Who's more out of line? (WAS: Snape and respect)

[serenadust <jmmears@comcast.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51125

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tom Wall <thomasmwall at y...>" 
<thomasmwall at y...> wrote:
> MELISSA (AND MANY OTHERS SIMILARLY) WROTE 
> RE: HERMIONE'S TEETH:
> 
> The last straw for me came in GoF, chapter 18, when 
> Hermione's teeth are hit by a spell and grow past her 
> chin, and his only reaction is to say, "I see no 
> difference." That was cruel and unprofessional. Snape 
> is a teacher, an adult. It's one thing for Malfoy's 
> group and Harry's group to be tossing insults back and 
> forth, but he has a duty to be above that. No matter how 
> hard I try, I just can't like Snape.
> 
> I REPLY:
> I'm amazed and the number of people that jumped on this 
> thread all at once. When I posted my devil's advocacy bit 
> yesterday, there was only the original post. When I check 
> today, there're, well, WAY more than that. ;-)
> 
> 
> So:
> 
> For everyone who got so upset over Snape's treatment of Hermione: 
> were you equally upset when Crouch/Moody turned Malfoy into a 
ferret 
> and started bouncing him around? 

Me:
Why would I be equally upset

I don't think that this one is a valid comparison.  Hermione was an 
innocent bystander who was injured by the curse Malfoy threw.  
Malfoy's ferret bouncing was in response to his trying to curse 
Harry from behind.  Throwing curses in the hallways is an egregious 
violation of the school rules; doing it where you could be seen by a 
teacher is just plain stupid, and doing it from behind is just vile, 
cowardly behaviour.


I was upset by Snape's treatment of Hermione and can't see 
how anyone can justify Snape's behavior in this case. Although I 
find Snape an interesting character,  I can never regard him as a 
good teacher (or decent human being, for that matter) because of his 
treatment of Hermione and Neville.

And, like Eileen, I was both horrified and greatly amused by Draco's 
ferret-bouncing (particularly in light of the fact that he gets off 
scot-free for hitting Hermione with that curse in the hall).  The 
first incident is totally unlike the second.




> Were you as shocked and angry as McGonagall, or, like Ron, did you 
> think it was farily amusing? I bet that some of us even thought 
that 
> Malfoy *deserved* it, didn't we?

Well, yes.  I thought of it as a "teaching moment".


> IMHO, if we want to be technical, this is a far more serious and  
> grievous offense, and it's a total betrayal of the relationship 
> between teacher and student. Far worse, at any rate, than letting 
a 
> cruel remark out. 

Yes, but it was really, really funny.  For me, that totally redeems 
Crouch/Moody bouncing Draco.

> And don't try to argue that it wasn't Moody anyways: *we* didn't 
know 
> that when it happened. 
> 
> Yet somehow I bet that most of us here still thought it was 
> uproariously funny.

Yes, I find that if a character is as amusing and entertaining as 
Moody/Crouch, and the target is a despicable little bully, somehow 
I'm going to be a lot less bothered when said bully is on the 
receiving end. I even considered it a much-needed educational moment 
for Draco. Some deep-seated personality flaw on my part, I guess, 
but there it is :--).

Jo Serenadust