Standing up to bullies WAS: Re: Which Harry Potter character

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 185997


> > 
> > Kemper now:
> > Zachary's comments were intended to sting, true, but they were 
> mostly true!  Ron was on the team because of his friendship with Harry. 

Pippin:
It would be truer to say that Ron's on the team because Hermione hexed
his rival. But AFAWK Ginny doesn't know that and to insinuate that
Harry picks his teammates for their friendship rather than their skill
is to insult her as well. 

Granted she could have made a stinging remark in return. But since
Zach is the one with the magical megaphone, nobody would have heard
it. He is speaking from a position of superior power, which I wouldn't
call sticking it to the man. It's not like he's broadcasting on pirate
radio. He's speaking officially, on behalf of the school. 

> 
> Magpie:
> And Zach probably thought he was the one standing up against the man
 there! I really don't see what Zach is saying there that doesn't fall
 into the realm of normal commenting on a game.

Pippin:
Is it normal to make an unsubstantiated accusation of favoritism? Zach
is saying the kind of things that McGonagall would have forced Lee to
withdraw, perhaps because that's the protocol for auditions or because
she's bending over backwards so as not to look like she's deflecting
criticism from her own house. 

She's irate about what Ginny did, though we don't hear more about the
consequences. But it would be unusual for McGonagall to be irate and
not impose any.

It's true that wizards seem cartoonishly quick to resort to violence,
but it's also true that many times the effects are cartoonishly easy
to reverse. No doubt the grandstand was repaired in seconds and Zach
probably was too. In the real world a student who deliberately did
that much damage to school property, not to mention a fellow student,
 would be in serious trouble.

But in the WW it seems that permanent damage happens rarely enough
(when it's not being  perpetrated by a self-styled dark wizard) that
people put the possibility out of mind and don't like to be reminded
of it. 

Pippin