Bullying was Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Prodigal Sons

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 140734

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, IreneMikhlin <irene_mikhlin at b...> 
wrote:

<snip>

> Do you see what I mean? Snape, as horrible as he is to Harry and 
> Neville (and I leave arguing about ABUSE vs. "abuse" to another day), 
> does not really have as much influence over their lives as people 
> imagine.  Really, they have Potions 2 hours a week. As soon as they 
> are out of his classroom, that's it. Classmates, on the other hand, 
> can turn one's live into a 24/7 living hell.

The differences are noted--but 24/7, given the House system?  I'm just 
thinking, off the top of my head, just how *little* contact Harry and 
the people he observes have with people in other Houses, especially 
those who they really don't like.  House Common Rooms are a definite 
refuge from anyone outside the House; this is a case of animosity 
between students from different Houses, not a case of an internal 
dynamic.

So there's the other open periods, and that's where we have little 
enough information that it's tough to establish a pattern.  Was the 
free time outside post-OWLs exceptional?  Regular animosity in the 
hallways, classrooms?  I dunno.

I admit that I incline to the opposite position; bullying and abuse 
between students can be very strong and have unpleasant results, but it 
is between people on a reasonable plane of equality.  But the use of an 
institutional position of authority to strike down upon inferiors who 
have no ability of response--that speaks to a greater degree of 
deliberation, and it degrades the value of the office as well.  There 
certainly are cases of students suffering severe damage at the hands of 
institutional superiors, as well as being bullied by their peers.

But if we take the no harm no foul standard--not that I'm saying it was 
invoked earlier in this post, but it certainly HAS been in the past 
with Snape's actions towards the kids--nobody ended up seriously hurt, 
nobody got expelled (and don't we trust in Dumbledore to Do The Right 
Thing?) and it's still speculation that there was deep permanent 
psychological damage to the offended party, in this case.  To clarify a 
bit, the agency issue is very opaque here, and we're all speculating.

-Nora prefers to hew to Faith and wait for some answers