Admonishing Snape

[festuco]

No: HPFGUIDX 129583

Betsy:

> I think you give McG way too much responsibility for controlling the 
> actions of her students--Dumbledore didn't exactly step in either and 
> stop Snape from being bullied, from what we've seen.  It's likely 
> that his extent of knowledge of what was happening, given how much he 
> knows about what goes on in the school, was considerably larger, as 
> well. 

Gerry
Well, I also think people should take into consideration this is the
WW and the bullying took place in the 70's. I don't know about
Britain, but here in Nederland bullying as a real problem that leaves
deep emotional scars was not seen that way until at least a decade
later. And even then there were lots of teachers who could not make
the difference between a harmless bit of teasing and the real
nastyness that children can do to each other. Before that, it was
certainly frowned upon, and punished if noticed, but not something
that serious. 

What complicated the issue here is also that Snape would fight back in
a very nasty way. As we look at the pensieve scene, the marauders use
very cruel, but essentially harmless hexes. Snape draws blood. From a
superfical point of view, it is easy for teachers as well as students
to take what James and Sirius do to him much lighter as what he does
to James. After all [sarcasm] what they do is just a bit of harmless
fun, just a laugh, two against one, not sporting lads. But look what a
nasty hex he used, Snape that kind of behaviour is not tolerated. 
[/sarcasm]. You have to really understand emotional damage to see how
bad it was what actually happened here. It is a quite common theme
with bullying. The attacked kid lashes out, anything to make it stop
and make them pay, but the way he does it not only gives him trouble
with the adults, but also with the other kids. On the playground, the
one who starts the physical violence is always in the wrong. It is the
rare kid who sees through it. 

And what we see from the WW it is generally much harder, especially
physically than the muggle world. Look at the accidents, look at the
way children fight, the physical damage it causes. It is all remedied
with a simple spell or a simple potion. So that makes for a rather
casual attitude to physical damage. And I would not be surprised an
even more causal attitude to emotional damage. 

Gerry