Snape can't stand being called a coward--or not

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 135782

Julie wrote:
I respectfully submit that Snape didn't react to the word "coward"
when Harry said it the second time. He doesn't really care if
Harry or anyone else thinks he's cowardly in general. He reacted
specifically to being called a coward for *killing* Dumbledore. And
this seems a bit of evidence supporting the SecretlyGood!Snape
theory, for why else would Snape be so pained and enraged by
being called a coward for that action, if in fact it wasn't because
it was the one thing he did that took the most courage he'd ever
mustered?

vmonte Responds:
Sorry, I see it as supporting the ESE Snape. You are right that Snape
could care less about James and Gang--in fact he probably thinks that
James and Sirius deserved what they got. But he feels quite
differently about Dumbledore. I've been trying to profile Snape based
on his personality traits. I started doing some research and came
across this:

"The Authoritarian Personality wants to fit into a chain of command
and to be told what to do (submissive to a superior), and by the same
token, will countenance no flak when giving orders to those in the
hierarchy below. At the same time s/he is aggressive towards others,
especially those considered to be lesser in some way (e.g. of a
different faith or ethnicity, or a different species). Racism and
bigotry are common in the personality type. The Hitler Youth were
prime examples of this. Authoritarians like to be herded like sheep
even as they enjoy command. That mind-set exists across all
political, economic, and religious spectra. And, it afflicts both
genders. Authoritarians are distinguished by the degrees of which
their behavior matches the bullets below."

· Control and power
· Cynicism and arrogance
· Destructiveness
· Fixed Ideas
· Lack of introspection and insight
· Narrow disciplined outlook
· Paranoid if they think you do not believe as they do
· Polarizing "either/or" thinking
· Religious fundamentalism
· Excessive conformity
· Intolerance
· Insecurity
· Rigid, stereotyped thought patterns


"Authoritarian personalities often develop from an upbringing of
rigid discipline and conditional affection. Adorno identified the
authoritarian personality type as having the following
characteristics:
They become anxious and insecure when events or circumstances upset
their previously existing world view. They are very intolerant of any
divergence from what they consider to be the normal (which is usually
conceptualized in terms of their religion, race, history,
nationality, culture, language, etc.) They tend to be very
superstitious and lend credence to folk tales or interpretations of
history that fit their preexisting definitions of reality. They think
in extremely stereotyped ways about minorities, women, homosexuals,
etc. They are thus very dualistic; the world is conceived in terms of
absolute right (their way) Vs. absolute wrong."

"Further study of this personality type has since shown that
Authoritarians not only like to take orders but they love to give
them and to have people they can look down upon. This, of course,
amounts to prejudice in the forms of bigotry, racism, sexism, and the
like."

vmonte:
This of course led me to look up the psychology of a terrorist:

"Psychological forces cause terrorists to rationalize their actions.
The "us versus them" mentality causes the terrorist to displace blame
on the victim or on the target audience, saying that it is "their"
fault and "they" deserve to suffer from the terrorist's actions. A
terrorist may also displace blame onto a superior saying that he is
taking an order. In addition, a terrorist dehumanizes the victim in
order to relieve himself of some of the guilt associated with
committing the killing. Further, narcissistic wounding, occurring in
formative years may cause psychological imbalances in making a person
particularly susceptible to a terrorist lifestyle. These feelings of
humiliation or inferiority may make a child grow to blame the society
which turned its back. Thus the matured terrorist seeks to reaffirm
his existence and importance via violence."
Perlman, Diane. "Intersubjective Dimensions of Terrorism and Its
Transcendence" The Psychology of Terrorism : A Public Understanding,
ed. Stout, Chris E. (London: Praeger, 2002) 17-47

"Kaplan (1981) assumes that terrorist behaviour is pathological. He
differentiates between the reasons and causes of terrorism by
proposing that reasons are the social variables that facilitate
terrorism or help rationalize terrorist behavior. However, he says
that the causes of terrorist behavior "must be sought in the
psychopathology of the assassin" (p. 36). He proposes that terrorists
have a pathological need to pursue absolute ends. Kaplan proposed
that this is an overreaction to childhood experiences of humiliation
at the hands of an aggressor, which results in a sense of failure and
lack of self-esteem. Thus, their personality is defective and cannot
cope with life stress through socially appropriate means."

vmonte:
I'm not a pscyhologist, and I'm sure that someone will find evidence
that Snape's behavior throughout the books is completely normal.
I however, think that Snape probably justified Dumbledore's
murder 'by displacing the blame onto DD.'

And I think that there is a reason why Snape became very upset about
being called a coward. It's because Harry forced Snape to face up to
what he has done. I don't think that Snape is going to be able
to "compartmentalize" his feelings in this instance because DD was
the one person in Snape's life that gave him unconditional love.
Snape's reaction to being called a coward confirms to me that Snape
has underlying guilt that is (already) nagging at him. He may not be
able to live with what he has done.

Vivian