[HPforGrownups] Re: In Defense of Snape (Against Snape in JKR's words)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 122213

On 17 Jan 2005 at 22:45, vmonte wrote:

> vmonte responds:
> Sorry, Shaun. I never said anything about your education. I'm talking 
> about the Harry Potter series. 

I'm aware of that.

I wasn't meaning to imply anything about anyone here. I was just 
trying to explain where I am coming from. Why I feel compelled 
sometimes to defend Snape.

> I'm also not sure why wanting a 
> teacher to treat children fairly and without malice would make you 
> upset with me. I personally do not think that treating children the 
> way Snape does is right. A teacher who does not have control of their 
> emotions in the classroom (like Snape) is a danger IMO. 

I'm not upset with you. You're fully entitled to your opinions, and 
I think I understand where they come from. I was just trying to 
explain a bit about where my experiences come from.

I'm not sure about you - but I think a lot of people wind up 
objecting to Snape because they have a particular visceral reaction 
to the way he teaches. It horrifies them, and that's where they 
start from. They look for reasons to condemn Snape as a teacher, 
from a starting point of assuming he MUST be bad, because of the 
emotional reaction he creates in them. That's perfectly valid, in 
my view.

But I come at it from a different angle. Because of my experiences, 
I don't have the same visceral reaction to the way Snape teaches. 
Instead, I have an entirely different (though equally visceral 
reaction).

I don't really think many people on this list and elsewhere sit 
down and logically analyse the way Snape teaches to arrive at a 
conclusion about whether he is a good teacher or a bad teacher.

Instead, I think that most (perhaps not all, but the vast majority) 
of us start out by deciding based on emotion, and perhaps 
experiences, perhaps our philosophical understanding of whether or 
not we think Snape is a good or a bad teacher - and then we look at 
the 'evidence' with that preconception always present and construct 
rational arguments that are designed to arrive at the conclusion 
we've already reached based on our initial emotional reaction.

And because of this, I don't think people are likely to change 
their views. Because it's not a logical debate, based on facts 
(even though both sides can, in my view marshall both logic and 
facts to support their views). It's funadamentally a debate based 
on emotional reactions, and particular philosophical and 
ideological viewpoints.

That's certainly true of me... and I think it's true of a lot of 
other people involved as well.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia