#4
In Defense of Severus Snape - Nazi Claims.
Since you'll love bringing up Nazis, then I’m sure you’ve read plenty about how indoctrination, manipulation and grooming of young children are conducted and how they affect people.
Nazis and the Hitler Youth didn’t appear out of the wild, did they? There were psychopaths, yes, but also brainwashed and groomed youth in those groups. That context never excuses the harm done, but ignoring why people are radicalized and focusing only on individual moral failure helps no one. Without addressing systemic factors, nothing changes.
You’ll undermine how, on top of brainwashing and grooming, chronic abuse can rewire someone to the extent that their morals get distorted.
Snape's situation has a lot more to do with indoctrination, exploitation of existing biases (in Snape’s case, the fact that his abusive Muggle father and his witch mother clearly made him regard Muggles in a very negative light, and the Slytherins encouraged that feeling), the lie that the person in question is “special” and not like all the others (something everyone craves to hear), and the promise of escape from poverty and gaining influence that is sorely lacking.
You must also know that someone being manipulated and indoctrinated from a young age, or having their vulnerabilities and hopes exploited, cannot simply be written off as dumb, evil, or as someone who “shouldn’t have chosen that.” The psychology behind hate groups, cults, and gangs is much more complex than the “he should know better” line people keep using.
If it was so easy, such groups wouldn’t be as successful as they are. You'll just love throwing that word around because you'll are way too lazy to wrack your brains and think critically and analyze what might have caused people to join it in the first place. You'll don't actually give a fuck about it though, don't you'll? Some of you'll just put up a false SJW bravado upfront just to get your egos boosted every-time someone praises you for how politically correct you are, being the next revolutionary icon and shit. Real SJW requires getting in the trenches, understanding harsh realities of the world and different mindsets of people and seeing all perspectives and roots of social issues.
The phrase “he should know better” sounds like something said by someone who’s never actually been in a position of inferiority and deprivation. It’s easy to judge choices made out of desperation and powerlessness, turn a blind eye to what led to them, and dismiss their efforts to change, even if those efforts weren’t for the best reasons.
The entire point of Snape’s character is about how kids who come from abusive and impoverished homes and bullying environments get groomed into extremist groups that take advantage of their miserable situations, and how, when that trauma is neglected, they stay stuck in that childlike mentality even as they grow up. It’s a realistic example of teenagers being coaxed into criminal gangs in real life. Whether you like it or not, it still happens and you not liking to admit it, doesn't make it less of a fact.
And people like James do not help that; they only solidify the hatred already existing due to the abuse Snape went through from the first Muggle adult in his life for 11 years, simply for being different. Snape has at least an explanation for why he grew up the way he did, whereas James had no real reason to be who he was, even at the age of 16.
Abused kids attach themselves to any place where they get acceptance and appreciation, and unfortunately Snape got that from the wrong crowd. For someone who’s been deprived of that their entire life, it means a lot, and they may be unable to think rationally. It’s easy for others to say what he should have done, but reality doesn’t always work that way. Such individuals are often afraid to lose the one place where they feel accepted.
Had the Marauders left him alone and let adults handle the situation and its consequences, Snape wouldn’t have been pushed further into finding comfort in the wrong places. Bullying has severe impacts on people’s lives enough to make them end their own lives—and saying the Marauders’ actions didn’t influence and shape Snape’s character would be a lie.
We are living in a world now where the victim is getting blamed for not offing themselves or not being the perfect angelic victim instead of the oppressors, enablers, and aides who push them into some place where they felt like joining a death cult is an only option.
What YOU must be wondering instead is, how bad must the experiences and the situation must be for a child to go find refuge in such a horrible place.
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