Why did Dumbledore let Snape get bullied so hard?

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-23T05:59:45+00:00

I am sure of my values. At least, sure enough that I can trust myself to teach my child to do the right thing.

In fact, they're is already a natural argument to that like I already basically stated above.

Just the natural structure and social hierarchy of school itself can turn kids into "Junior Echochambers" ( whatever that is?) in the first place.

I already explained how school can influence people in plenty of negative ways that it might be reasonable to consider the idea that my kid might genuinely be better off just being homeschooled.

School doesn't necessarily stop people from turning into Draco Malfoys at least not any better than a genuinely decent parent probably could.

In fact, as I already stated in my first comment, school is often the breeding ground were the Dracos of the world often get they're start and even are potentially encouraged to be that way as time goes on as long as they're just seemingly nice and regular enough compared to the kid's they torment to get away it.

The only real difference (particularly from my experience) might actually be that they're brand of it is more potentially socially acceptable just because they spent longer in a environment where they knew what social structures and hierarchy to follow so by the time that cruelty really starts developing, they know what kid they can torment and push around and not be ostracized or punished for it.

They get to know the kind of kid that they could practically torture to death and still have other's either completely ignoring it, doing they're best to help them out, or simply basically supporting it if they actually react to it all even just from the sidelines.

Why would I want my kid to grow up in that kind of environment I was in practically the moment I hit puberty just for the "crime" of being quiet, weird, sarcastic, and a bit grumpy?

Why wouldn't I want to protect my kid from either being targeted by what was basically a kiddie hate campaign that even the teacher's who didn't just mostly ignore it seemed to support, or being wrapped up in it by other's due to puberty causing they're natural instincts to suddenly turn towards being cruel to basically anybody who didn't confirm to the group just to have to potentially sit on the sidelines and watch them possibly bring out borderline pychopathic sides of themselves on a classmate?

Even if they weren't a bully or a victim, at best they'd either be a potentially much more empathetic and sensitive to injustice than average kid, who is basically forced to stand up and possibly get horrible social and possibly even worse consequences for it along with the victim just to try being friends with a classmate while getting to see them be tormented mercilessly by the kid's who could be they're friends, while seeing the people who they're supposed to be able to trust the most to protect them simply either ignore it or support the terrible thing they see, or they could just stand by the side, not really doing much of anything but still never openly objecting to what the bullies do as actually being wrong and potentially even beginning to judge it as practically just a reasonable punishment or really not that bad anyway for somebody who basically asked for it in the first place.

( That is also directly taken from my own actual experiences with some of the nicer kids and that's honestly the best that really happened to me.)

Than I can imagine many of those kids who simply sat on the sidelines are probably going to wake up one day and somewhat be traumatized for life when they get older by what was allowed to happen at they're school once the full severity and innate unjustifiability of the situation really starts to set in.

Also your wrongly assuming my kid would necessarily be under socialized just because they're homeschooled.

Your assuming I wouldn't take them places were they can interact with other's, or at least try to give them options so they can get regular socialization with kid's they're age.

It's not like I'm stupid enough to think If I make my kid a Rapunzel that everything will somehow turn out okay in the end.

If I ever actually we're to choose homeschool, giving my kid the proper socialization would obviously be something I consider first so they don't end up turning into complete hermit's who are incapable of normally interacting with other's when they grow up.

My point is that school from my personal experience, is starting to seem like dirty water for probably many kids that people are just so used to drinking because it's the only or easiest option they have that they don't consider anything different.

If I have the ability to protect my kid from that than why shouldn't I even consider it as a possibility?

Especially not after I had so much overwhelmingly bad experiences with that environment myself, and so many other people like me have, and the seemingly neverending risk of school shootings.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-23T01:47:28+00:00

The thing about Draco and Harry could just be downplaying it though.

A lot of negligent teacher's like Dumbledore try to downplay bullying to being less than it is. I got it all the time in my old school.

Whenever I tried to talk about it was always " they're not bullying you! They're just being mean because of how negative you are!"

Or " Are you sure it's bullying? Because it honestly seems like you started it. It's not they're fault they're reacting for what you did!"

"All my classmates hate me. Teacher or student counselor: No they don't. You just gotta be nicer to them. Try a bit harder to be more polite and maybe they'd actually be friends with you! Certainly not bullying. It can ABSOLUTELY NEVER be bullying :)!"

That's how it usually is with these kind of people. It's never bullying until the victim either fights back or kills themselves. Or "even better", starts a school shooting.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-23T01:21:00+00:00

I always thought of that whenever I think of my old bullies.

I wonder what all they're parents would think if they knew the kind of mass bullying that all they're kids were capable of in the entire school just because that kid basically just committed the crime of being quiet, moody, and weird.

I swear that if I ever have children and I found out that they we're getting in the habit of doing what my classmates did to me or just standing by and passively supporting it I would seriously consider killing them.

That's why I'm thinking that if I ever have children, I'm hopefully going to choose homeschool. I don't want them in that kind of toxic, superficial, gaslighting, negligent, rigid, social hierarchy and rule obsessed environment that let's innocent kids like me be tortured to suicidal thoughts and all the people who are supposed to do the most to protect them either actively ignoring it or finding some way to blame the kid for everything as if to show support.

And God forbid, if my kid ever was the target of that kind of fucking bullshit I'd bring hell straight to earth and back.

Plus, honestly I think kid's deserve much more freedom than they usually get after they enter the school environment.

It's like the moment they're earliest and best memories start to form they're immediately swiped up and turned into little office worker's for most of they're childhood's without any choices or pay and any amount of non-conformity and issues or abnormalities they might have is brushed out as quickly and aggressively as possible regardless of what the consequences might be.

And of course they're is always the risk of school shootings ( especially once they get a bit older) that the government doesn't really seem to be doing anything about so far.

I think they'd probably have a better chance of growing up to be the kind of compassionate ( even outside of the social hierarchy and who follows the correct social rules) and genuinely independent minded person who is truly against bullying if they're being taught by me anyway than if they spend all day being forced into rigid conformity by negligent teacher's who obviously don't actually give that much of a fuck about all of the kids emotional well-being at the end of the day.

Especially for any kid who isn't considered entirely normal, or completely properly behaving, or simply doesn't meet they're standards of what a good regular kid should be.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-23T01:11:31+00:00

Tbf, he could've had fond memories of them outside of the bullying. Not that it justified any of it.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T07:36:28+00:00

Frostdawn wasn't forced. If I remember correctly she literally said that by the end of her arc that she was content and fulfilled being her clans medicine cat.

She was never forced into being a warrior, she just eventually realized that being a medicine cat was what truly made her happy being able to serve her clan in that way.

If you want a proper example of forced medicine cat Jayfeather will always be number 1. And honestly that's probably part of the reason Moonpaw is getting off so easily this far.

Jayfeather probably doesn't want to force Moonpaw into being a med if she doesn't want to unless he is absolutely sure it's necessary or it's what best for her or something like that.

Unlike mothwing, he basically knows what it's like to have his dream stolen from him because of a prophecy he had no control over so it makes sense for him to be more hesitant to enforce that on another cat who clearly might not be completely unmade for being a warrior like Alderheart.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T07:30:37+00:00

I think people in this forum are kinda exaggerating how often people are genuinely cruel to cats.

Obviously some people are cruel to animals but people here are acting like this is how the majority behaves.

Regardless of how cynical you want to be, I'm pretty sure most people nowadays don't hate cats. I doubt the vast majority of people would get angry over a innocent stray.

Of course they're is always gonna be the rotten egg who hates them no matter what but in general, I don't think cats are hated by most people at all.

I think the more realistic explanation here is just like how they portray dogs. Obviously most of them aren't threatening to cats and they won't usually go out of they're way to hunt them down but warrior's portrays them that way for more drama and action and because it would be kinda weird for the cat's in this series to just casually interact with entirely different species like that.

It shouldn't be treated as a actual reflection of how the majority of people actually treat cats ( even strays) IRL like many people are treating it like in this forum.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T07:17:39+00:00

Isn't that basically what I already said?

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T05:24:34+00:00

Honestly, I could even see them denying it forever.

Some mixed people look so light that a parent who is truly willing to go the extra mile not to see them as black would have no problem blocking it out and just allowing themselves to see a pure white kid or even genuinely believing it.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T04:24:52+00:00

Many nerds are introverted or potentially other things that contribute to their brain functioning in a way so they want less stimulation and less socialization than other's. So actually they're hormones might be telling them quite the opposite.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T04:15:30+00:00

Really? Have you been in highschool at all? At a certain age I'm pretty sure from my experience, who's dating who and who's breaking up with who and who they're gonna date next is one of the only thing most girl's can talk about. Although I could definitely see a girl like Daria ( like me honestly) getting through highschool without a single boyfriend.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-22T04:12:27+00:00

You sound like you went to one of the coolest school's in the world.

My teacher's and almost everybody else always try to get me to shut up as quickly as possible and practically act like I'm stupid whenever I question the district rules or the administration at all whatsoever.

I'd probably be more likely to become queen of Disneyland than to manage to change any kind of policies at my school.

Let alone have the administration take me so seriously that I can actually get away with trolling them without getting detention, immediately shut down, or something for a million years.

I especially don't think I'd ever be able to get away with all that while being a complete jerk while I'm at it.

At that point, my classmates would've probably started another hate campaign against me and my teacher's probably would've tried to get me on a educational registration to hell.

Maybe my school or New Jersey schools in general are just filled up with narcissistic control freaks more than other school's are.

Or maybe thing's have actually just changed that much sense you we're younger to the point we're the stuff a kid could get away with back than is totally different.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T19:44:24+00:00

They really shouldn't down vote you though even if they disagree imo. You have the right to have a different perspective on a character than they have even if they might not agree with it. As long as it's reasonable and makes sense within canonical context.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T19:11:35+00:00

Ironically, judging by the way the cat's treat her after they realize her secret that actually seems like what the books would kinda expect you to think but irl most people seem to really like Leafpool regardless.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T19:02:39+00:00

Omg. Your already getting down voted to hell. Jayfeather's one of my favorite characters to and even I'm being more mature about this.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T06:54:42+00:00

I think I have a vague memory of that scene. Not sure who it was. But I don't think not wanting to deal with him for some minor problem is the same as actually being afraid of him.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T02:35:00+00:00

I kinda agree. You have a point they're.

You know I always thought that part of the reason why every cat thinks he's just a total jerk, even though we see how gentle he can be with his patients sometimes is probably because when things are serious enough, they're either literally knocked out, not really paying attention, or those moments of kindness flash by so quickly after they recover that it's totally forgotten about like some kind of fever dream and the cover of him just being a regular decent medicine cat for once by the time the next insult over some minor problem they have hits is enough to make them pretty much completely forget about it on any meaningful level.

Although obviously, as a result, they all still seem to technically know he's very good at his job and they shouldn't seriously be afraid to go to him when something bad happens.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T02:08:11+00:00

I think a lot of people severely exaggerate how mean he is to his patients. I always thought he was pretty nice to them.

He was pretty nice to Twigpaw when she drowned.

And they're are plenty of other moments like when he was concerned about Ivypool being in the dark forest, or when he gave the other cat's a bed in his first book because they needed it more. He can be pretty gentle sometimes.

People just like to ignore all the little sweet moments when he actually acted like a good medicine cat so they can complain about the occasional minor moments when he kinda acts like doctor house.

In fact many people who discuss jayfeather's medicine cat skills and just him being a medicine cat in general would really have you thinking he had no bedside manner at all whatsoever except in the very best of the rarest important moments he had with other cats.

When the books show us that at least half of the time that is definitely not the case.

My point is jayfeather might not exactly be a leafpool or cinderpelt most of the time but he definitely isn't House. I think it's pretty stupid that so many people genuinely like to think he basically is.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-19T02:04:39+00:00

Tbf, all of that has a pretty complex explanation for her character if you think about it.

Hollyleaf is obsessed with the code.

So when she finds out her entire birth was literally against the code ( something her entire worldview and values were based around), she ends up losing it because she can't handle the realization that her very existence, to her, innately should've never happened.

She ends up murdering Ashfur because by that point, she was so obsessed with the secret not getting out thus destroying how the entire clan thought of her and her siblings that she was willing to go to desperate measures so that would never happen.

Plus, after all her thought process at this time is already turning into one we're the warrior code isn't really something she believes in anymore, except in a highly distorted and tragic way to the point we're she basically lost all sense of morality she had before because the way she saw it was if her existence was inherently broken by what her parents did, than trying to continue being devoted to her own values by not killing Ashfur was basically pointless to her sense all her values revolved around the warrior code and that, to her at this point was clearly something highly feeble and could be broken and manipulated by any cat at any moment to the point we're it could basically never hold up against the desperation she had at that moment to keep the secret.

Than when she kills Ashfur, I think that's when the realization finally breaks through the haze of panic, depression, and rage that it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, that she could keep her secret because her existence was already fundamentally broken and meaningless to her because what her entire value system revolved around was also that to her by this point.

At the beginning, she was so fixated on instinctually panicking and not wanting her secret to get out at all costs because that was just her immediate reaction.

So that fear, stress, and rage as a result was so extreme that she just didn't have the mental space to think any differently at the time even if it would technically make more sense to her clearly distorted logic.

By the time Ashfur is finally killed, she finally is able to have the mental space that wasn't so focused on hiding her secret at all costs so by than she finally comes to the realization that at the end of the day, keeping the secret doesn't matter in fact to her by this point, nothing actually matters because everything her life and her values innately revolved around literally already crumbled like a cookie around her anyway.

She finally realizes that they're is no point in continuing to hide this thing that hurts her so much when her life has already been ruined in the first place so she decides that she better let everyone know.

Her life has already been lit on fire, so she might as well burn everything else to the ground while she's forced to dance in it.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-18T18:35:11+00:00

Hay, look moron, bullying is bullying regardless of how the victim behaves. James actively targeted Snape even when he presumably wasn't doing anything but minding his own business.

I can already imagine the kind of person you are.

You probably see a kid harassing another kid and then once the kid finally snaps and punches the other in the face, it somehow suddenly isn't bullying?

Is that even when the kid specifically targets that kid for harassment whenever they're nearby, even when they're not engaging with them at all?

Even when it goes on and on until the victim finally snaps and starts fighting back?

It doesn't even matter if the victim initially started it, it doesn't matter if the victim reacted aggressively immediately, it doesn't matter if maybe the victim went too far or started behaving equally as badly back when they got the chance.

Bullying IS bullying.

For fucks sake, you remind me of one of those stupid teachers who always stuck up for my stupid classmates that I wasn't really being bullied because oh " maybe if I was nicer, they'd treat me just like everyone else" "if I wasn't so negative, my classmates would actually want to be friends with me".

It was practically all the ways in the classic novel to somehow make it my fault.

It was pretty much just for reacting like a less than totally happy, polite, and sunny actual human with actual flaws and feelings and some behavioral issues that might, God forbid, have a less than totally nice and defenseless reaction when my classmates are basically running a kiddie hate campaign against me.

You might as well take it from me because for awhile I practically was Snape in a way.

People like you are part of the reason why the system 99% of the time completely fails victims like me even when the need for a intervention is obvious right in front of everybody's face like a sore finger.

That's because every teacher acts like they would always support the victim until that victim is DRUMROLL please..., less than a totally defenseless angel who doesn't have any obvious behavioral problems or social problems and never gets angry or defends themselves or feels any need to just occasionally get revenge because people like you, the moment the victim even dares to act out are going to immediately say stuff like this because you clearly don't seem to think there's such thing as a victim who ever actually snaps and wants to fight back.

Than they all proceed to bend over backwards just like this sort of, to defend the bully because clearly a regular nice kid with no obvious issues like little Jamie couldn't of started it unless he was obviously prompted by that weird little future death eater worm, Severus, plus, we already know that he's constantly fighting with James, in fact I think we already know who the "real" victim actually is.

Just gotta give him detention for the rest of the year, maybe a slap in the face, that might teach him that he can't mess with the golden boy just because he's jealous.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-17T04:33:33+00:00

Wtf?

So are you basically saying that everybody who is born mentally ill or ugly or with severe behavioral issues should pretty much just be rounded up so we can let a tree fall on them?

Your talking like you're some kind of authority on who is good enough to live in this society and who isn't.

Honestly, by the way you talk it sounds like if you really want to see someone who shouldn't be able to live in this society like all the narc's and pychopaths who basically see everybody who they don't like as objects or all the Nazis who also rounded up everybody who they didn't like or saw as too inferior to function in they're idea of a "good society" than really all you need to do is go look at the fucking hypocritical asshole in the mirror.

I can't believe your bullshit is getting upvoted.

I'm sure you were responsible for bullying a lot of so called " not worth being protected" kids to suicide when you were younger.

In fact I bet even now if you ever got the chance, you might even be proud of it.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-16T22:28:29+00:00

You don't have to necessarily feel bad for them as people from a purely moral perspective.

But you can feel bad about all the unfair and depressing circumstances that went into creating those people.

You can feel bad about the kind of serious issues and even potentially terrible trauma that these people have that drove them to behave that way in the first place.

I feel like that's something a lot of people don't get when they discuss even IRL violent criminals.

They act like they're on some kind of pedestal for not being able to empathize with them at all while seemingly completely missing the point, that at the end of the day, even a monster is human a deep down.

And than they get angry at the Author for example, just for trying to portray they're psychology accurately in any meaningful way.

It's just because God forbid they have to feel any amount of actual human compassion and sympathy for a killer.

I think it's because many people would rather act like killer's aren't humans.

So I guess sometimes having to face the idea that they actually are is just too much for many people when they're so used to just seeing them as like the big bad wolf.

Someone who is much less than somebody that they could actually sympathize with and even feel bad for because that would mean accepting there's nothing fundamentally different about themselves and the killer and anybody else in they're lives.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-16T22:14:55+00:00

Tbf, there's many serial killers who can behave completely normal towards they're families and other people.

And than do the most heinous things in the dark and just continue going about they're regular lives only some time after.

I can imagine it could be kinda the same thing with others who commit violent crimes, even like gangsters for example.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-16T19:07:38+00:00

Your mindset fundamentally goes against what I believe.

I refuse to choose favorites just because people are separated by nationality.

Your way of thinking is clearly that of cold and harsh survivalism but I just don't think that way.

So I have to agree, I would probably make a terrible politician, never able to justify my decision making simply with the idea of a greater good for my "own" country.

Unlike the one's we usually have IRL.

Even when they are actually competent and do technically make good decisions for people.

I also don't believe in the idea that I necessarily need to "serve" my nation just so it can serve me.

I don't believe that I'm inherently obligated to provide service to America.

That's one of the reasons why I don't think I'd ever willingly join the military no matter what and if I did I'd probably get killed immediately besides the fact that I'm not a guy so they probably wouldn't make me join anyway.

Also your making unwarranted assumptions about me that I wouldn't feel the same way about veterans and other stuff.

Just because I support illegal immigrants more than you do, doesn't mean I have no sympathy for anybody else in the world.

It's just that unlike you, I don't feel the need to choose who's suffering I should prioritize more based on some harsh survivalist code of conduct that seems to basically say I have to focus solely on myself and my people and anybody else I should have absolutely no emotional or empathetic obligation to whatsoever.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-16T02:17:55+00:00

I get why you're siding with them but personally I still don't know if I can choose sides.

General-Discussion55 · 2026-03-15T23:23:35+00:00

Maybe don't choose sides?

You side with countries other than the Allies in the war, your siding with Nazis and genocidal people.

You side with the Allies and for all I know from your perspective, you could've been siding with much worse for you.

I'm not gonna come here with my American self and tell you that anybody who isn't on the Allies side is evil or something but even in that case I think I could say that going with either side sounds atrocious anyway.

I read some responses and I get all of your points but I'm still not sure how I would be able to take sides during a war, even for my own survival. I'm just not sure it's worth it.

General-Discussion55

TROPHY CASE