Who's to blame? (and what's to be done?)

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 152957

> > a_svirn:
> > Oh? Then what's wrong with the Snape's comment? He stated that 
in his 
> > considered opinion everyone (Neville included) could scrape a 
pass 
> > grade. Surely a confidence boost of no common order.


> Lupinlore:
> Sigh.  Except that he implied that Neville was a moron in the 
process, 
> surely a most unprofessional and unforgiveably cruel thing to do.  

a_svirn:
Unprofessional? Certainly. Unforgivably cruel? Now, really. Turning 
Neville into a pariah among his own house-mates is unforgivably 
cruel. Implying that he's "moronic" is just unpardonably rude. 

> Lupinlore: 
<snip> 
> It would seem that we (most of us engaged in this particular 
subthread) 
> are groping toward a surprising amount of consensus, considering 
that 
> we are coming from very different directions.  That is Hogwarts 
seems 
> to be an astonishingly badly organized and poorly run school.
> 
> Who's to blame for that?  I suppose you could say wizarding 
society as 
> a whole.  <snip>

a_svirn:
Well, I agree with you that the wizarding society as a whole is 
rather uninspiring and the school is badly run. But then what? 
Should we leave it at that? Without, to use Snape's 
expression, "apportioning the blame"? I don't think so. For one 
thing it would rob us of the most favourite discussion topics, for 
another I don't believe in collective responsibility. Wizarding 
institutions may be as rotten as they come, but it does not count as 
an excuse either for Snape, or for McGonagall. And the "epitome of 
goodness's" behaviour should be a little less questionable even in 
the darkest of times and the lousiest of societies.