[ SECRET POST #2867 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2867 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 088 secrets from Secret Submission Post #410.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - random image ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[nyxelestia]

Speaking as someone who's been on both sides of bullying, the harsh glares thing (as you describe it here) is a rivalry, especially given that it was a House vs House thing, not a Person vs House thing. It wasn't Harry vs Hufflepuff, it was Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff (and Harry and Cedric, themselves, got along).

The rest of those behaviors are absolutely bullying...and not really what I object to when I get pissed off at people saying Harry is a bully in the fifth book. His existential crisis in the fifth book was basically the horror of discovering his father was a bully in school. Did anyone miss that even Sirius talked about James growing up and away from this behavior as a good thing? And really, are we going to try and put Malfoy and Harry's rivalry on the same scale as bullying then they are fighting a war and contending with higher or other powers through most of their fights? Absolutely, Harry did occasionally lash out unnecessarily at his friends, which he shouldn't have done. But they never let that behavior stand, and he was traumatized as hell, did not belittle or try to psychologically degrade them, and changed his behavior over the year. I do not call that even remotely close to bullying, and it pisses me off every time I see someone refer to the stupid actions of a teenager with PTSD as bullying.

[(Anonymous)]

This.

[siofrabunnies]

I don't think Harry was a bully, not in the slightest. If I implied that, sorry for the confusion! He was a kid doing his best in horrible situations, and everyone was looking to a traumatized teenager to save the world.

I still think the House rivalries went too far. Mind, I'm speaking in terms of overall rivalries over time, not just one person against another. As you say, Harry and Cedric had no problems with each other, it was the rest of the houses, and giving glares isn't bullying. That was overstating the case.

But Harry/Ron/Hermione vs Draco, was bullying: slurs, constantly calling out the Weasleys' station, putting on the Dementor costume during a Quidditch match. I don't see how there being a war makes Draco not a bully, or means that the bullying isn't important.

Slytherin and Gryffindor's rivalry was way too heated and went way too far. The Mauraders vs Snape, the Harry/Ron/Hermione/Neville vs Draco/Crabbe/Goyle, Snape vs Harry/Hermione, Millicent vs Hermione, etc. It seemed sometimes to me that part of being Gryffindor or Slytherin was getting into an "us vs them" that too often delved into real hatred and harm.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

The Dementor costume thing was especially fucked up and I don't see how anyone could see that as not bullying. Hell, it almost bordered on attempted murder considering that they knew Harry had a severely negative reaction to Dementors (since he passed out the first time) and they must have known that he could have fallen off his broom and to his death without intervention.

[nyxelestia]

I think this might be a difference in definitions right there, because that last set of interactions you described are not interhouse rivalries, but rivalries between individuals. I'm talking interhouse rivalries like people shittalking each other before Quidditch matches and the Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor bullshit from the fourth book. That isn't good behavior, but that doesn't mean it's bullying. Not all bad or abusive behavior is bullying, and I just object to people using it as a blanket term when it really, really isn't.

[siofrabunnies]

That's fair. I agree that the basic house rivalries aren't necessarily bad, and it's only individuals who take it too far. Shittalking is just a thing that happens.

Gryffindor vs Slytherin, though. It might be individuals, but there's too many individual-Gryffindor vs individual-Slytherin problems, and those seem to be far worse than from other houses, for me to think the house cultures aren't at least partly at fault.

[nyxelestia]

I can see where you're coming from, but most of that really did seem to be a combination of personal rivalries and the impact of the war, rather than just a matter of House rivalry. When it boiled down to House interaction (i.e. Quidditch cups), the rivalry was pretty tame. Only when personal stuff got involved did it turn nasty, and turn into something other than a House vs House issue.