Harry, Snape,Occlumency

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 94540

Anne wrote:
> <snip> However, for Military trained people (and those kids raised
in a military school, military families, or participating in ROTC),
the ability to remain calm and rational no matter *what* Mr Asshole
Seargant is screaming (or nasty task he has set for you, including
traching your project at a moment's notice and telling you to "Start
over again, asshole")  at you is one of the primary foci of training.
Why? Because later, when you're stuck in a fox hole with bombs going
off right over your head, a bleeding gut wound, and the best buddy you
knew since high school laying right next to you with his guts hanging
out, you're still going to have to be able to function and *think* in
order to survive where you're at. Emotional reaction won't cut it.
Neither will a passive attitude. And without certain training, most
people can NOT function effectively in a violent situation like that.
They panic, they make emotional decisions, and nine times out of ten,
it kills them, and/or the people around them.
<snip>

It is ALSO exactly the treatment Snape gives to his students <snip>

To put it into a little bit of cannon *speculation*, this is why, I
suspect, some of Snape's actions (horrid as they are by even Rowling's
standards), are permitted and maybe even encouraged. The WW is at WAR.
War means that the peaceful, kind of way of dealing with things is a
luxury, and not, unfortunately, a right (Unless you would like to
'rightfully' loose your mind under pressure and then die as a result).
Sad but true. Like in RL wars of the past, the WW is under the
unslaught of a sadistic, amoral, evil bastard that, if not stopped,
will indeed visit a very bloody Holocast on the wizards, witches,
muggles and other creatures of Rowling's world.
> 
You can believe Snape is truly abusive or not, a horrid teacher or
not, but he is still delivering necessary lessons for a generation who
is not living in utopic peace...and is in fact at the moment, hurtling
to it's exact opposite--Hell on Earth--thanks to Voldemort. And
although what Snape does can be argued as 'damaging' to the kids in
present day pyschology terms, it will still help them when up against
Voldemort--because they will *already* know how to keep thinking, no
matter what's getting thrown at them, thanks to having to deal with Snape.
 
No one likes thier drill Sergeant...not until months or years later
when they are in thier unit, trapped in a do or die situation, and
those words "Think, Soldier!" come flashing through thier mind at the
crucial moment, and saves them.

Carol:
Thanks, Anne, for a thought-provoking post. You're absolutely right
that the WW is at war and that the student "soldiers" must be prepared
to deal with it or die. And note that Snape is actually, in a sense,
putting himself in Voldemort's place as an enemy out to get Harry:
("You are handing me weapons to use against you!") Snape *can't* say
"You're giving Voldemort weapons" in case LV encounters this memory in
Harry's head, and anyway, he's under orders from Dumbledore not to
tell Harry esactly what's going on. So instead he bears the brunt of
Harry's anger and suggests that *he* is the enemy whom Harry must
learn to resist. I don't think this is a flaw in his teaching methods.
I think it's a necessary simulation of a much worse encounter that
Harry is very likely to face.

Carol, who thinks that the anti-Snape faction should make up its mind
whether to blame him for the way he taught Occlumency *or* for ending
the lessons. It's neither fair nor logical to blame him for both.