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flatland-a-2024-translation · 2 months

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Section 12. Of the Doctrine of our Priests

[Table of Contents]

The teachings of the Circles can be summed up in a simple statement: “Attend to your Configuration.”

Whether political, religious, or moral, every lesson the Circles teach us has the goal of improving the Configuration, or physical shape, of individuals and society at large, with special importance placed on the Configuration of Circles, which is the most important goal of all.

The Circles are to be praised for how well they’ve suppressed the ancient lies that convinced men to waste their time and energy laboring under the false belief that someone’s behavior was shaped through free will, effort, training, encouragement, praise, or anything else except Configuration.

It was Pantocyclus, the hero mentioned before now as the one who ended the Color Revolt, who first convinced mankind that Configuration is what makes the man – that if, for example, you were born an Isosceles with two Irregular sides, it’s guaranteed you would go down the wrong path in life unless you got them evened out.

This would require a visit to the Isosceles Hospital, or, if you were an Equillateral Triangle or Square, or even a Polygon, if you were born with any Irregularity, you must be brought to one of the Regular Hospitals to be cured. Otherwise, you would inevitably die in the State Prison, or by the sharp angle of the State Executioner.

Pantocyclus declared that every social problem, from the smallest misbehaviors to the most outrageously violent crimes, was caused by physical Irregularity of the body, which could be caused by anything from bumping into someone in a crowd, or not exercising enough, or exercising too much, or even just a sudden change of temperature.

This Illustrious Philosopher concluded from this idea that good behavior deserves no praise, and bad behavior deserves no blame. Why should you praise, for example, the work ethic of a Square lawyer who works hard to defend his clients, when you should instead be admiring the perfect precision of his right angles?

Why should you blame a lying, thieving Isosceles, when instead you should be hating the incurable Irregularity of his sides?

In theory, this doctrine is unquestionable. But in practice, it has some drawbacks.

When dealing with an Isosceles, if the lowlife argues that he can’t stop himself from stealing because of his Irregularity, the judge likewise has no choice but to sentence him to death, because nothing can fix the behavior of the Isosceles, and the case is closed.

But when dealing with your own misbehaving children, when the penalty of death is out of the question, Configuration Theory can make parenting very awkward.

Several times I’ve found myself backed into a metaphorical corner when one of my Hexagonal Grandsons, who is misbehaving, blames his refusal to do what he’s told on a sudden change of temperature that was just too much for his young Perimeter.

He argues that instead of blaming him for something he can’t control, I should be helping him strengthen his Configuration, which, he argues, would be helped along by giving him all of his favorite treats.

When this happens, I can’t argue with him without violating the ruling of the Circles, but I also can’t just give into his demands without question.

Personally, I’ve decided to assume that a good scolding and time out has a positive, and strengthening effect on my Grandsons’ Configuration, though I do have to admit I don’t have any physical proof of this.

But I’m not the only one who uses this loophole to avoid violating the doctrine – I’ve seen many of even the highest Circles, when they are Judges in law courts, placing praise and blame on Regular and Irregular Figures. And in their homes, I’ve seen first hand how, when scolding their own children, they speak of “right” and “wrong” just as passionately as if they believed these words represented real things that a human Figure could choose between.

By constantly enforcing their policy of making Configuration the ultimate goal in every mind, the Circles have reversed the rules that you Spacelanders apply to your own family relationships.

Your children are taught to honor your parents, but with us, after the Circles, a man is taught to honor first his Grandson, if he has one, or his Son if he doesn’t.

But let me make it clear that by “honor” I do not mean “indulge” or “spoil”, but to make them the best they can be. The Circles teach us that the duty of fathers is to always give advantages to their offspring before themselves, which helps increase the status of not only their direct descendants, but the whole State as well.

The weak point in the system of the Circles – if a humble Square may be so bold – seems to me, to be in how they conduct their relationships with Women.

Because reducing the number of Irregular births is such a top priority for the good of Society, it is a logical to conclude that a Woman who has any Irregularity in her ancestry should be considered an unfit partner for anyone who wants his Sons to have increased social mobility through an increase of Regular sides.

Now, Irregularity in Males is a simple matter of measurement, but because all Women are straight, and as far as the eye can see, Regular, one has to figure out another method to measure what I call their “invisible” or “potential” Irregularities that might be passed down onto their offspring.

The State has taken care of this by recording carefully-kept pedigrees showing the family history of all those registered. Without a certified pedigree, a Woman is not allowed to marry.

Now, you might assume that a Circle – proud of his ancestry, and ambitious for descendants, one of whom might even become the Chief Circle some day – would be more careful than any other man to make sure he chooses the wife who will produce the best Sons for him, with no stain of Irregularity in her history.

But you would be wrong.

The care taken to choose a pure-bred Regular wife seems to grow lazier as one rises higher in the social scale.

Nothing could ever convince an aspiring Isosceles, who hopes to produce an Equilateral Son, to take a wife who has ever had a single Irregular member registered in her family tree.

But a Square or Pentagon, who is confidant that his family is on the fast-track to higher status, won’t even bother asking any further back than the five-hundredth generation.

A Hexagon or Decagon is even more careless with his potential wife’s pedigree.

And a Circle has been known to purposefully marry a Woman whose Great-Grandfather was Irregular, all because of the attractive quality of her reflected light, or because of the charm of her deeper voice, something that we Flatlanders find, maybe even more than you do, “an excellent thing in a Woman”.

As you might expect, these badly-judged marriages result in either no offspring at all, offspring who are blatantly Irregular, or who have outright reduced in the number of sides. But none of these disastrous results have ever stopped anyone.

The loss of a few sides in a highly-developed Polygon is easy to dismiss, and is sometimes compensated for by one of those miraculously successful operations from the Neo-Therapeutic Gymnasium which I described earlier. And the Circles are much too willing to submit to infertility as a natural Law of the superior development to do anything to fix it.

But, if this evil is not stopped, the so far slow destruction of the Circular class could accelerate, and the day might come, sooner than anyone expects, when our race will no longer be able to produce a Chief Circle, and Flatland as we know it will be destroyed.

I’m aware of another danger that should be warned against, though with this one I have no easy solutions to offer, and this one is also on the subject of our relationships with Women.

About three hundred years ago, the Chief Circle decided that, because women are lacking in Reason, but have an over abundance of Emotion, they would no longer be treated as rational, and would no longer receive any education.

The consequence of this declaration was that women were no longer taught to read or write, and weren’t even taught enough basic Arithmetic to count the number of sides on their husband or sons. It was inevitable that each following generation would lack more and more intellectual power, and this rule of female non-education still continues to this day.

My fear is that, though made with the best intentions, this policy goes too far, and harms us of the Male Sex.

Because with things the way they are now, we Males have to lead an exhausting bi-lingual and, please don’t think I am exaggerating, bi-mental existence.

With Women, we speak of “love”, “duty”, “right”, “wrong”, “pity”, “hope”, and other completely irrational, emotional concepts which do not actually exist. We pretend these things are real for the sole purpose of controlling Feminine Outbursts.

But among ourselves, and in our books, we have an entirely different vocabulary, and, I might almost say, language. “Love” becomes “the anticipation of benefits”. “Duty” becomes “necessity” or “fitness”, and so on and so forth.

More importantly, when we are among Women, we use language that implies absolute worship for their Sex, and they fully believe that the Chief Circle Himself is less important to us than they are.

But behind their backs, they are both thought of and spoken of, by all except the very young, as little better than, to quote, “mindless organisms".

The matters of Religion are also spoken of completely differently when we are in the Women’s chambers than when we are outside.

My humble fear is that this double training, in both language as well as thought, places too much of a burden upon the young Males, especially when they reach their third year, when they are first removed from the care of their mothers.

They must entirely unlearn their first way of thinking to make way for the new language of science, but then they still have to speak in the old language when in the presence of their Mothers and Nurses and Sisters.

Already I think that children today struggle more to understand basic mathematics than our ancestors did three hundred years ago.

Not to mention the danger that would arise if a Woman ever manages to learn how to read, and tells the rest of her Sex what she’s found in just a single popular book, or the possibility that an very young Male might reveal to his Mother the secrets of the logical language, either by accident, or purposeful disobedience.

Based on the simple fact that the current policies make Men less intelligent, I humbly ask that the highest Authorities rethink the laws forbidding Female education.

[Table of Contents]

#Section 12 #long post

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zennialemo · 2 years

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I tried to kill myself. I took a nearly full bottle of prescribed benzos. Then I walked to the center of town and stared at my phone. Eventually I called 988. I didn't say what I'd done. I just talked. It didn't take long for the women I was connected to to ask me if I'd taken something. I admitted it. I dont remember admitting it, just being told to sit in the gazebo and stay on the line. Honestly I don't remember the details of it. I don't remember a disturbing amount of time. But I remember like 3 cop cars showing up with the ambulance.

Which is fucked. Why so many cops to a mental health crisis?

But it only got more fucked. After, I was medically cleared I was moved from the regular ER to where they keep people for 72 hour holds. I was section 12ed. When they found a bed for me I was moved to a psych hospital.

Listen. If you need to go, go. But also what in the ever living fuck is going on in those places. This was my third time and as always there was violence that shouldn't have been allowed to happen, inhumane treatment, dehumanizing behavior from the staff. My first day I broke. I lost my shit. I laid in my shitty bed with someone coming in to check on me every 5 minutes to make sure I wasn't trying to off myself and wept. I regretted not finishing myself off with alcohol like I originally planned. I seriously regretted it.

Sometimes I still do.

But I pulled myself together and didn't allow myself to cry again. Because not being okay means being locked in there longer. Means higher dosages of meds you've just started with side effects that are massively destructive. And lord I can't explain how awful it is to know there's nowhere to go. When people are screaming and throwing chairs and punching holes in the walls. Nowhere to cry where you won't be seen. All the rooms they have to go to locked because you need staff but not enough staff to go into the quiet room. Eating salad with plastic spoons because God forbid you give someone like me a fork. God forbid. Stripped down and searched and without your clothes and other items for days because they can't get their shit together. So you walk around in grippy socks and scrubs. Without your books or journal, and never are you allowed to have your phone. So all the numbers you have to call people are in the journal they told you you couldn't have for literally no reason which is part of why you lost it. But then they give you the fucking journal when they bring your shit.

And that's the other thing. No one knows shit. Every person gives a different answer. No one knows who to talk to for anything so you spend an absurd amount of time looking for anyone to help you. And the counseling staff who seems to semi care has no idea because it's not their job to know. Which means no one fucking knows because the people who's job it is don't have a clue. A nurse in the med window who doesnt know how to give meds. A schedule on the wall thats always wrong for groups and no easily visible clock to know what time it is anyway. No calendar to tell the date or day of the week. And you're locked in and you can't leave you can't leave you can't leave-

Two weeks and a day since I overdosed. I've been at my parents house. I don't know what I'm doing. And nothing really has changed. I left that place and the ER before it with no help. Because fucking psych jail isn't helpful. It isn't goddamn helpful to lock me into a place and treat me and all the people around me less-than and drug me out of my mind. That is traumatizing.

I'm angry and I'm lost and I have nowhere to put any of it. I've been in therapy for years, at one point three times a week. I have a psychiatrist and have tried tons of meds and med combination. I've done PHPs and peer run groups and joined internet communities. I have a social worker. But when im too honest (and why is there even a feeling of being "too honest"?) I'm told to go to the ER. Which means psych jail. And why is that our fucking answer?

Almost all of us were inpatient for the third fourth seventh eighth time. Because there is nowhere else and nothing else to do. Its like recidivism rates but for psych hospitals instead of prison.

I just don't know. I don't know. The best I can think to do is try to get in the system. To change it. To read and study and learn and advocate. Right now I'm struggling to eat one meal a day. But sometimes I have fleeting images of myself helping someone find an alternative, and knowing they'll actually be helped.

Something to hold onto. But the problem is right now I'm struggling. Right now. And all I can do is wait until my 45 min session on Wednesday. Because contrary to the current systems beliefs group therapy isn't helpful for everyone. Especially the way we do it. So I could go to a million PHPs - everytime I come out worse. Everytime except one and it just so happened the group of people I spent time with meshed well, so the time between groups was immensely helpful. It was pure luck though. And it shouldn't be like this.

We deserve better.

#rant #suicide #mental health #psych wards #hospitalization #section 12 #tw sui attempt #benzos #suicide attempt #overdose

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seemabhatnagar · 17 days

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"Teacher's Plea to Quash FIR Under POCSO Act Rejected: Court Emphasizes Need for Thorough Investigation"

The High Court dismissed the petition praying for the quashing of the FIR.

The Court noted that the complaint is more than horrendous, for the reason that the petitioner is a teacher; being a teacher it is indecorous on the part of the petitioner to have allegedly shot the videos and taken pictures of girl children at the time when they are changing their dress, the alleged offence is unpardonable, albeit prima facie. If this cannot become a crime, it is ununderstandable as to what else can be. It is for the petitioner to come out clean in a full blown trial, as any entertainment of the petition at this juncture, at the stage of registration of crime, would be putting a premium on the illegal activities of the petitioner/ teacher.

Background:

Muniyappa was employed as a drawing teacher at Morarji Desai Residential School. On December 15, 2023, the Joint Director of the Social Welfare Department received a complaint through the control room, alleging that Muniyappa had recorded videos and taken photographs of minor girls at the school while they were changing clothes. This led to the registration of FIR No. 209/2023 under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the Masthi Police Station.

Legal Issue

Whether the FIR against Muniyappa under Section 12 of the POCSO Act should be quashed on the grounds of procedural irregularities and alleged malice.

Argument of the Parties

Petitioner's Argument

The investigation began unlawfully before the FIR was registered, violating legal procedures.

The complaint was motivated by personal vendetta because Muniyappa had earlier reported the misuse of school children for cleaning water and sewerage tanks.

The complaint contained corrections, indicating that it was fabricated to malign Muniyappa.

Respondents (State of Karnataka and the Joint Director, Social Welfare Department):

Muniyappa's actions constituted a clear offense under Section 12 of the POCSO Act.

The evidence, including videos and photographs on the seized mobile phones, confirmed the allegations.

The Petitioner-Muniyappa was not cooperating with the investigation, as he refused to unlock one of his mobile phones, which likely contained incriminating evidence.

Muniyappa recorded inappropriate videos and took photographs of the girls, which was substantiated by evidence from his mobile devices.

Court's Observation

The court noted the procedural concerns raised by Muniyappa but emphasized the seriousness of the allegations under the POCSO Act and the need for a thorough investigation to determine the truth.

It examined the sequence of events, including the timing of the complaint, the seizure of the mobile phones, and the registration of the FIR. The court considered the arguments regarding the tampering of the complaint and the handling of electronic evidence.

The court was cautious in considering the petitioner's argument about the complaint being fabricated, given the sensitive nature of the allegations involving minor students.

#POCSO Act #FIR quashing #procedural irregularities #Kolar District #Morarji Desai Residential School #Section 12 #electronic evidence #malicious prosecution #Karnataka High Court.#student privacy #criminal petition #legal proceedings #investigation.

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