Snape & Harry

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 101326

Alla wrote :
> Are you saying that Harry should pretend that he respects Snape out 
> of fear of being punished?

Del replies :
Funny :-) That seems to be a horrible concept to you, but it never
bothered me. I take it as one of the rules of the Life Game : He who
has the power gets the respect - or the appearance of it ;-) If
someone has power over me, then I will show them respect, no matter
whether they earned it or not. If I have power over someone, I expect
them to show me respect. It is perfectly hypocritical, I grant you
that, but the point is : it works. If you give respect to people, they
are much more inclined to give you what you want. 

So yes, if I were in Harry's shoes, I'd try and show respect to Snape,
just to get him off my back. I did that with some nasty teachers or
coworkers, and it worked remarkably well. We didn't end up loving each
other, but at least we were civil towards each other. Which is much
more than can be said of Harry and Snape's relationship.

Del
(and just in case you're wondering : no, I'm not nasty with whoever
doesn't have power over me :-)