The Truth Is A Beautiful and Terrible Thing

[rattlesnakeroot]

Sometimes Truth is terrible when people have been in denial for so many years. :)

But it can be beautiful for people who saw it all along.

princessofsnark has written the ultimate guide for those who still can't accept Snape's actions in the books as those of a spy whose adult life was spent protecting Harry.

Princess of Snark Presents: Severus Snape 101 or How

Comments

[subtle1science]

I think there's a good number of Haters who are that way because they misread the novels for years....

There are some who just couldn't grasp the nuances: if it wasn't spelled out, it wasn't there. They argued that there could be no inferences made, because they themselves simply could not see subtlety. A lot of these people are, basically, just stupid--and stubbornly so: dumb enough that they had to insist no one could possibly really see this Stuff in a text...It must be made up.

Others misread because they themselves were just flat out mean: any story about love and redemption and forgiveness offended them; they could not see any point to someone's actually writing about this. These folks also had a hefty dose of stupidity--but mostly it was an innate preference for the ugly and nasty....See anyone who has argued that Snape's love for Lily was not devotion, but rather stalking.

Still others were just too juvenile to get it. Harry's story, they could mostly grasp, because he was 11. But the adult subtext--that there could be a separate adult story....Mmmmm. No. Everything in the world is either good or bad; everyone is a clear stereotype; nothing/no one changes; all is static. Some of these folks might eventually grow up and experience enough of life to understand "the eternal note of sadness" and "the turbid ebb and flow/Of human misery." Others--too immature and self absorbed ever to grasp human nature and humanity.

And a lot of these types have been angry for quite some time, and they will never stop re-directing their hate at Snape and at us--because they didn't see what was in front of them, and we did. They'll never forgive us for that.

By the way--if Snape were a real person, I would so hang out and have dinner with him. The rare glimpses we get of him with other adults, rather than involving Harry--he's smart and sharply funny and he's well read; and I suspect he's pretty good at blowing shit up in a chem lab. :D

[rattlesnakeroot]

The Snaters love to make stupid remarks - yuck, yuck, I'm superior to you because you must hate Harry and all children and you must love terrorists! Let me tell you how to read! Let me tell you what your fandom should be! Let me tell you how you should interpret Snape, and it better be negative enough or I'll get you into trouble. Basic bullying 101.

But the ironic twist is that they are in the corner now, trapped by their own slime on the floor. *LOL*

It's one thing if they underestimate a Snape group on one forum. But how can they prove that millions of fans worldwide are wrong about Snape? Why are journalists weeping at showings of the movie? Why did WB make Snape the focus, with JKR's obvious consent?

[subtle1science]

Nah--my favorite demand is for the canon (variously spelled 'cannon,' by some of the more pitiful cases), usually from the same people who are simply making stuff up or quoting their buddies' fanfiction. You can quote pages from the novels and still get the demand for canon.....Unfortunately, on one forum inhabited by a number of these, one cannot reply appropriately: ie, read the f***ing books._

I suppose so many of them have invested so much time in being wrong that they simply can't do anything but maintain their errors, no matter how silly they look in doing so.

[shyfoxling]

.See anyone who has argued that Snape's love for Lily was not devotion, but rather stalking.

Or that introducing (rather, revealing) this softness ruined the character or the story. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and preferences, of course, but I really don't get that reaction. If anything it made me love him more.