I remember you saying that Snape is a better person than you, and you know what... lately I've been thinking the same thing. Because yeah, Snape made a lot of mistakes and Lily rightfully cut him off. But not even two years later, this girl who was preaching about goodness goes on to date the biggest bully in school??? The inconsistency is crazy. If my former best friend told me that I was a terrible person, but then gave a chance to my bully, I'd be devastated beyond repair.
I mean, sure, she date whoever she wants, and Snape has no say in it - that's not the point. But honestly, he was too generous for still thinking she was "the best person in the world" after that. This boy was so traumatized that he was giving Lily too much grace.
Well guys, I also think that sometimes you take me too literally. I genuinely don't believe that someone is good or bad in a dichotomous sense, unless we are talking about specific, isolated cases. I believe in social redemption, and I also believe that people's ethical and moral codes are the result of everyone's experiences and environment, and what we have lived through. I tend to be much more lenient with people who have had a tough time than with people who have had it easy, because I've had it relatively easy. I've had parents who loved me and have always supported me a lot and always gave me a feeling of being supported and backed up in everything, even in the screw-ups I made. I've been lucky enough to be an only child so they could dedicate their resources to me, I've had a solid group of friends... that is to say, I am privileged in that sense. So I am very demanding of people like me or people who have more privileged than me, because I think we have had enough not to be total pieces of crap. I am not as demanding of those who haven't had it because it wouldn't be fair, it's not comparable. I can't ask someone whose parents are absent, non-existent, or violent to have the same security that I have; it's not coherent. I work with people who have problems, I have handled cases of people who have made very serious mistakes in their lives, and as I always say, for me there is only one moral line that is unforgivable, and that is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is unjustifiable to me because it is born from a genuine intention to impose oneself on the physical integrity of a person, to want to subdue them, to want to humiliate them, to want to dominate them, and that, for me, is morally indisputable. But that is my moral red line; everyone has their own.
What happens to me a bit with this fandom and the issue of Snape and whether to call him a Nazi or a fascist or whatever is that, honestly, I don't think it's unforgivable or something worthy of being pointed out that a person in a vulnerable situation joins a terrorist group, criminal gang, crappy political party, or religious cult. I don't think it's something unredeemable under any concept, I don't think it's something unforgivable, and I don't think it's that serious. If you honestly ask me, according to my personal perspective, how serious I think it is to join any of that crap when you are 18, have no economic support, have no friends outside that circle or support outside that circle, and precisely those who have hurt you the most throughout your life are the people against whom that circle "fights," I will tell you that for me the severity is 5 out of 10. It is below many things on my scale because, as I see it, there is a logic to that decision. Is it bad to be a fascist? It is bad. Will someone who is a fascist at 18 or belongs to neo-nazi groups be a fascist or neo-nazi at 30? Well, you don't know, no one knows. I'm telling you that many will not, because I've met a few. Now, someone who is a sexual aggressor at 18 is still a sexual aggressor at 30, because that doesn't get erased.
So, well, is Severus a better person than me? I don't know. What I do know is that he had much less self-esteem and self-worth than I do, perhaps that's why he didn't drag Lily by the hair for suggesting he should thank his abuser, which is what I would have done. He also didn't break her teeth, which is what I would have done if I saw a friend dating with someone who has abused me for years, even if she is no longer my friend but my ex-friend, because you have to be a total bitch. But my parents raised me, and they worked hard to give me self-esteem, so we are not starting from the same base, and as I mentioned before, it's not comparable.
