Terminal Stupidity of Snapey-Poo (was Re: Nice vs. Good - Compassion)b

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 153212

> > Leslie41:
> > And, Lupinlore, a word to the wise: Better take a different 
> > tack, than calling Snape "terminally stupid."  That's never 
> > going to get you *anywhere*.
> >
> Lupinlore:
> Depends on where you're trying to get, I suppose.  If you mean it 
> won't change anyone's mind, that is definitely true, but this just 
> isn't a place where anyone ever changes their mind, particularly 
> about the three main characters (Snapey-poo, Dumbledore, or 
> Harry).  

Leslie41:
Not necessarily, at least as long as the books keep coming out.  
People become forced to change as canon itself changes. But after 
Book VII...

> Lupinlore:
> Now, if you mean we aren't getting anywhere with regard to 
> statements about Snapey-poo, I don't think that's true.  No one on 
> this list is going to compromise with anyone else when it comes to 
> fundamental viewpoints, but there are ways in which fundamental 
> viewpoints become clearer.  

Leslie41:
Certainly, that's true.

> Lupinlore:
> IMO, for instance, anyone who acts the way Snapey-poo does 
> throughout the books (i.e. anyone who acts that way to those 
> people in those situations) pretty much needs to have 
> their picture put in a phrasebook somewhere beside the 
> words "terminally stupid."  

Leslie41:
You are, of course, perfectly entitled to believe anything you like. 
Perhaps I should have phrased it more like "You're never going to 
get anywhere proving Snape is stupid via reasoned argument, 
supported by canon."  

There are words for what Snape is.  "Stupid" isn't one of them.  I 
would cite numerous examples in canon to support this, but Snape's 
intelligence seems to me something that 99.9% of readers take as 
self-evident.  The other .1%, I think, would not be convinced even 
if Rowling got into a plane and wrote "Snape is not stupid!" across 
the sky in Slytherin green.  

> Lupinlore:
> Indeed, we are dealing with multiple layers of meaning, here, 
> including, I think, not only "too stupid to live" but  
> "guaranteeing one's own demise through the creative 
> application of stupidity."  Both, I think, fit Snapey-poo nicely.

Leslie41:
Again, you are free to think what you like.  Your opinion is not 
logical or supportable, but no one is going to force you to abandon 
it.  

Cite it on this forum, however, and there are those of us who will 
demand evidence, and, perhaps, call you on the hypocrisy of admiring 
Lupin as you vilify Snape.    

> Lupinlore:
> It is interesting the degree to which all other threads wither.  
> Even I, radical that I am, have tried a half-dozen times to start 
> non-Snape/non-DD threads over the last few months.  All of them \
> were stillborn or died within a couple of rounds.  Meanwhile, 
> Snape and/or DD threads flourish - despite the fact that anyone 
> who has been around for a while knows exactly where they are going 
> to go.  

Leslie41:
Well, if people didn't want to go there, they wouldn't come along 
for the ride then!  I personally don't get tired of analyzing Snape, 
Lupin, etc.  And if I did, I'd just stop visiting the board for 
awhile.