Jinxed Jobs /Teachers in the WW/ What standards are we using... LONG

[lagattalucianese]

No: HPFGUIDX 144379

>
...
> 
> > Pippin:
> <SNIP>
> > Neville didn't have to work so hard to fix his potion. He could 
have
> > tipped the cauldron over, or told Trevor to get lost, or picked 
up 
> his
> > toad and walked out.  The worst he would have gotten is detention.
> > loss of House Points and a zero for the day. If Snape did do 
> anything
> > worse than that, then he would be in violation of Hogwarts rules, 
> > and we've not seen that Dumbledore tolerated that from Snape, have
> > we? 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Forgive me for asking again , but I just want to be sure - is the 
> gist of your argument that Snape is not to be blamed for what he 
does 
> to Harry and Neville AT ALL? That nothing is Snape's fault, that 
> Neville is at fault for being so terrified of Snape and Harry is at 
> fault for talking back to Snape and being James'son?
> 
> I am not being sarcastic here, Pippin, I honestly want to know, 
> because from the past discussions on those topics we had I got the 
> impression that your position is very different from what you seem 
to 
> be arguing now. I guess I misinterpreted you either now or back 
then,
> 
> Alla,
> 
> confused again.
>
I think the argument here, if I'm following it correctly, is that 
yes, Snape is responsible for how he treats Neville and Harry, BUT 
(and that's a big BUT ;D), Harry and Neville are responsible for how 
they react to his treatment of them. It's a hard lesson that I've had 
to learn in dealing with my own mother, who in the child abuse 
department makes Snape look like Little Mary Sunshine (*and* she's 
still trying it, when she's 90 and I'm 62!). You simply have to 
accept that the person who is hurting you is not going to stop 
hurting you, either because they can't (in Snape's case; I think he 
was so hurt by other children when he was a child that he can't get 
past what is almost a fight-or-flight reflex whenever he comes into 
conflict with a child, even as an adult, particularly when the child 
in question reminds him of one of his childhood tormentors), or 
because for some perverse reason it gives them pleasure (in my 
mother's case). What you can do is take responsiblity for how you 
react to what they're doing, up to and including removing yourself 
from their physical proximity and refusing to acknowledge or respond 
to their verbal attacks. Admittedly, Harry and Neville don't have 
this option long-term if they want to pass Potions, but they do have 
the option of keeping their cool and refusing to let the situation 
escalate. I kind of think that, in spite of their intermittent 
kerfluffles, this is how Hermione handles Snape, which is why you 
don't find him picking fights with her on a regular basis. I can see 
her giving him one of those long, cool looks, as much as to say, "Oh, 
do you really *think* so, *Professor* Snape?"

--La Gatta