Fear of Werewolves is Justified (was Defense of Hagrid, Hagrid's Teaching, Flobberworms, etc.)

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 40375

7Amanda said:

> Okay. I don't dislike Lupin; I like his character very much. That 
said...
> 
> He is a *werewolf.* In my eyes, that is considerably more than 
simply being
> "a member of a group targeted for bigotry." That is being a member 
of a
> group that is damned dangerous. Lycanthropy is incurable; it will 
cut you
> off from society, the only parallel I can think of as adequate is 
leprosy
> and how leprosy has been perceived. Devastating. Permanent. 
Painful. Final.
> 
> As a parent, I would immediately have requested Lupin's dismissal. 
I would
> not have wanted my children exposed to any such danger. Even if I 
made the
> decision, for myself, to associate with a werewolf, being sure that 
he was
> in control of himself, I still would not make that decision for my 
children.
> I would protect them. I certainly would not want someone else 
making that
> decision, without even letting me know.
> 
> Snape considers that Lupin is a danger. I think this is true 
whether or not
> Lupin was assisting Black. I think the werewolf thing is enough. 
Snape may
> well have enjoyed letting it slip, after having held his tongue all 
year,
> but he is nothing if not multi-motivational. I don't think he was 
nice about
> it, but I don't think he was wrong.


I say:

Perhaps the result of his actions is not wrong, but his motivation 
for doing them, as I read the text, is completely unprofessional as a 
teacher, which is what this discussion is about.

What really motivated Snape to first attempt to get the students to 
figure it out (by the werewolf essay) and then to flat-out tell the 
Slytherins?

I certainly don't believe it was fear of a werewolf or concern for 
the well-being of the students. 

Lupin was the most popular DADA teacher in quite some time, and given 
the students' enjoyment of his lessons, would have that post as long 
as he wanted it OR until his condition was made public.

Again, I don't disagree that having a werewolf teach class is a shaky 
situation to say the least, but I simply don't believe Snape cared a 
damn for any of that. His history shows that he is cavalier with the 
students' well-being.

Snape got exactly what he needed from that night in the Shrieking 
Shack, an excuse to reveal Lupin. Had a student died, it probably 
just makes his case that much stronger.
 
> Hagrid, on the other hand, *is* simply "a member of a group 
targeted for
> bigotry." We are not shown how Snape reacts to Hagrid's lineage, 
but I'm
> willing to bet he has taken his cue from Dumbledore and treats with 
the
> individual, rather than the category. Hagrid is not a devastating 
threat to
> the students; Lupin is.
> 


And Snape doesn't want Hagrid's job. Nor does he hate Hagrid from his 
schoolboy days.


As for the AIDS parallel that Ellen:

I think the most apt parallel is a teacher with a psychological 
condition that must be controlled by medication.

Students are in no real danger from a teacher that has AIDS, but a 
werewolf is a danger. 

Darrin 
-- has a psychological condition that must be controlled by ice cream