A Sirius Offense

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 35022

Penny <pennylin at s...> wrote:

> Sirius *does* engage in interactive, give-and-take *relationships* 
> with other human beings.  Snape does *not*!  ... C'mon 
> Snape-fans, you've got to concede that your man Snape really really 
> lacks interpersonal skills hugely. 

Nope, not going to concede it. Remember, we are seeing things from 
Harry's point of view, and Snape and Harry despise each other.  
Sirius, on the other hand, is Harry's godfather, and cares about Harry 
perhaps more than any other person in the world. So, of course Sirius 
comes across as much friendlier in the text than Snape does; Sirius is 
interacting with someone he likes (or loves) and Snape is interacting 
with someone he despises (or even hates.)  
 
Snape knows how to interact with others when he feels like it.  
Remember how he was manipulating Fudge at the end of PoA?  (Well, 
until Sirius escaped and he lost it.)


Penny then referred to some of my old posts, where I said:
>> As for whether Azkaban is still an excuse for Black's violent
>> behavior, even 10 months later, I don't think so. First of all,
>> PTSD rarely makes people violent, unless they were that
>> way to begin with.<<

Penny replied:
> I asked a friend from church who *does* specialize in PTSD therapy 
> ....He said that PTSD does not "normally" lead 
> to violent behavior but certainly can.... Reasonable minds can > 
disagree of course.  :--)

I actually don't think we are disagreeing much here about the effects 
of PTSD.  We both are saying that PTSD doesn't usually cause violence, 
although it can in some cases.  What differs is the interpretation we 
are making of this.  You are emphasizing that PTSD *can* increase the 
probability of violence, and therefore see PTSD as an excuse for 
Sirius' behavior.  I am saying it usually *doesn't* cause violence, 
therefore a person w/PTSD who turns violent must have been more prone 
to violence in the first place than are most people.  

For the record, I don't think Sirius Black is evil.  (Although in a 
parody I am writing, I am currently calling him "Seriously Bad," 
mostly because I haven't come up with a better name yet.)  He's just 
not the type of guy that I like. 

-- Judy (who's just kidding about the title of this post!)