Snape vs. Sirius, round 2

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 34732

Marina wrote:

>... I think it's rather unfair to blame Sirius for the public's
> panicked reaction to his escape.  The only way he could've avoided
> that was to stay put in Azkaban, and that wasn't a viable option. 
> Sure, it's easy for us to say "why didn't he just owl Dumbledore?", 
> but Sirius was ...in no condition, and no position, to be either
> trusting or optimistic, and he would've needed to have both of those
> qualities in spades to believe that all his problems could be 
> resolved simply by writing a letter to an authority figure saying 
> "no, really, I didn't do it."...<

I definitely don't think Sirius should have stayed in Azkaban.  But, 
there was no reason for him not to tell Dumbledore what was going on. 
We know he had access to owls (he used one to buy Harry's broom) and 
he had a whole year to think of this soultion.  He didn't need to 
think this would solve all his probems; he just had to realize that it 
couldn't hurt and give it a try.

(Of course, the real reason Sirius didn't do this is that it would 
ruin the plot.  But we are talking here as if Sirius was a real 
person.)

Devin also defended Sirius, saying that Sirius' violence in his adult 
years was
> "because he'd been in a place with Dementors for twelve years with
> insanity calling his name, and in his teenage years, simply because
> he was a teenager)"<

OK, we can try to excuse Sirius' behavior as a teenager, and we can 
try to excuse his behavior as an adult.  Unfortunately, that's just 
about all of his behavior that we know of.  *Maybe* he'd be a great 
guy if he wasn't a teenager and wasn't traumatized, but, maybe not.  I 
really don't see his being in Azkaban as an excuse for attacking the 
Fat Lady or for not apologizing for breaking Ron's leg, or for his 
glib claim that Snape deserved being fed to a werewolf.   Azkaban 
makes people depressed; it doesn't force people to be violent or lack 
remorse. (It probably makes people quite remorseful, in fact.). 

I think one of the reasons I like Snape better than Sirius is that 
Snape mostly just *says* nasty things, he doesn't get violent like 
Sirius.  My family is full of people who say lots of nasty things, and 
don't even realize they're hurting people's feelings.  In fact, I was 
like that myself for a long time, without even realizing I was doing 
it. 

-- Judy