Snape - a werewolf bigot?? Was: Say it isn't so Lupin!!!

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 170208

 Alla:  
> 
> I understood Mike comparing Snape's remark towards Hermione with 
> Filch's remark towards Hagrid to show if if one is arguing Snape 
> being under duress when he insulted Lily, then Hagrid was also under 
> duress from Filch's remark, but maybe I was wrong.
> 
Carol: 

I think you may be mixing up two separate points here. The remark
about Hermione's teeth (which even DDM!Snapers like me concede was
uncalled for) has nothing to do with Hagrid's insulting Filch. I
*think* Mike brought it up to show Snape's prejudice against Hermione,
but as Pippin points out, it has nothing to do with prejudice against
her as a Muggleborn, any more than the Marauders' taunts about
Severus's greasy hair and large nose had anything to do with his being
a Half-Blood.

Alla:
> 
> Um, Snape's usage of the word proves to me that he was and maybe is
a bigot, really I need nothing more. <snip>

Carol:
I'm afraid that this is one of those questions on which debate is
useless. No one is going to change anyone else's mind. To me, the
remark proves nothing except that a teenage boy was under duress and
used the worst word he could think of at the time. As I keep saying,
Lily's blink of surprise, and her (possibly ill-advised) attempt to
defend him in the first place, shows that he was not in the habit of
using such language. That must have been the first instance she was
aware of. Possibly it was the last (if the Snape/Lily shippers are right).

I see nothing indicating a pureblood ideology that would lead him to
join the Death Eaters, particularly since he was a Half-blood himself.
He had, as I pointed out elsewhere, several other possible motivations
that strike me as more plausible. If as an adult he went around
talking about Muggleborns even in the way Slughorn does, I might
suspect blood ideology of being one of his motivations for joining the
DEs, but as it stands, I don't see it. I do conced, though, that the
views of his fellow DEs concerning pureblood supremacy didn't deter
him from joining. He must have been used to them, having been in
Slytherin House for seven years, especially if passwords like
"pureblood" (as opposed to "Mimbulus Mimbletonia" and "Caput
Draconis") were required to get into the Slytherin common room in his
day. (BTW, I don't think the Head of House chooses the passwords.  The
Fat Lady and Sir Cadogan choose their own. Sinc thee's no Slytherin
portrait, I'm guessing that the Slytherin password is magically
determined by some mechanism put in place by Salazar Slytherin. Just
my opinion, but I can't see the Half-Blood Prince making "pureblood"
the password. It sounds more like something that the aura or essence
of Salazar Slytherin would do. If he can put some of his "brains" into
a Sorting Hat, he can put them into a concealed door as well.)

Alla: 
> And LOL - if him joining DE does not prove that he was sympathetic
to their goals, then really I do not know what will it take to prove it.

Carol:
I'm not sure what you mean, but I expect we'll find out that his
joining the DEs had something to do with the so-called Prank. Again,
while the DE pureblood supremacy ethic obviously didn't deter him from
joining, I can't see it being a motivation for any Half-Blood. He must
have had other, more personal, reasons.
> 
Alla:
> Any other DE we had seen, who joined, but was **not** sharing their
goals? Yeah, Regulus got out, but I do not remember any support that 
he originally was not sympathetic to "pureblood supremacy" ideals. <snip>

Carol:
In Regulus's case, the purebollod supremacy ethic was probably the
primary reason for becoming a DE. It's why his brother thinks their
parents would have considered him "a right little hero" for joining
up. But what we've seen of Snape's backstory makes it likely that his
reasons were complex, like the man himself.

As for another DE who didn't join because of pureblood ideology, what
about Peter Pettigrew? I suspect that he's the rare Muggle-born DE
that JKR alluded to in an interview.

Carol, realizing that we're probably never going to agree on this
point but presenting her reasons for disagreeing in hopes that they
will at least be understood if not accepted
>