The Truth Hurts

[sistermagpie]

roxannelinton made the mistake of pointing me to an Elkins essay on HP4GU. Naturally this got me stuck reading other essays because they were all so good. One in particular was close to my heart, about *why* exactly we like the characters that we do, and it brought up the fact that we usually naturally associate fictional types with people we know in real life, and our reactions to the RL people naturally influence that. I was going to think about the characters I like and think about who they remind me of (Snape totally reminds me of the teachers in school that were feared and hated but *I* always wound up getting along with and liking a great deal), but in the course of thinking about this I wound up having a big personal revelation about Draco and me. It's long because it's about ME ME ME.



Elkins essay was in response to the twins, whom she considers bullies and doesn't like. But she made the important distinction that the fact that they were bullies wasn't why she disliked them, and she did not think other people should dislike them because she did. She disliked them because they reminded her of certain types she knew in real life growing up and because in the books they were often associated with comeuppance humor, which she despised. Plus they had nothing in common and she suspected they wouldn't like her. I would have avoided them in school. Draco I would keep at a safe distance. He's also a bully, but a different kind.

Obviously there are lots of Draco-lovers or at least people who can stand Draco amongst you all. It seems like when we're asked why we like the boy, the most common answer is, “He often says what I'm thinking.” I tend to also think of it as his stating the obvious and absurd. I believe, in fact, that JKR once described Draco as being such a bad bully because he was the "smart" kind who found weak spots to hurt people with. Weak spots=personal truths.

Now, obviously it's not as simple as saying this character speaks truth and others don't. It's also not-because I think this is what a lot of people think of when you describe a bully as truthful-about the kind of person who insults other people and claim they're being “honest.” Draco actually isn't that type. What I do mean is that Draco tends to speak a certain kind of truth in a certain way in certain situations, different ones than the main characters. Every character is going to have certain times when the truth is important and other times when they lie, just like any person. Draco just happens to always be a certain kind of voice. He says things that are usually considered bad to say-a certain kind of bad. Only some of us like exactly that kind of thing, particularly if we can't identify with the mainstream attitude that well.

This is where I think I really do identify with Draco and it has often gotten me in trouble. Like, I have this idea of myself as completely un-intimidating. So I've been surprised the few times I've been told I was harsh--well, actually, the word people always use is not harsh but "scary," and occasionally "evil," usually for saying something a little too true. Did I say something intentionally hurtful? In one case I suspect I did. It was to these two guys I went to high school with and there were times they made me angry because they were pretty insensitive and I suspect in joking around I did slip in things to cut them down to size. Imagine my surprise when by chance I found out they noticed and did get cut down!

More often, though, it's not that I've said something mean intentionally but I'll say something I think is just obvious, something I thought was perfectly fine because I can't see any reason for anyone to be sensitive about it, and be met with shocked stares. Or perhaps I did know it was sort of sensitive but still thought it should be said. Like, if I were friends with Draco Malfoy I would know if he was strutting around saying he was going to win the next Quidditch match and Potter wouldn't know what hit him, I would know not to say, "Yeah, it's not like he's humiliated you ever year since you were twelve." Because obviously I could see there was a personal reason he would need to not have that contradicted---Harry has no such excuses about Hagrid. He does have reason to be sensitive about his wanting the Weasleys as a surrogate family.

Here's the two examples I can think of from my own life. I hope they're not too tedious, but they're the ones that sprang to mind. The first was when I was in college and in an a Capella group. We'd lost a few people so we had a number of songs that needed new soloists and were having auditions at rehearsal. This one girl who was sort of a BNF (without the F) of the group and already had a few solos. She tried out for all four new ones. The first three all went to other people, because they happened to be more suited to them. The fourth number she was best for. So when we're discussing who we're going to give it to everybody was just all, "Ooh, I think X was great." "Yes, me too, her voice quality is perfect for this..." and it was just too ridiculous. So I laughed and commented how we were all relieved because it was we'd all been totally uncomfortable rejecting her. I mean, we all knew what she was like, and nobody wants to reject somebody four times in a row. Of course we were relieved! But from the way people stared at me you'd think I'd made a racial slur.

The other time was when I ran into this girl I knew in junior high. We were now in college and we met on a train. She was talking about her youngest sister, who was now 12, and saying how her sister had far more freedom than she did at that age. "She's allowed to DATE!” she said. “I was never allowed to date in seventh grade!" Like this was ever an issue for her-nobody wanted to date her in seventh grade. I made the mistake of saying as much and really pissed her off! Apparently I didn't get the memo with our revised seventh grade history where this girl's biggest stress in seventh grade came from her lame mom cramping her sex life instead of being picked on by girls and having no interaction with boys whatsoever. I wasn't trying to insult her; I thought we could share a laugh at being losers when we were 12. Of course, I should have remembered she was like this at 12 too.

Anyway, you can see the pattern. I just can't help it, though. It's not that I can't lie, it's just there are certain things where I feel like you should be able to tell it like it is. In fact, I was recently reading a great Agatha Christie where at the end (no spoilers) Poirot says that he expects the victim's 12-year-old son to come to him in a few years and ask for the details of his parent's murder. A character says, "You won't tell him, will you?" He says of course he will. This boy, like him, prizes truth above all else. Truth, even if it's bad, can be understood and put into the pattern. To her, the most important thing is that people not be hurt. To him the most important thing is knowing how things really are/really happened/really work. I hated the woman character in that moment, and I knew why the little boy was my favorite character.

And I think that's another reason I sort of lean toward this character. As Elkins said, we usually like people first because of their humor or personality and then we figure out their morals. It should be no surprise Draco cracks me up from his first scene-the one where most people and the hero decide he's Awful, and for exactly the same reasons. I think he had me at, “Exactly.” Or perhaps where, strangely honest as always, he introduces himself as a spoiled brat. Like I said, it's not a question of “this is me” or “he is just speaking truth.” It's just honestly I think either you respond really positively to, “Who wouldn't want a pet that stings, burns and bites?” or you don't. Perhaps instead you respond better to ton tongue toffee. It's a personal thing. I like "exactly." I have a fondness, especially, for people who are unwittingly rude because they're just clueless, particularly when I think the other person is over-serious or over-sensitive. In fact, reenka and I were talking about the appeal of the H/D with a certain kind of Fanon!Draco and I think this might be it--putting in a character that can do this and have it get the reaction they want. That's why when Fanon!Draco says the kinds of things that fill Canon!Harry with disgust, Fanon!Harry instead realizes he's kidding and is able to see the truth within and not see it as threatening.

ETA: Here's the original essay. It's a great read, and may make this more coherent. She actually lays it out much better than I do here, as I seem to have sometimes put across the exact opposite idea than I intended in this post! The point is, there are reasons we just plain like characters, and that probably often leads us to cut them slack where we might not with others. I know very well that I *like* this character, and am wondering maybe why. It's not a defense of why this character is likable or should be liked by others.

Comments

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hum hum hum.

I myself always just said what I thought-- er-- unless I'm feeling shy and clammish. But it never occurs to me to either be rude or 'polite'-- I'm neither. I've never been intentionally mean to anyone in my life that I remember, and neither do I go out of my way to be 'nice'-- but people think I am because I just don't think in... er... rude 'terms' if that makes sense? So I never thought Draco said what I was thinking-- I mean, no one in HP says what I'm thinking, but then I totally identify with the pov character in every book no matter who they are. So I'm thinking what they're thinking anyway. (...I don't remember bothering to fully read a book about a character I couldn't stand enough to identify with-- this is why I'm a sucky English major.)

Anyway, so the idea of saying rude-but-really-almost-innocuous things doesn't appeal to me-- that's normal. I like witty/snarky people because they mean to amuse-- saying the truth means you're an idiot as often as not. Like... I do have a certain respect for the boy in `The Emperor's New Clothes', y'know, who pointed and said 'HEY! the KING IS NAKED!' but. Yeay? So what? He was an innocent, as is Draco, I think. Does Draco think of consequences? No. He's just a) trying to be mean; b) doesn't care about people's reactions unless they have power over him. He's not... self-aware enough to make me actually care that he's truth-speaking, even though I really do respect fearless speech more than almost anything. That is to say, Draco is not fearless in his speech.

So... people who're most concerned with others' feelings just kind of... frustrate me too (I totally know what you mean!) because they're just... completely differently focused than asocial hermitic introspective little me (as I'm sure you understand, ahahah). I don't care what people think (while Draco does). To me (...and, I think, to you) it's not a big deal to say the obvious. To Draco-- Draco thinks he's All That, which is... funny. Pathetic and cute and... funny. But identification with him, for me, stops at the understanding that he doesn't understand (whereas I grew up understanding and not caring, which would be totally alien to Draco, I think). So really, I'm meaner than he is in a completely different way >:D

I think Ron says exactly what he thinks (and yet is actually witty/cute in how he phrases it) too, but what he thinks is just not as... er... uncharitable. It's still stinging a lot of times, but it's not... blunt and black&white and 'so what'-like as a lot of Draco's so-called observations are. I mean, I'm like you in that I'd avoid Draco but I don't think what he says is a Big Deal or anything-- sure, fine, it's obvious-- and...? It just rarely seems like it's important truth so much as... petty truth, I guess...?

The people who don't really say what's on their mind and are calculating and concerned with others' reception-- their priorities don't mesh with mine at all, but neither do Draco's... though Draco's endearing for his innocence and persistence and dorkiness (since I do like the stupid little brat... sorta). I just think that elevating Draco's apparent pov as 'truth' means elevating that petty mindset... the 'little' truths, for lack of a better term. Meh, I'm getting carried away with my annoyance at Draco.

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

I've been told I was harsh--well, actually, the word people always use is not harsh but "scary," and occasionally "evil," usually for saying something a little too true.

It's funny that you say that because my husband said to me once -- and it absolutely floored me -- that I'm not as nice as I think I am. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth and, of course, I realize it way too late. I'm not sure if I identify with Draco because of that, although I can be openly dismissive of people if I don't like them. I've pretty much have grown out of that now. Back in high school, I could carry a chip on my shoulder, like nobody's business.

I like Draco because he is kind of a bad guy. He's a good foil to Harry. He also has a lot of potential which keeps me intrigued.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_rp_zeal_/]

Wait, I thought I've read all the great posts by Elkins- how come I don't quite recall this one? Link please ^-^?

That's why when Fanon!Draco says the kinds of things that fill Canon!Harry with disgust, Fanon!Harry instead realizes he's kidding and is able to see the truth within and not see it as threatening.

That's just so... URGH! TOTALLY!

I've always thought that coming from Draco's POV, he must be wondering if everyone around him is kind of crazy, he rarely gets the kind of response he (or I) would've expected! If you mentally go through all the scenes Draco was saying something unpleasant in the books (ie, 99% of the time), you'll find that basically nobody even argued with him- they either tell him to shut up or beat the crap out of him. Like what he said were without a doubt *always* complete rubbish and there was even no point in proving him wrong.

Like when he was saying how the Weasleys had more children than they could afford, seems like a fair enough statement but god forbid you to say it out loud! IIRC Harry was just busy to put the fire out by saying, "You know what Malfoy, what matters is that you suck and are the *wrong sort*!" But did he also think Draco's mean remark might have actually described the truth? Why didn't Ron defend his family proudly like his dad would've because he really wasn't ashamed of their financial status? If Draco's a big bully because he told the unwelcomed truth... so... was his biggest crime "the intention to hurt", or actually "not being nice" or "lacking common sense" then?

I am (hopefully)no Draco in real life. Because while I know exactly what to say to hurt those who anger me, I also know exactly what they can say about me to hurt me right back. And it would be like a mutually destructive full-out nuclear war! It's actually kind of sad that people who are secretly nasty are regarded as better persons than those who wear their worst side like a proud... something.

I know a lot of the Draco-haters think I am overly defensive of him. Well maybe? But I really thought that the poor silly boy had already taken a lot of beating for his petty crimes both in canon and fandom, and by *sometimes* saying things I do agree with but would never have said out loud in real life, it's like he'd taken some of the beatings for me so...^^;;;

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I think there's a fine line between honesty and rudeness, and I don't think Draco cares abuot honesty. We see him being deceitful all the time, like when he feeds info to Rita Skeeter, and I just don't feel like he has enough freedom of personality to blurt out whatever random, genuine thought is passing through his mind, tact be damned. I think he crafts his points, lame as they often are, and he sometimes shows real cunning in getting to someone's obvious achilles heel.

Or perhaps where, strangely honest as always, he introduces himself as a spoiled brat.

You're implying that he knows he's a brat and is playing on this idea, instead of him just being one, and I'd have to disagree. The crack about the pet that stings, etc.? That's really funny, as even Hermione knows and won't admit. But that's different to the petulant, obnoxious first impression he makes in the books.

[ljash.livejournal.com]

Wheee, so much here. I think I'll reply to the posts before delving into the conversation between you and reenka.

I'm going to get slightly sidelined first by the post on the twins. It is kind of interesting if you like and feel for Snape but hate the twins. The author of that essay also cheered along Crouch, Jr. because he just fooled everyone so well. So if you're disliking the twins because they're bullies and mean, isn't that kind of an unfair judgement?

I think I also would dislike the twins personally, were I to meet them. I also would probably dislike Snape if I were in his class--though I'm not sure about that. When I reread the first book again I was in love with Snape's opening lecture and that would have bought him a lot of understanding from me. But I doubt I would have had opportunity to see beneath his mask, the way Harry can but doesn't. That's why I find him so compelling, as a reader. In person it might be harder to separate his abominable behavior from the intriguing thread of who he really is.

But I still think it's easy to figure out why I hate the twins more. Snape is a bully, and he delights in squashing others, but he's also obviously unhappy and driven by a childish misery. Crouch Jr is, well, nuts, and also driven by unhappiness. Bullies who lash out at people because they're unhappy will, in the end, treat you just as badly as any other bully, but it's a little easier to feel sorry for them and identify with them.

Fred and George, on the other hand, seem to be the kind of bully that I hate the most. In high school I termed it "happy malice." It's the kind where they're not acting out some deep-seated rage and misery, they're not unhappy at all, they're just being mean because it's kind of fun. They just like to leave their handprints on the world and don't get or don't care that they might be hurting someone. I don't know why that pisses me off more, but it does. I hate people like that. I think I hate it because the Snapes of the world try to hurt others because they want to destroy something in others, to bring them down. They want to step on that humanity and spirit in others, maybe to make themselves feel better. The Fred & Georges of the world don't even really see that humanity and spirit and don't even know that it might be there to be damaged. That's overstated but I can't think of the right words. The F&G type bullying doesn't even seem to acknowledge that you're a person with feelings. I usually found that harder to take than the people who went out and intentionally tried to hurt your feelings. At least they thought you had some.

Also, the F&G type bullying comes with its own double-bind: they are genuinely surprised if they figure out you're hurt. They don't think they're wrong at all. You must not be able to take a joke.

I think I also dislike them narratively. If anyone, anyone, within the books were to acknowledge that F&G are mean and sometimes cross the line, then I'd have less of a problem with them. But Rowling doens't think there's anything wrong with them. I think some people vehemently hate F&G because they just get away with everything, both within the story and also outside the story, in the narrative judgement. (Sometimes Hermione will slap down F&G. But Hermione's opinions aren't always taken seriously by any other characters, especially her opinions about rules and morals.)

This was too long and must be split. What a surprise.

:)

[ljash.livejournal.com]

Now, Draco. He's a peculiar case. And I think maybe a lot of what you can say about Draco depends on how you interpret the canon because, as I've said before, Rowling doesn't really tell us who he is and doesn't even seem to be expecting us to try to find out. But yes, Draco is a bully--kind of an inept one for some reason. His bullying isn't physical like most of F&G's or (usually) power-based like Snape's. He is left to what he can say to you. He's quite talented about knowing what button to hammer on but usually not so talented at the hammering itself. I'm not sure why I say that... just that usually he comes across as knowing what subject will drive you bonkers but never saying anything very subtle or cutting. His actual insults aren't impressive--he makes up for this by hitting the right subject and usually he can make people crazy even when he says unsubtle insults.

He's kind of a truth-teller, but not quite in a Cordelia way. (I forget if you're a Buffy fan, but the stuff you were talking about seems far more Cordelia than Draco. An insulting, tactless truth-teller who steps on the egos of the main characters by puncturing their illusions, sometimes intentionally and sometimes because that's just the way she approaches the world.) When he first met Harry he was just telling the truth as he saw it, oblivious to Harry's coldness at what he was saying. It was really the same in the train when he said Harry had better make the right kind of friends. But after that he seemed more trying to bug people with everything he said.

The examples from your life seemed neat to me--I sometimes wish I were more like that. I hate having to pretend the world is other than it is because everyone else agrees to. I do it, though, pretty successfully, but it grates on me.

As for liking characters... I think I have a hard time separating fiction from reality in that way. Sometimes I'll cheer on an underdog even if they're awful, but I think sometimes I'll do that in real life as well. Snape is kind of an example--a friend of mine hated Snape and I would kind of like him and we'd have these strange conversations about him. She couldn't excuse his behavior, even if she understood him more. I couldn't excuse him either, but for some reason I didn't care. I understood him. That meant a lot to me; I don't always understand Harry or Sirius or Ron or Hermione or Dumbledore or really anybody else. I think if I had to be around him I'd smack him in the head frequently (that'd get me some interesting punishments) but that I might, even still, find him intriguing, and lonely, and maybe more like me than anyone else is.

[go-back-chief.livejournal.com]

You know, when I was reading this post this morning my gut reaction was "no, I don't see Draco as the character who "speaks the truth", and it's not really a reason for liking him either. I was thinking about other fictional character that I figured suited the role of "the one who speaks the truth which no one wants to hear" better, and came up with the witch from "Into the Woods", as the best example, but even there, I think the "truth-telling" is somewhat limited, and I don't think that's my real reason for liking her, even though I do love the line "You're not good, you're not bad, you're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right." Because the thing is, observant as she might be for the flaws and short-comings of others, she's blind to her own (hence she ends up losing her daughter by making the mistake of extreme overprotection), and somehow I think it's somewhere right in that dissymetry, that I go from just thinking that she's entertaining but not emotionally engaging, to really start sympathising with her.

But then, I reread your entry, and I realise that that's not what you said, either, because of this:

Now, obviously it's not as simple as saying this character speaks truth and others don't..... Every character is going to have certain times when the truth is important and other times when they lie, just like any person. Draco just happens to always be a certain kind of voice.

Exactly. A certain kind of truths. But just as the witch in Into the Woods, there are other kinds of truths that he is blind for, especially when it comes to aything which would involve any kind of self-examination.

I have a fondness, especially, for people who are unwittingly rude because they're just clueless, particularly when I think the other person is over-serious or over-sensitive.

Yes, THAT I think I have, too. It's one of the reasons why I like Hermione too, I think, that she can say these things that seem logical, but in ways and situations where they are completely insensitive, like when Lavender lost her rabbit. I don't necessarily like this kind of thing in real life, because I think tact is important, but at the same time, tact is also something which is incredibly difficult to learn, because everyone has different sensitive spots, and how can you really expect someone to always be successful, when there are so many different unwritten rules for how to behave, depending on who you meet? For this reason, I expect it can feel quite a bit refreshing with characters who pretty much seem to not be giving a damn of such things.

Personally, I think Draco had me from the moment Harry rejected him, though I'm not entirely sure. It's just that I think it wa the first time he showed any vulnerability, and vulnerability is essential for me, if I should go from finding a character merely entertaining/interesting, to really rooting for them.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Oh, my lovely Sister M, beacon of everything that is shiny and right. As you may be able to predict, I agree with you completely! (also I read that book, 'The Hollow', and while I liked Obsessive Artist Lady best, I mean... YES. 'No, I shall lie to him about something as important as his father's death. Yay. Lies.')

I also take this opportunity to mark that you are smarter than me, since I cheerfully sat around thinking Draco was a nasty little liar apart from in Care of Magical Creatures, when he was a Beacon of Holy Truth. Until I reflected that this didn't actually make very much with the sense, and went back and realised that Draco is the Most Horrible Liar of All Time. To which everyone agreed until I appended 'I mean, not good at it.' Because everything he says that's not true, he's clearly trying to believe *is* true. (Unless he's, you know, claiming that Harry has psychotic episodes.) But everything he says seriously.

At this point, I will stop and admire Elkins' essays (which really OMG make me want to meta until I fall down, and inspired the only time I ever really did off my own bat) and which clearly and more importantly inspire you. And also, I will admire Order of the Phoenix, a book which helps me so much with the meta that I forgive it for the Neville Love. Because, dude, Draco's been saying for years that Harry is soaking up all this attention that he thinks he deserves. and boy, howdy.

Oh Draco, Draco. *pictures him, oddly enough, like Cordelia from Buffy.* Put him on Veritaserum in CoMC, and who'd notice the difference? Not that I'm saying he'd want to say everything about himself, but everything he wants to hide is horribly obvious, anyway.
Ahem! Let us make him a spy for the side of light in Voldemort's camp. For the sheer humour of it all.
Which is to say that I love him too.

if i may comment without reading the comments

[issen4.livejournal.com]

Anyway, you can see the pattern. I just can't help it, though. It's not that I can't lie, it's just there are certain things where I feel like you should be able to tell it like it is.

I used to do that, until my mum gave her big, grown-up daughter a huge talking-to, about being 'rude'. I was very upset by that, but I see her point. It's not that she thinks we should hide the truth, or gloss over it, but she thinks that it is rude and hurtful to tell the truth at just the time when it does the most damage. But then my mum's the traditional sort who feels that one ought to be tactful and be aware of appearances all the time.

In fact, I was recently reading a great Agatha Christie where at the end (no spoilers) Poirot says that he expects the victim's 12-year-old son to come to him in a few years and ask for the details of his parent's murder. A character says, "You won't tell him, will you?" He says of course he will. This boy, like him, prizes truth above all else. Truth, even if it's bad, can be understood and put into the pattern. To her, the most important thing is that people not be hurt. To him the most important thing is knowing how things really are/really happened/really work. I hated the woman character in that moment, and I knew why the little boy was my favorite character.

I'd feel the same way. But I think there's a difference between telling the boy when he asks, and flinging out the accusation "Your father's a murderer!" in the middle of an argument.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Hey, did you know Elkins fangirls you?

It's long because it's about ME ME ME.

Clearly you are Real!Life!Harry ;)

This is where I think I really do identify with Draco and it has often gotten me in trouble.

Bwahahaha, me too.
There's a Linda Goodman book I used to love when I was little about some star signs interacting, and how Sagittarians (which I'm not even, so god knows why I do it) always insult people, not because they necessarily mean to be cruel but because they assume everyone sees themselves the same way they do: warts and all.
So they say insensitive things and people rebutt furiously and they're all kind of confused: 'Like, what does me being fat, for example, have to do with your lack of maths ability?'
With Draco (and as I sometimes can be *slaps own wrist*) you have a more vicious approach where someone is adept at noticing flaws (I do think anyone who constantly criticises others has esteem issues of their own, and whether they admit it or not, probably recognises their own mistakes regularly, though) and will use them, and of course, people with this kind of simple Gryffindorish mindset will be horrified: 'Like, so what if it's true that I'm X or Y? You didn't have to say it!'
(Love that part where all the Weasleys are horrified and ashamed of Percy saying something that would be obvious to a blind monkey.)
There's this idea that because one finds it easy to understand people and their motivations, that you should care, so there's complete horror at the idea of someone recognising flaws and not softening them.
And of course, with the HP books, there's this wild hypocrisy, because Draco (and Snape) is constantly being confronted with 'truths': you're not as good as Harry, your dad deserves whatever he gets, you're pathetic and obsess over petty grudges; and no-one sees any reason to sugar-coat any of this.

But of course, there's a mixture between these two types of insensitivity - so you have Draco making an effort and flubbing it because he's tactless and you have Draco purposely being cruel.
What interests me about him, in this case, is the vast difference of opinion the fans and naysayers have: the fans tend to (forgive me for generalising) adore that he states exactly what they're thinking or the truth, whereas the detractors very much seem to have this idea of him as a liar - he exaggerates injuries, he misleads in the Skeeter articles...
That actually cracks me up as an example, because it's quite clever: there's lots of insinuations from Skeeter and Pansy and Draco, but from a legal standpoint, I don't think Harry et al would have much of a case ((of course in the JKR-verse the law would no doubt be wildly sympathetic and libel legislation much stricter! ;)) and there's much half-truths: Harry makes friends with dangerous creatures, everyone's scared in Hagrid's lessons, "most people thought Potter was behind (the CoS attacks)", said attacks were hushed up, Hermione's "brainy" enough to make a love potion...
But because Skeeter and her interviewees are very carefully skewing the information their way to impact negatively, people are horrified and dismiss it all as 'lies'. When of course, Harry et al's information is equally one-sided and biased, it's just that we see it as fair and truthful because he's our POV character.
(This reminds me of the snarkery, and how many discrepancies there are between Harry's memories and interpretations of certain events and how they appear in canon, sometimes instantly - he immediately recalls Seamus 'attack'ing him; he forgets Ginny's possession; he recalls how cowardly Malfoy was in the forest and conveniently omits his own terror; he wavers from being convinced that his life is only intact because of luck and the help of his friends, and viewing himself as the lone hero in every situation; he describes Buckbeak as 'cute'...)