One last try (re: Parenting Harry (was: Re: I don't like him much))

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 120227


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Harry is much older than my son, but he's still a child, and Snape 
is
> an adult. That's why, for example, I still argue that Harry should
> show respect to Snape, even though Snape doesn't show respect to
> Harry. It's not fair, but Snape is an adult and Harry is a kid, so
> that's the way it should be IMO. Snape should in turn be punished by
> his own superior for not showing any respect to one of the students
> (*if* showing respect to the students is required of the teachers at
> Hogwarts), but whether Snape is indeed punished or not shouldn't 
have
> any influence on Harry's actions. That's not his business.
> 

In an ideal world, yes, I would agree that it should work that way.  
But I'm afraid this just isnt'the way people are, kids or otherwise.  
You don't show respect to people who don't respect you, unless said 
respect is based on fear and then it really isn't respect, but 
obedience based on politics.

As for it not being Harry's business whether Snape is punished or 
not, once again I agree in an ideal world it would work that way.  
But once again that just isn't the way people are.  If people 
percieve that their superiors are not being held to reasonably just 
standards of conduct, it breeds cynicism and resistance, either 
passive or active.  I've just in the past few months been involved 
(as an observer) in an enormous mess on a military base where it was 
perceived that officers and enlisted personnel were held to different 
standards of honesty.  Now, one can certainly argue (the Universal 
Code of Military Justice in fact says) that enlisted personnel should 
respect their officers irregardless of how the military system deals 
with those officers.  However, everyone involved, including the Judge 
Advocate, readily acknowledged that just isn't how life works, in the 
Air Force or anywhere else.  In fact, the JA went so far as to say 
that the quickest way to utterly destroy discipline (as opposed to 
obedience based on the politics of self-interest) is to apply it 
unfairly and inconsistently across different levels.

Lupinlore