Fred and George: The Bullies You Do Know

[jferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 43292

Lucky_kari:"I went through hell with bullies at my very toney 
Hogwarts-like private school. Here is their profile.

- Rich. Upper-middle class. Well-dressed.
- Popular with students and teachers.
- High academic achievers.
- Physically unimposing.
- Overly sentimental in regards to animals and little children, while 
completely unempathetic to other weaker children.
- Cliqueish and elitist."

I guess that fits in with the 'overbearing' shorthand of the 
dictionary definition, but it doesn't relate in any way to Fred and 
George, except the 'popular' part. You didn't mean to suggest, I'm 
sure, that being popular is a sign of a bully.  Believe me, I know 
what you're talking about. I lived until relatively recently in 
Greenwich, Connecticut, which I have described to people who don't 
know it as "a 90% Slytherin" town.

lucky_kari:"And Fred and George Weasley have always reminded me very 
much of them in some (though not all) of their attributes. They were 
the bullies that You Do Know, as Elkins put it, except I was one of 
the few who didn't."

I'm afraid I don't see it. I think it's a function of the era we live 
in.  Mark Twain would have understood Fred and George perfectly, 
throwbacks to an era that wasn't as sensitive as this one. 

They are just, by their lights; I don't believe they prey on the weak 
(we've never seen it in canon), and they don't go out of their way to 
make others feel bad. I'm sure they see other people as people, not 
objects.  As bb_mn said, they'd be more likely to beat a kid sticking 
a kid's head in a toilet than to do the sticking themselves. 

Their home and family certainly aren't predictors of bullying 
behavior; quite the opposite. Being twins and growing up with all 
those brothers did put a little more rough-and-tumble in their 
personalities than they might otherwise have had.

Am I saying Fred and George are perfect? Heck, no. They can be mighty 
inconsiderate of what their shenanigans do to the psyches and blood 
pressure of their parents and teachers. They sure aren't very 
sensitive or particularly introspective, to say the least, so they 
can be guilty of thoughtlessness. They'd be the last to say something 
cruel or cutting, though. it just wouldn't occur to them.

I'm just saying they aren't bullies.