Political positions of the characters/James reacting to Remus' lycanthropy.

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 150439

> Alla:
> 
<snip>I view it as a canon statement and 
> very much IMO supported by James later being an Order member and 
dying 
> fighting against Voldemort. I mean, sure Sirius uses this 
statement as 
> an excuse, but I also view it as statement of facts and till I see 
> Sirius being  proven as a liar anywhere in canon, I will view his 
> factual statements ( not , say his evaluational statements of 
course) 
> as a facts :) Be it "knew more Dark curses...", "Malfoy's 
> lapdog", "hated Dark arts" or " Dumbledore thinks you are reformed 
but 
> I know better".

a_svirn:
Presumption of innocence, I take it? You use it very selectively. 
Sirius cannot obviously be considered an independent witness, now 
can he? If anyone is biased in the entire series it would be Sirius 
Black. Especially where Snape is concerned. And until it is proven 
that Snape was guilty in practicing the Dark Arts at school, this is 
one crime he's innocent of. Certainly you cannot use the invectives 
Sirius hurled at Snape as "factual statements", any more than you 
can use "Snivellus". 

> Alla:
> And where do you find "Harry did not buy it" in canon. I mean, 
Harry 
> did not think that it was a good reason to do that to Snape, but 
where 
> does he say something to the effect " no, I don't think my dad 
really 
> hated Dark Arts".

a_svirn:
This is not what I meant, though. Harry has no reason to question 
his father's adherence to the "cause of the Good" or whatever. When 
I said "he didn't buy it" I meant he was mature enough not to accept 
it as an excuse. 

> Alla:
 
> I tend to agree with Potioncat . I think James indeed hated Dark 
Arts. 
> It does not mean that his behaviour towards Snape was not 
> reprehensible, sure it was, but I see no reason to doubt it, IMO.
> 

a_svirn:
He might or might not have "hated" the Dark Arts while still at 
school. It doesn't matter much, though. Some things are simply bad 
in themselves. Eating people for instance is bad. Even if they are 
as fat as Goering and as full of juice as Bormann. Bullying and 
abusing your schoolmates is also bad. Not as bad as eating them, 
admittedly, but still pretty bad. 

> Alla:

<snip> 
sure I 
> will take their biases into consideration, but not to such extent 
as 
> to say that when Sirius reports facts he lies. <snip>

a_svirn:
Then what do you mean by "taking their biases in consideration?"  
When Hagrid says that all Slytherins are rotten and evil he does not 
lie, that's exactly how he sees them. Sirius also belongs to the 
same school of thought, and he deems Snape to be the worst of a bad 
lot. Moreover, he believes that he, Sirius, is entitled to meet out 
punishments to those who fall short of his exalting standards (self-
righteousness clearly runs in the family). This makes Sirius 
unreliable and dangerous, but no, it doesn't make him a liar 
precisely.