Remus changed James and Sirius was Re: Remus is the worst

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 99414

 Ally wrote:-

>>>> It didn't JUST take the KKK or the Nazis to commit these 
atrocities.  It took the silence and refusal to intervene of those 
around them. The actors and the passive observers were equal 
partners in the terrible things that occurred.  Their passivity was 
a necessary component of the actors' success.  But we focus so much 
on the actors - because they're out in the open - that we forget the 
role the passive observers play.  
 
> So what makes Remus worse to me is, in a sense, the easy 
presumption that he somehow isn't.  At least  Sirius' impetuousness 
and arrogance are out in the open.  Remus' wishy-washiness - his 
contribution to Snape's humiliation - is hidden.  He is a partner in 
it, but pretends he isn't.  It makes it easier to feel you aren't 
responsible if you don't act, and it makes it easy for others to 
forget the part you played.>>>

Ali responds:-  

I agree that Lupin is in many ways an emotional coward. I think that 
Lupin himself would agree. But I feel that your comparison is rather 
an extreme one.

Lupin is certainly guilty of not carrying out the role of prefect 
properly, but that is hardly a crime. 

Are you a criminal because you watch a crime? I don't think so. He's 
not an accessory to James' and Sirius' crimes, he did not agree with 
much of what they did. He just didn't have the gumption to face up 
to them. Even so, his lack of support did temper their, err, shall 
we say enthusiasm. The fact that he did not challenge them to stop, 
is not the same as giving them tacit support – they knew that.

There is a very famous phrase, which I misquoted once before, but is 
something along the lines of   "For evil to succeed, all it needs is 
for good men to do nothing". 

There are two things that need to be pointed out here; Lupin did not 
collude with Sirius and James: he made them "feel ashamed of 
ourselves sometimes" p. 591 OoP UK edition. Secondly, look at my 
garbled quote: the phrase "good men". It is a sad fact that through 
history basically good people have failed to stand up to atrocities. 
This certainly doesn't make them brave, but I absolutely fail to see 
how this makes them as bad or worse as the ones who are committing 
the acts.

I don't think that anybody would try and argue that Sirius and James 
were not bullies. But, however despicable their acts, I feel they 
fall a long way short of the heinous groups you mentioned.

However much we like to imagine ourselves as brave and doing 
the "right" thing, fear is a very real emotion and threats whether 
real or perceived can have very real consequences. 

Is it not possible that had Lupin challenged James and Sirius, they 
would simply have bullied him as well? But instead, they had a moral 
compass attached to them, and in time, little by little, they did 
take heed of it, and ceased to act like bullies. Perhaps, Lupin's 
cowardice actually paid off and did more for them than if he had 
openly challenged them. By staying with them, but without supporting 
them he helped them to see the error of their ways more than any 
detentions or confrontations would ever have done.


Ali