It seems like some of the ableism that Reese gets from the fandom comes from the notion that chronically ill people should be in this constant state of sadness and just accept that their lives are terrible and resign themselves to it in a poetically beautiful exploiting people’s trauma for dramatic entertainment way. And at first, Reese does appear to be like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with being nihilistic and sad over your disability, and grieving the self and life you could have had without it, a lot of disabled people go through that, but it’s not their entire permanent state of being. So, when Reese shifts, and becomes angry and lashes out and you know, comes out as the Jersey Devil, people are shocked, because hey, disabled people aren’t supposed to be that angry and scary and have complex human emotions and do mortally ambiguous things. They have to always be sweet sad beans who can do no harm. So obviously, by going against that stereotype, he has now entered the realm of disabled villains. He is now a terrible person and we hate him. And yes, I still absolutely view him as disabled after the Jersey Devil reveal, at least allegorically speaking, but also, I think it would be a bit disabling to turn into a giant monster every time you get angry. His situation very much feels like someone who has a stigmatized mental illness that causes scary lashing out who is then medicated for it but not allowed autonomy in the decision or really allowed to have a full picture of what’s going on and he ends up with terrible side effects from him that render him physically ill but the people around him prefer this because it’s easier. Also, it’s really telling how people view him, the disabled one doing a bit of murder, vs. Tabitha, the not disabled one also doing a bit of murder. When he does it, it’s how could he do this? He’s secretly evil! Monster! Aaah! But when Tabby kills him, it’s #girlboss, thanks for saving us. When, both of them were attacking a perceived threat. Niether of them is exactly morally justified for doing the murder, but Reese gets so much more hate for the matricide ending than Tabby does for Cousin Bonding Time. Like, I love Tabby, but she’s not supposed to be a good person either. Most people in this game aren’t. (Except Dustin ILY DUSTIN!!!) Tabby has likely been the indirect cause of someone’s death at the mines with how little she pays her workers. They probably can’t exactly pay medical bills or live comfortably. And no, it’s not entirely Tabby’s fault, she doesn’t want to be in this position and she doesn’t know how to keep the mines running otherwise, but it doesn’t change the damage that her actions do. Still, I don’t see her get nearly as much hate for being a union buster and being able to kill Reese, as Reese does for being able to kill his mom who has been lying to him and abusing him his whole life. Yes, Dr. Kelly had her reasons and her actions are understandable, but they weren’t right in the slightest and they messed Reese up. His actions, while like everything everyone else does in the game is morally questionable yet understandable, he still ends up with more hate for it than most other characters do for their own messed up actions. All because he dared to be more than the sad pathetic disabled stick man that people expect from the chronically ill.
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yousharknotpass
kaledo-art
tangentwithtanner
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
turnnoffyourmind
