[HPforGrownups] Re: The Huge overreactions from a five minute time span.

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 150186

> > Kemper wrote:
> > The truth is that James and Sirius were the cool crowd, and Snape
> > was gigantic nerd.  Jocks against the D&D kid.  No where in the
> > scene do we see status as equal.
>
> Nora responded:  As I've brought up before, I'm wary of projecting the whole "jocks
> and nerds" paradigm wholescale onto Hogwarts' social structure.  You
> do that and you start getting people making statements like "The
> Marauders are the kids responsible for Columbine", which strikes me
> as...slightly hyperbolic.
>
> For one thing, the poor D&D geeks don't usually have any means of
> recourse: they *can't* fight back.  Certainly not Snape's situation
> in all aspects, because he's the one who does the most physical
> damage with a toned-down use of the very nasty cutting curse he seems
> to have invented.  When all the kids are running around with wands
> and everyone can do magic, the scales are potentially much more
> equal.  (And there's always more equality present amongst classmates
> than between students and teachers.)  A situation that strikes me as
> *genuinely* unequal is Neville in the earlier books versus his
> tormentors.

Kemper now:
Not all D&D geeks are quad/paraplegics.  Many of them have working
hands and legs that can easily clench or kick... make-do wands for the
Muggle youth. But why doesn't this crowd typically fight back?  They
have the power, but they don't realize or believe it.  Much like
Neville has had the power all along.

But ok... How about Prep v Goth? Or Jerk-kids-in-AstoriaOregon v. the
Goonies?  Is that less overly exaggerated?

(I smile at parenthetical phases that bring briefly adult!Snape's
actions into a teen!Snape post)


> Nora continues: ...  But surely all of
> us have known some types in our lives (since we've pulled in 'I was a
> geeky youngster' into the argument already) who managed to
> continually get away with evading their eminently merited official
> punishment.  Tended to be the sneaky passive-aggressive types...
>

Kemper now:
I think most if not all nerd/geeks are/were passive-aggressive types. 
I haven't met one that was assertive to their tormentors.  Can you
imagine that exchange?  I can.

Nerd: Tormentor, when you ridicule me in public for reading Harry
Potter, it makes me feel belittled.  In the future, I would appreciate
if I was left alone to read Potter in peace.
Tormentor: Stop right there.  Why don't you go home and write me a
feelings letter that you can later burn for closure, and while you're
at it, eat another cookie, you fat eff.

Kemper.