"Professor" Snape

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 98226

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "finwitch" <finwitch at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> Army also has a requirement of obedience - but, particularly with 
> Harry Potter-world, where there is a thing like Imperius Curse - 
> well, taking orders from people just because they were born 
earlier, 
> or just because a third party put them in place where they SHOULD 
be 
> teaching you - well, it disables you from resisting Imperius Curse.

Could you explain that a bit, please?  Are you saying that being 
polite hinders a person from being able to resist the Imperius 
Curse? 
> 
> And using those 'honorific?' words CAN be used to show disrespect 
as 
> well. (Fred&George are the experts on doing that!)

Fred and George are not an example that is available for Harry to 
follow.  They're fun, but they're anarchists, and can only be 
tolerated in small doses.  Their removal from Hogwarts shows the 
limits of their method - either all order would collapse, or they 
would be ejected from the community, and obviously any community 
that wants to preserve itself will opt for the latter course.  Fred 
and George are outsiders by the end of the story - at least, as far 
as the Hogwarts-centered part of the story is concerned.  I'm sure 
they'll continue to have a role in the books, and will be part of 
the struggle against Voldemort, but as a support for Harry while at 
Hogwarts, they're gone.
> 
> Also, do you consider Gilderoy Lockhart as respectable just 
because 
> he was a professor? Or Dolores Umbridge for that matter?

Why ask me?  Why not ask someone who had to deal with them, like 
Snape?  It's perfectly clear that he does not respect either 
Lockhart or Umbridge, but unlike Harry, he is obedient to the rules 
of Hogwarts, and he shows them outward respect.  (And with Snape's 
personality, that must require heroic effort.)  And in the end, 
which tactic is better?  What does Harry accomplish by all his 
theatrical demonstrations of disdain?  He sabotages his own 
occlumency lessons with Snape.  He gets his hand sliced up for 
detention with Umbridge.  He draws attention to himself at every 
turn, so that he and his friends have to sneak around and elude 
hostile scrutiny.  By contrast, Snape and the rest of the teachers 
carry out a completely effective campaign to tie up and neutralize 
Umbridge while maintaining a respectful and even agreeable facade.  
> 
> And I don't think Harry's being disrespectful or rude to Snape - 
he's 
> not calling him 'Snivellus', is he?
> 
It's only a question of degree.  If he isn't being disrespectful, 
then why is Dumbledore always correcting him? 

Wanda