[HPforGrownups] Character "rescues" (was Re: What cultural standards ...)

[Tammy Rizzo]

No: HPFGUIDX 144731

lupinlore wrote:

>
>That may very well be true, but what JKR intends very often isn't 
>what JKR gets.  We are back to the Problem of Three, as I mentioned 
>in another thread.  Snape, in my opinion and that of others, clearly 
>IS a child abuser, over and out.  And making said child abuser a hero 
>would be so abominable that the books would be useful for nothing but 
>rather expensive compost.  Just as Dumbledore, in not intervening at 
>the Dursleys, clearly WAS an accomplice to child abuse, at least 
>before HBP and, possibly, if you don't buy into the "rescue" JKR did 
>with him in Chapter Three, after.
>
>  
>
(big snip)

Then Jazmyn wrote:

What Snape does is not considered child abuse in the UK.  Only by a 
stretch of the imagination is it child abuse in the ultra liberal state 
of California and barely or not at all in most other states....  And by 
Wizard World standards, Snape is likely not even close to being anything 
more then grouchy.  I mean really, he doesn't transform students into 
ferrets and bounce them around, he doesn't even hex students at all and 
the students put hexes on each other that are bordering on life 
threatening.   Snape also doesn't have students tag along on extremely 
dangerous missions involving feeding the headmaster poison or require 
him to fight dragons, merpeople. etc.  He doesn't have the kids attempt 
to deal with dangerous creatures in class like Hagrid does.

Clearly the Wizard World does not define abuse anywhere near what 
muggles do.. and certainly nothing like the ultra-liberals in California 
would.  If anything, Snape is actually pretty nice to the kids as 
compared to how the kids often treat each other.  A little snide 
namecalling sure beats being bitten by dragons, potentially being killed 
by a loose set of earmuffs during repotting Mandrakes or any number of 
other hazards in the Wizard World.

Jazmyn

[Now Tammy says:] I must agree with Jazmyn here.  Snape is mean and nasty,
yes, abusing his POSITION AS A TEACHER, in the fact that he takes House
points for capricious cause (docking points for Hermione helping Neville,
and docking points for Harry NOT helping Neville, for instance), and has
been known to favor his own House over the despised Gryffindors, and has
even on occasion aided a Gryffindor in failing (dropping Harry's potion,
oops, sorry, guess you fail that lesson), and has certainly taken great care
NOT to show sympathy for Gryffindors ("I see no difference.").  HOWEVER, he
has NEVER, so far as we have seen, locked a child in a closet for fifteen
years without ever letting him out, as some RL muggles have done, nor has he
starved a child to death, as some muggles have done, nor has he withheld
life-saving medical treatment, as some muggles have done (he did NOT forbid
Hermione to go to the hospital wing for her teeth, remember?), nor has he
pocked a child with cigarette burns, as some muggles have done, nor has he
raped a child, as some muggles have done, nor has he disfigured or mangled a
child, as some muggles have done, nor has he beaten a child to death, as
some muggles have done, nor has he throttled a child into unconciousness or
death, as some muggles have done.  THESE mostrous abominations are true
child abuse, not what Snape does.  At ABSOLUTE WORST, he made good on a
promise to feed a child's MAGICALLY RESILIANT PET a POTION (**NOT** a
poison) that was MADE PROPERLY, and did it's intended purpose (shrinking
Trevor into a tadpole) AND he had the ability to prevent harm to Trevor in
case the POTION had been mismade.  ABSOLUTE WORST.
 
Making a kid cry?  I've done that.  Clap me in irons, I must be a child
abuser, I made a kid cry.  I've made kids eat their brussels sprouts, lock
me away, I must be a child abuser.  Heck, I've even spanked a kid a time or
two (after he bit me first).  Put me in the electric chair, I *MUST* be a
child abuser.  Good heavens, people, get a sense of PROPORTION!  Calling
Snape's mean and nasty ways 'child abuse' is like calling a candle a
wildfire, while a real wildfire elsewhere is killing firefighters by the
dozens!  He has abused his position as a teacher, yes, but he has NOT abused
his students!
 
Tammy
HYPERLINK "mailto:ms-tamany at rcn.com"ms-tamany at rcn.com


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