by the toad demon in Storm Front, the answer is definitely no.

The whole point of the attack was about Council politics and  Peabody's attempt to cover his mistakes to maintain his position as a mole in the White Council.  Things that Dresden had withheld from his Mushrooms(the Alphas).  They knew almost nothing of the Council or the fact that that there was an overarching plot in the works to destroy the Council by a traitor.  Which is, if I may say, several orders of magnitude above any threat the Alphas had been exposed to by that point.

In the case of Susan and Kim Harry either makes too much or too little information available.  In Susan's case she is a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect, she over estimates her competence, Harry would have done better to involve her more and make her aware of the hazards and the mechanics of how the supernatural world works, like the privileges of guests for example.  In Kim's case if he wasn't going to help he should have never drawn the circle on the piece of paper, the same piece that triggers Murphy's attack.

I don't see how informing the Alpha's about all that would have helped. Your point about Susan is good. Harry wasn't perfect, but he was right.

The way I see it is that these people, not the Alphas, acknowledge Harry as an expert who knows what he's talking about while they don't. They ask him questions and then ignore his answers. It infuriates me when people do this with me.

@Morris: I really think Kim is completely at fault. She had no idea what she was doing. Harry would have been completely irresponsible to tell her all about a greater summoning circle she wasn't prepared for, but was clearly planning on using. She could have unleashed some horrible elder thing on the third largest city in America. She could easily have told Harry what was going on. MacFinn could definitely afford his rates. If all the good guys had been straight with Harry in Fool Moon, Harry would have had the case wrapped up in 24 hours without much danger. Of course that would have made a terrible story.

[Mr. Death]

First of all he didn't know until he saw her at the party that she had stolen then forged, then crashed the party..  Harry very clearly warns her, "they are vampires, they eat people..."  He wasn't going to go because he felt it was too dangerous for him.

Missing the point. It doesn't matter that Harry didn't know what she was going to do. Harry told her a pretty bare bones assessment "they are vampires, they eat people," which she didn't take seriously. He could have told her more that would have made her more wary about the situation.

She was hot to trot about the scoop and she handled the Loop etc...

She "handled" it by waiting in the van and then doing nothing but hold the camera while Harry killed it.

Yeah, she'd seen a few Dracula movies and perhaps read the book so she was prepared...  How much information beyond "they eat people" do you need?

Lots of things can eat people. I know bears eat people, but I still go hiking in the woods. There's a lot more to vampires than "they eat people," and honestly putting it like that just doesn't get across the real horror of them.

Susan is a smart girl, she never asked, "what do you mean they eat people? How do they do that?"  No, she was too focused on the scoop, the exclusive...

Right, and Harry -- who knows how intrepid a reporter she is -- does nothing to further inform her.

[nadia.skylark]

Susan for example. She is a reporter. She is looking for a scoop. The only she could keep getting into othentic supernatural news is if someone direct her into it. Without someone like Harry, she can only snoop around randomly. The likelihood she'll actually get into deep water is if she truly has rotten luck. Gotten strike by lighting on a clear day kind of rotten luck. It is possible, but unlikely.

We have explicit canon evidence that it is easy to find out about the supernatural if you go looking for it. Anna Valmont says so in Skin Game.

The average vampire will only see her as just another bag of blood and there is plenty of blood bag out there. The poor, the homeless, the desperate. why should they target her?

Because she went looking for them. The vampires explicitly don't want the masquerade broken, and even if they didn't care about that, why would they turn down food that willingly delivers itself to them?

1. when the Alphas actually engaged the Skinwalker immediately after Kirby got his throat ripped out and Andi was beaten, they successfully drove it off. They didn't beat it, or hurt it, but they put it at a temporary disadvantage long enough for it to not see enough profit in continuing the engagement. So I don't think the Alphas were defenseless.

I'd always assumed, based on the fight at the Raith house, that the Skinwalker allowed itself to get chased off because it had done what it wanted to do there.

If Harry Flippin' Dresden, Big Bad Brother Harry, as Butters calls him—the guy who the Alphas saw take down an entire group of Fae cavalry with one spell, a guy they've personally witnessed take on a pack of Hexenwulves AND a loup-garou, a guy with a reputation for being tough, competent, and extremely powerful (relative to them)—if THAT guy came to me, desperately calculating prime numbers to maintain his grip on his sanity, white as a sheet, telling me that he needed a dark, quiet place for an hour and a half before he was stable enough to function, and that whatever was after him was "really bad," my first response wouldn't be "Let's post two guards several dozen yards away from any kind of protection." It would be "Everyone come into my apartment; we're going to keep watch through the windows and guard ourselves behind a threshold, because something terrifying and powerful enough to send the most badass person we've ever met into gibbering madness is coming, and it's pretty obvious we should do whatever we can to protect ourselves without engaging it."

I mean, shouldn't Billy or Georgia have been smart enough to think, "Hey, maybe this thing could reduce us to insanity too?" And shouldn't Kirby have thought, "Hey, I not only have better senses as a wolf, but I'm faster, stronger, and harder to kill, so I should probably stay as a wolf while I know something dangerous is around?"

Yes, Harry led the skinwalker to the area. But a couple of things about that. 1. Harry didn't have much of a choice. There was, quite literally, nowhere else to go. He couldn't have made it back to his apartment where a threshold would have protected him in the state he was in. He couldn't hide in a crowd of people, because there would be too much noise or light for him to do what he had to. Billy's place was the only one that would be both safe and quiet enough for him to recover. And 2. They don't take Harry's warning seriously enough. Applying even an ounce of genre savviness would have been enough for the Alphas to have escaped without permanent injury.

Maybe you can argue that Harry should have given Billy the rundown on the greater supernatural world, but I don't think it would've done them any good. They already knew there were things like the Loup Garou out there that they couldn't handle. They knew that there were WolfWeres like Tera West that were old and powerful enough to train humans to turn into wolves, so they had to know that the supernatural was bigger, weirder, and more dangerous than they thought. And when you have the guy who sets the bar for humanity's stand against the Spooky Things in the Night come to you and tell you that something really bad is coming, you take all the steps you can to make sure that you and yours stay alive.

This.

In Susan's case she is a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect, she over estimates her competence, Harry would have done better to involve her more and make her aware of the hazards and the mechanics of how the supernatural world works, like the privileges of guests for example.

Given that Susan was involved in the big werewolf fight at the end of Fool Moon, I feel like she had enough information to realize that, when Harry said the vampire party was too dangerous for him, it was also too dangerous for her. Also, if Harry had told her more about the supernatural world, she would have published it, and that would have been disastrous.

In Kim's case if he wasn't going to help he should have never drawn the circle on the piece of paper, the same piece that triggers Murphy's attack.

I thought that didn't draw it, but rather that  Kim brought the paper with the circle on it with her.

What Harry could have done with Susan--which after learning better, he does with Murphy--is recognize that she wasn't to going to listen to advice that amounted to leave the supernatural alone because it's too dangerous. Since she was never going to be sensible, he probably should have clued her enough that she understood that she needed to drastically change how she approached the  supernatural.

The problem here is that I'm 99% certain that there was nothing Harry could have done to stop Susan publishing the information if he had given it to her at that point, and that would have been disastrous.

But she thought she could handle it because Harry didn't really detail how dangerous it would be, i.e., that if she was caught with a fake invitation she wouldn't just be kicked out, she'd be eaten or worse.

Really? I'd thought that Harry made it perfectly clear that he considered going to the party tantamount to suicide.

Using Bianca as an example, Murphy questioning her about the death of a prostitute is nothing like Susan trying to expose Bianca as a vampire to the general public. The reason Bianca doesn't kill Murphy is because that sort of thing is likely lead to a mob burning the scary monster.

This.

The way I see it is that these people, not the Alphas, acknowledge Harry as an expert who knows what he's talking about while they don't. They ask him questions and then ignore his answers. It infuriates me when people do this with me.

@Morris: I really think Kim is completely at fault. She had no idea what she was doing. Harry would have been completely irresponsible to tell her all about a greater summoning circle she wasn't prepared for, but was clearly planning on using. She could have unleashed some horrible elder thing on the third largest city in America. She could easily have told Harry what was going on. MacFinn could definitely afford his rates. If all the good guys had been straight with Harry in Fool Moon, Harry would have had the case wrapped up in 24 hours without much danger. Of course that would have made a terrible story.

This.

Missing the point. It doesn't matter that Harry didn't know what she was going to do. Harry told her a pretty bare bones assessment "they are vampires, they eat people," which she didn't take seriously. He could have told her more that would have made her more wary about the situation.

I'm unconvinced that Susan would have taken anything Harry might have told her as a warning seriously enough to avoid going. Also, see above regarding the inadvisability of sharing this kind of information with someone you know is going to publish it.

She "handled" it by waiting in the van and then doing nothing but hold the camera while Harry killed it.

I think the point is that she saw how dangerous it was.

Lots of things can eat people. I know bears eat people, but I still go hiking in the woods.

Sure, but I bet you wouldn't go up to a bear that the bear expert said was to dangerous for him to get near, and try to get a selfie with it.

[morriswalters]

@Bad Alias
Let's approach this from a different direction.  What purpose does Kirby's death serve in the story?  The only thing that occurs is the opportunity for Billy and Harry to have that talk. Will effectively says, if we can die helping you than you need to tell us why we should help.  We're owed that for what we might have to give. I'll discuss it further if we can agree on that point.

@nadia.skylark

I thought that didn't draw it, but rather that  Kim brought the paper with the circle on it with her.

Asked and answered.

[Bad Alias]

Harry told her a pretty bare bones assessment "they are vampires, they eat people," which she didn't take seriously. He could have told her more that would have made her more wary about the situation.

That he said it was too dangerous for him to go under the protection of guest right would have been enough for me. That's the part that makes me put the blame 100% on Susan (as between the two of them).

@Bad Alias
Let's approach this from a different direction.  What purpose does Kirby's death serve in the story?  The only thing that occurs is the opportunity for Billy and Harry to have that talk. Will effectively says, if we can die helping you than you need to tell us why we should help.  We're owed that for what we might have to give. I'll discuss it further if we can agree on that point.

@nadia.skylark [Objection!] Asked and answered.

I agree to that point, but don't see it's relevance to the question "How often does Harry's withholding of information actually get people hurt..." Kirby died for a couple of story reasons. One is to raise the tensions and stakes. One is to give Billy the moral authority to demand to be read in. I'll even agree that JB did it so that Harry would start moving in the direction of letting others choose if they were going to subject themselves to dangerous knowledge. To let adults choose their own fate instead of having Harry protect them. That's a slow narrative shift that started in Summer Knight with Murphy. I'd say (but don't really remember) that narrative direction ended here with it moving in a new direction of Harry hiding things to protect himself, though an element of that has always been there. That's part of the reason Harry didn't tell Kim about Archangels and Demonlords or whatever it was.

I just don't see how Harry better informing the Alphas of the wider world of supernatural creatures or politics would have helped in this situation. I do see how establishing protocols/threat levels/tactics, etc. with simple titles like "code blue," "red alert," or "omega protocol" could have changed things and whether or not Harry should have established something like that. I would be happy to discuss such, but that isn't the point I'm making.

[forumghost]

Missing the point. It doesn't matter that Harry didn't know what she was going to do. Harry told her a pretty bare bones assessment "they are vampires, they eat people," which she didn't take seriously. He could have told her more that would have made her more wary about the situation.

He did. He told her that the Host of the Party (Bianca) had a grudge against him specifically and was almost definitely planning on using the Party as cover for an assassination attempt.

And Susan insisted on going anyway, because she was clutching the Idiot Ball so tightly her knuckles probably went white.

"Oh so this is a trap to kill Harry as a revenge plot, I'm sure that there's no danger in me The Woman he's publicly dating going there!"

Like, there's stupid, and then there's just plain dumb.

[morriswalters]

I just don't see how Harry better informing the Alphas of the wider world of supernatural creatures or politics would have helped in this situation.

Nothing was ever going to make this any better, that should be obvious from the attack at Raith Manor. However the question is answered directly in the text.

He nodded. “So. If I’d had this conversation with you sooner, maybe they wouldn’t be. Maybe if we’d had a better idea about what’s actually going on in the world, it would have changed how we approached things. They follow my lead, Harry. I have a responsibility to make sure that I do everything in my power to make them aware and safe.”

And Jim throws a little irony around later when he throws out this little snippet.

“As far as the Council is concerned, the U.S. Wardens are a bunch of mushrooms.”
“Eh?”
“Kept in the dark and fed on bullshit.”

[Mira]

Missing the point. It doesn't matter that Harry didn't know what she was going to do. Harry told her a pretty bare bones assessment "they are vampires, they eat people," which she didn't take seriously. He could have told her more that would have made her more wary about the situation

No, I am not,   he didn't just tell her they eat people, he emphasized that he felt it was too dangerous even for himself.  Susan prided herself on being a good reporter,they gather information, but she never pushed him with one question about them, not one...  All she could think about was "what a great scoop" it would be and that Harry was being over protective... Once that got on her brain she was deaf to any further warnings he tried to give her...  She had gotten though the other things safely, discounting luck and the fact that Harry was there to save the day... So how dangerous could a nest of vampires be? She didn't need his protection she decided.  It still comes back to who stole, forged the invitation, and crashed the party?  Who?  In my book that makes Susan solely responsible for her actions and what happened to her..  She had wanted to make her name so badly with an exclusive, it didn't matter how much information Harry gave her.  In fact the more he told her the more excited and deaf she became to any warnings against it.

She "handled" it by waiting in the van and then doing nothing but hold the camera while Harry killed it.

She didn't exactly wait in the van, she took a video of it remember?   Of Harry killing it if I remember correctly..  She said she had handled it, in her mind she had, it doesn't matter in her mind that she had gotten it all out of perspective, and the fact that if Harry hadn't been able to kill it she could very well have been toast..

    I just don't see how Harry better informing the Alphas of the wider world of supernatural creatures or politics would have helped in this situation.

Nothing was ever going to make this any better, that should be obvious from the attack at Raith Manor. However the question is answered directly in the text.
Quote

    He nodded. “So. If I’d had this conversation with you sooner, maybe they wouldn’t be. Maybe if we’d had a better idea about what’s actually going on in the world, it would have changed how we approached things. They follow my lead, Harry. I have a responsibility to make sure that I do everything in my power to make them aware and safe.”

And Jim throws a little irony around later when he throws out this little snippet.
Quote

You are still ignoring the fact that when the pack first came up against the skinwalker, when Kirby got killed.   Harry had no clue what they were up against except it was bad and dangerous.. The attack on the Raiths came later in the book..  Will made his point because Harry was vague about the island, Kirby's death earned them the right to have all the information when they go up against something, and Harry agreed... But again, in the attack where Kirby got killed, Harry had given  them the only information he had in the moment or was able to give because he was totally freaked out by it.   The pack still decided to back him, their choice... Harry wasn't responsible that that, from then on if the pack decided to follow him, and he knew now what it was, then it is his duty to tell them all he knows about what they are getting into and not to shield them..


clue what it was, just that it w