Ruby’s comment > Likes and Comments

I second this. I think for Rowling, it was just a way of showing different sides of the same character seeing that none of them can be perfectly naive and kind and all that.
Also, to shed light on this issue, when James had bullied him that time, Snape had called Lily a mudblood, which was very wrong on his part.
And hell no, anyone would be a fool to compare James's rude adolescent self to Voldemort or Umbridge. God, that's an awful comparision.

That does make sense...it's good to have characters that aren't 1d. Just as long as they don't come off looking evil, of course.