Snape's the Rescuer - Really?/Justice to Snape

[lanval1015]

No: HPFGUIDX 170757

> 
> Carol responds:
> It can't be an afterthought. Ron, who was with Snape outside the
> Shrieking Shack, is already on a stretcher before Snape reaches the
> kids. And note the order in which the names are mentioned: Harry,
> Hermione, and Black. It sounds to me as if he gave his attention to
> the kids first and then to Black.
> 

Lanval:
Ron was next to him when Snape woke up, naturally he would have been 
the first one. ;)

Carol:
> Also, as Montavilla mentioned, the gag would have had to be removed
> before the Dementors could suck Black's soul. It sounds to me as if
> Snape did everything that any responsible teacher, including
> McGonagall or Dumbledore himself, would have done in his position,
> assuming that he still truly believed Black to be a murderer.
> 

Lanval:
I've been reading about Snape the Responsible Citizen for a while 
now.

But. JKR has long been deconstructing the idea of the WW as a rosy, 
happy, good place. By now we know of the corruption, the prejudice, 
the wonky justice system, and that process of deconstruction started 
early in the books. 

Here's a society that, granted, in a state resembling martial law, 
threw one of its citizens in prison (and a very bad sort of prison, 
where he was expected to die) without a trial. Without a lawyer, 
without due process. Years later that man escapes. There's s price 
on his head, and the understanding is that this time there's going 
to be no second chance for him to escape. He will have his soul 
sucked from his body, and will be *worse than dead*. Not, as happens 
in RL, perhaps killed in self defense while resisting arrest, or 
anything similar.

No. It's get him, then execute him. Kill him as he is -- unarmed, 
helpless. Even though he has not added to his list of crimes (which 
got him a life sentence last time around), except that he managed to 
embarrass the authorities by escaping.

Again, no trial, no hearing.

Does anyone here really believe JKR means for us to approve of this 
sort of government?

So, if Snape is acting in accordance with this government, blindly 
following their call to *bring Black to justice*... how is that a 
good thing? How does being a *good citizen* for this sort of justice 
system work in his moral defense?



Carol:
> And as Julie pointed out, Harry *did* witness that moment and said
> nothing. His anger is at Snape for entering the Shack in the first
> place and picking up the Invisibility Cloak, not for conjuring the
> stretchers, which even he apparently understands was necessary to
> their survival. I don't see why you would judge a hypothetical 
moment
> when he conjured stretchers as favorable to Snape's character but
> reverse that judgment because he also conjures a stretcher for 
Sirius
> Black (and binds the murderer for safekeeping). Can the gag alone 
make
> that much difference in your view? Black would have gagged him had
> their places been reversed, I'm sure, as indicated by his
> irresponsible carelessness in letting Snape's head bump the 
ceiling of
> the tunnel.

Lanval:
I still can't blame Sirius too much for bumping Snape's head after 
knowing what Snape had in mind for him, and it's not as if Snape 
suffered any major damage.

Sirius was delivering Snape to the safety of his cosy little dungeon 
home, letting his head bump against a dirt ceiling a few times. 

Snape was delivering a potentially innocent Sirius to the 
executioner, bound and gagged. On a nice comfortable stretcher, to 
be sure. Then he gloated about it, and then he threw a fit when it 
didn't happen.


> Carol, who thinks that had *any* other teacher Snape done what 
Snape
> did, that person would have been praised without question for 
behaving
> responsibly and putting the kids' safety above all other 
considerations
>
Lanval:
Hm. People in Potterverse including teachers behave bravely, kindly, 
responsibly, caringly, compassionately, all the time -- but rarely 
is a great deal made of it (if that's what you meant, that *this 
list* would praise them?).