All this garbage with patricia taxxon and you has me wondering why people are so quick to shout about supporting imperfect victims, yet violently turn on them the instant they see one?
Their stated values were lies.
They don't care about abuse victims. They only want to hurt people. It's right there in how they talk. A lot of people don't care about justice, they just want blood.
Have you ever wondered by the American prison system continues to exist despite all evidence showing it only increases the risk of reoffending? It's because Americans are sadists and enjoy the cruelty. They'll weaponize empathetic language about "mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent" but the reality is they don't care about the innocent. They don't care that it's only making crime worse. They're happy about it: More people for the meat grinder.
The reason you're having trouble accepting this is because you follow an ideology that says people are inherently good. That all cruelty is the result of capitalism. You're not ideologically prepared to accept the depths of human cruelty in people you would otherwise consider "normal."
A lot of you guys did this when Courtney was crashing out as well, being just so darn confused at her behavior. I, of course, had already gazed into the pitch-black abyss that is Courtney's ashen soul so I had no issue processing the sheer wanton cruelty she exerted on those kids who followed her into her little groomer hidey hole.
In a sense I find that childhood bullying is extremely honest, because it's done purely for the rush of power that committing violence gets you. It's not about trouble at home, or a loss of agency, it's because they were big and you were small and it made them feel good to hurt you.
Think about the kind of bargaining people do in their 20's. Calling themselves "gossipy bitches" like it's a positive thing. They are freely admitting they enjoy hurting people.
That's what people like Brittany and Ant and Sai and Crim are. They enjoy hurting people. It gives them a rush and power they don't have otherwise, and there's no explanation behind it other than pure sadism. If you were to put them in power they would be monsters. And there are many MANY people like them.
People get confused when they ask me what should be done with pedophiles and my answer is "Psychiatric Hospital" and the reason I feel this way is because despite the sarcasm or hyperbole I take no actual joy from hurting people. I didn't even have the nerve or the will to kill the woman who had been raping me for years when the opportunity came.
I own a gun, but I'm all talk. It's for bluffing. If a mugger or assailant called my bluff I wouldn't have it in me to shoot them because hurting people doesn't bring me any joy. I'm not a bad person.
So I prefer solutions that actually solve the problem rather than slake bloodlust I don't have.
Talking about having empathy costs you nothing. Talking about having empathy for good people is the easiest thing in the world. And these people's empathy and leftism leaves their body so fucking fast the instant they have anything close to an excuse that lets them absolutely lose it on someone.
Stop taking people at their word and being confused when they lie.
What would you say to someone who is pro death penalty?
You ever see the film The Green Mile?
There's a guard on the Mile named Percy who enjoys having a power trip over people. He's cruel, sadistic and giggles at the torment he causes.
He's also a cowardly little shit who can't handle the consequences of his own cruelty.
There's a moment in the film where he scares Delacroix, causing him to trip and hit his head on the floor, and laughs about it. He is promptly grabbed and groped by Wild Bill, and is so terrified that he pisses himself.
When he's put in charge of Delacroix's execution, he leaves the sponge dry so that it hurts more. But when Delacroix screams, smokes and eventually catches fire, he can't handle the results of his own cruelty and tries to look away before Paul forces him to watch.
I think about Percy when I think about people who are giddy and eager for blood. You think you are, but the reality is that the moment you get it you're not going to like it because you are not prepared for what it means to take the life of another human being.
You're simply a posturing little coward who will piss himself if someone says boo to him. And even when you get the blood you want in a safe and palatable way, it's never going to be enough for your cowardly ass.
This isn't me trying to shoehorn one in, but I think that, in your setting ideas, humans taking children from the people they raid would be like the only context where an Ugly Duckling would work. An elf or orc raised by humans against their will and recognizing that they're different and wanting to go and find their people and learn about their culture is an idea. More of a thought than anything.
That's not really what I mean when I say "ugly duckling character."
I'm talking about characters like Valeera or Sera. Someone who "doesn't fit in" with the rest of their people. They're a favorite of unoriginal players who want to be a special little snowflake while simultaneously being extremely conformist.
I used to just call this "Tiefling Scene Kid."
There are some TTRPG players for whom this is the ONLY character they will ever make, and will keep nudging and frogboiling RPG systems to make it easier to do that. And in doing so they often boil away the identity of a given property.
It happened to D&D years ago and it's currently happening to World of Warcraft, and it annoys the shit out of me.
ok so I looked it up, and it turns out they made a track out of PVC pipes, down a hill. The owner didn't realise PVC expanded in the heat, so on a turn the track just fell apart and the dude inside went over a fucking free way and into a swamp.
The funniest part is that the inspector was watching the whole time, and once the ball stopped he left without saying anything. Park management just shut it down then and there.
"The ball cleared a small hill, briefly going airborne, then zipped right across Route 94, the two-lane road splitting the park. Cars honked and slammed on their brakes. If there had been opposing traffic, Frank would have become part of a real-life game of Pong, volleying from one bumper to another.
Still in pursuit, we followed the ball toward a small lake in Motor World that had been earmarked for a fleet of tiny bumper boats for children. The area wasn’t open yet, but the empty boats were being tested and floated on the surface. The ball soared over the grass and smashed into several of them, scattering the others with rippling waves from the impact, which launched some of the boats several feet in the air.
Charlie and Ken waded into the water looking for the hatch. After some difficulty, they got it open. Charlie pulled Frank out by grabbing him under his armpits like a baby. Frank crawled up the bank, coughing and sputtering. He splayed across the grass as we all stared at the ball, which bobbed in the water like it was attached to a fishing lure.
We did not ask for the inspector’s report, nor did we ever hear of one being filed. Ken Bailey returned to Canada. The snow-makers cleared away the PVC. Told to dispose of the Bailey Ball, they rolled it into the woods, where it remained for many years."
I don't know that this beats the teeth story, but it's pretty great.
So is there a summary available for the "fantasy brainstorming" you did a few months back?
Sure.
Humans
Human culture is built around old myths of Dragons as watchful protectors. Early human society would often see Dragons in the sky as a warning of danger, due to Dragons often flying away from a volcano eruption or earthquake. Humans came to revere dragons as gods, and shaped their society around them.
In reality Dragons are simple beasts that went extinct a very long time ago.
Humans live in kingdoms of around 5-10 thousand people, building their homes at the base of mountains and around caves. The place their leaders live is often called a "Den." Their technology is very late Stone Age/Neolithic to early bronze age, with them preferring to wear splint mail, while their leaders wear scale mail made from the scales of ancient dragon corpses, believing the scales to be a gift.
Humans are a race that are considered an oddity. They hunger for battle, they have a very militaristic society, and their animal motifs extend to personhood ("You are a drake with no flame").
They have this completely backward concept of "honour" that extends to battle, because their culture has been emulated around an apex predator. They kill civilians after dispatching the military because they think it's giving them an honorable defeat, they snatch children out of some idea that it's better for them to be raised by the stronger warrior. There are a small number of elves and orcs in human society because they were stolen as children.
Human society favours the Warrior. The ones with the highest status are the ones with the strongest weapons, the most kills notched on their axe, the most war trophies attached to their belt. They'll start wars purely for the sake of peacocking, but outside of wars they're jovial and boisterous. They consider warring with someone the same as friendship, something that makes others wary of them.
The humans actually have an extremely high opinion of the Elves, because the Elves have repeatedly beaten them out of their forests with minor losses at best.
Human celebrations cover everything from birthdays to anniversaries of 'good wars.' The grog and ale comes out and they are known to celebrate for up to 9 days straight.
Humans live for around 95 years and have a 2:3:1 gender ratio. Their greatest taboos are Cannibalism, Parricide and Incest.
Humans were modelled after common tropes found in Orcs.
Elves
Elves are a long-lived race that resides primarily in forests. In their early history they took shelter in forests to hide from Dragons flying overhead, and eventually the cover of trees became synonymous with 'home.'
Elven homes are long, thin, spiderwebs of villages that snake through the trees, with the elves disturbing as little of the forest as possible. Little pockets connected by thin and winding paths, elves live in a very close-knit community. It's common for elves to 'nest' where they sleep in large groups with family, friends and neighbours.
Elves are the most technologically advanced race, having hit the Bronze Age a thousand years ago. Those who have been to elven villages have seen no mines, so nobody knows where they get their metal. Elven bronze, however, is extremely strong and valuable to those outside elven territory.
Elves take great care to preserve the vast forests they reside in, making elven forests largely untouched by humans or orcs. Many animals take refuge in elven forests because of the lack of risk of clearcutting, even if it means being occasionally hunted. Elves practice respectful hunting and take great care to use the entirety of an animal they hunt.
Elves are very focused on community. Everyone in a given area knows everyone else's name, and there is a level of casual affection and intimacy that a human may find off-putting. To a non-elf, it would be virtually impossible to tell if the relationship between two elves is platonic, romantic or familial.
The Elves are not social with outsiders often. They have repeatedly had to beat back human incursions into their forests, and though the humans have a high opinion of them for their strength and military prowess, the elves have a great deal of disdain for their aggression. The only outsider the elves get along with consistently are Orcs, who occasionally take shelter in their forests during the hotter times of the year and have their same respect and reverence for nature.
Elves live for, on average, 1-2 thousand years, and have a 1:5:2 gender ratio. Their greatest taboos are Deforestation, Exile and Greed.
Elves are modelled after Thalassians, Hobbits and other fantasy races that love things that 'grow.'
Orcs
Orcs are a partially nomadic people who travel the land taking shelter in places where there is game to hunt and available water. Orcs have homelands far off in the desert regions of the world, but Orcish nomads are the ones most frequently seen by others. Orcish nomads return to their homelands every generation to share the stories and wisdom they've gained on their travels.
Due to travelling through harsh lands, Orcs are hardy and resilient. They are able to keep walking even with deep lacerations in their legs. This has its downsides, as Orcs are prone to not notice more grievous injuries and so there is a great deal of cultural importance placed on healers.
Orcs have a deeply spiritual culture, believing the earth itself to be a matronly spirit cradling life in its loving arms. Because of this, Orcs take a "leave nothing but footprints" attitude toward the lands they travel on.
Orcish technology is around the early Bronze Age, just behind the Elves. They are the only race who has successfully traded for Elven bronze. Their homes are made from metal, wood, hide and grass. Many of the materials are carried with them, while others are sourced from wherever they are. Orcish homes are designed to be built and taken apart with ease, while still being sturdy and durable enough to last indefinitely.
Orcs are driven by a desire to learn, meet new people, and experience new things. Orcish adaptability has rooted itself deep into their culture. Orcs are on extremely good terms with the elves, and they are the only ones the elves have allowed into their forests. Orcish nomads take residence in elven forests during the autumn, where they share stories, art and celebrations with them.
While they are extremely friendly and peaceful, it is extremely unwise to be aggressive toward an Orc.
Orcs live for 150 years and have a 5:3:1 gender ratio. Their greatest taboos are Wastefulness, Aggression and Incest.
Orcs are modelled after the non-warsong clans from World of Warcraft, as well as the Tauren.
I haven't engaged with the fandom enough to know if this is already an accepted thing and I'm just super late on the uptake, but it just hit me that Spy X Family actually lends itself super well to a queer reading. Two individuals agree to participate in a play marriage in order to hide their true selves from their friends, family, and colleagues. In order to maintain this facade, they must constantly work to perform heteronormativity lest they begin to face consequences ranging from as benign as judgement from their neighbors to as severe as threat of government violence. One member of the duo is a man who has forsaken his sense of identity to live a life of falsehoods, never letting a single soul see beneath the mask, while the other is a woman who feels like an outcast and a failure as a result of her chronic inability to perform the gender roles society expects of her. Together, the two of them work to raise a so-called problem child who suffers from a deep-rooted fear of abandonment stemming from every prior adult in her life failing her (and who also, to go on a slight tangent, repeatedly shows a disinterest in romance, yet has those feelings dismissed as immaturity and subsequently has her attempts at forming a friendship with a male classmate misinterpreted as romantic). Despite continuing to keep secrets from one another, the support network the three of them form allows them all to grow as people in a way that their former isolated and restrictive lives never could. Also they have a woke dog.
Social anxiety is a hell of a drug in general, but getting scared that the staff at your favourite restaurant or coffee shop will realise you're an autistic weirdo who eats exactly the same thing every day is especially wrong-headed. Food service people love autistic weirdos who eat exactly the same thing every day. Do you realise how valuable a reliable repeat customer whose order you cannot possibly fuck up is in that line of work?
Yeah know as weird as it feels to say it, you saying the process of abuse is the most mind numbing boring experience was actually quite comforting
Because like in my experience realizing how just over it I was with my whole relatives living situation yet still just living in it without making major attempts to fix it (in whatever way a teenager thought they could mainly just trying not to lay in bed all day)
It made me self conscious and mad at myself because if I was so tired of every waking thought leading back to being miserable about it, why not just do something? nothing was happening I had was deadly aware of every hour passing before you had to deal with whatever daily pain was up next, and yet still just layed in bed thinking I was a lazy drama queen despite remembering every bit of evidence to the contrary
So thank you for that small peace of mind
It's something people often just don't get about abuse. And it's not their fault. Pop culture often makes abuse sound like has the same effect of being stabbed by Frostmourne.
What a lot of people don't talk about is the feeling of futility. The thing I often bring up the most in regards to my parental abuse is how there was this overwhelming feeling of "There's no point trying to appease them to avoid a fight, they're just going to get mad anyway."
That's a big part of what makes abuse so dreary. You know how your abuser is going to react. You know them intimately and there is no doubt of how your next encounter with them is going to go. And all of that breeds a sense of futility, of pointlessness. The knowledge that no matter what you do, it's going to end badly for you.
So you just... do nothing. You drift out. You go on autopilot finding the quickest route to going back to sleep. You start telling your friends "Yeah it's fine, they've always been like that." You just become numb.
Breaking out of that haze is the first part of recovery.
This isn't the case all the time. I've found it's more likely to be the case for AMABs, and in cases where their abuser is delusional rather than controlling or egoistic.
Why is it called "Borderline" Personality Disorder? What's it on the border of?
It's called that because back in the 30's it was considered on the "Borderline" of Psychosis (the inability to distinguish between what is and is not real) and Neurosis (an archaic term for trauma and stress-related disorders).
So a person would be considered either Neurotic, Psychotic, or Borderline.
Neurosis is no longer a diagnosis, and the relationship between BPD and stress/delusion is a lot more complicated.
Why is it still called "Borderline"? That's a very good question. Honestly I could go on for hours about how psychiatric disorders have a sweeping epidemic of terrible names that often sound more frightening than they actually are and thus actively contribute to the mental health stigma.
I've also seen the explanation that it was once called "Borderline Schizophrenia". Then people realized it didn't have all that much to do with schizophrenia, so they dropped that part and then just left the "borderline" part there. Honestly it seems like they just couldn't have been bothered to think of a better term.
I know the ICD-10 used the term "Emotionally unstable personality disorder" for a while, and I've also seen "Emotional intensity disorder" and "Emotional (dys)regulation disorder". And while a couple of those are stigmatizing in their own right, at least they actually try to describe the disorder.
I've spend 3/4 of my life living in red states, and I gotta say, the leftists in the blue state where I live now are fucking soft. You only think both parties are the same if you've lived safely with Democrat control for decades. Go live somewhere where Republicans have controlled the state legislature for that long and see if you still think there's no difference.
Did you guys know that in addition to the already caught allusions and references to Fight Club and The King of Comedy present in Fred: The Movie there is also an explicit reference to Gummo as an homage to Lucas wishing the director would’ve signed on FOR Fred: The Movie?
Oh and also that new Taylor Swift album? Absolute trash it is desperate for attention with no confidence and nothing behind it.
I'm afraid to ask, but what is a "Favourite Person"?
"Favourite Person" in the context I used earlier, is an extremely maladaptive coping mechanism found in a small number of mental illnesses. The train of logic is that a favourite person is a person upon which someone places the burden of meeting all of their unmet emotional needs.
Most people who engage in this coping mechanism are usually people whose primary caregiver failed them, and so they're looking for another primary caregiver to substitute.
The "Favourite Person's" needs are often not considered in the slightest, they often aren't even seen as a person, they're just a machine that dispenses love and absorbs rage. You're largely little more than an emotional punching bag, and any attempt to set reasonable boundaries will be seen by that person as the requiem bell for the relationship.
People who are not handling their shit will position this kind of relationship as extremely important, because of course they would say that. But in reality it's not recognized as a component of any mental illness any more than any other maladaptive coping mechanism would be.
The appeal in this kind of relationship is in having the benefits of having relationships with other people while not expecting to be reciprocal of those benefits because these are people who often struggle intensely with these things.
What do you think about the theory that Catra is borderline?
Any attempt to diagnose a fictional character with a personality disorder will always be flawed because they are not fully realized people. They are props and puppets to tell a story.
Furthermore, the only person qualified to make a diagnosis of a person is THEIR doctor. Not any doctor, not anyone with a degree, not someone majoring in the subject, and not someone with the disorder reading a truncated version of the DSM-V.
The following is simply my opinion as someone who's seen a lot of pop psychology pop up in TV and fandom.
While Catra has a lot of emotional volatility, the simple fact is that she is too volatile and too abusive. She operates with extreme levels of spite and malice that someone with BPD isn't capable of doing.
Catra is fundamentally broken-hearted. She is loyal to the Horde and sees Adora turning traitor as exactly how it looks. She's angry and out to spite the person who made her angry and is trying to process what she perceives as a betrayal from someone she loves because "my best friend betrayed us for people she just met that day" is not actually an inaccurate view of events.
Given that Catra is still operating under the false belief that she can win the respect of her and Adora's mother and take her place as the favourite, it's unsurprising that she has this view. She simultaneously wants to take Adora's place as Mommy's Favourite, but also misses her and wants her back and her story is about her being yanked between these two desires and wanting to have it both ways.
Shoehorning characters into real-life diagnoses only serve to diminish their narrative, and cause contradictions in the way their symptoms would or wouldn't manifest. Rather than seeing their behaviour through the lens of this or that affliction, it's more fruitful to analyze the cause and effect of in-universe events.
