#Truth and lies

[icy-watch]

And of course he would go to Cole.

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

Whump Prompt #1327

Submitted by Anon - thanks!

I’ve been thinking about a whumpee who in the eyes of everyone around them (or even society) is the bad guy. Like, their whumper paints them to be this villian in order to isolate them from society and keep them under their grasp. To add insult to injury, at the beginning the potential caretaker believes all the rumors and whumper’s narrative to the point that they contribute to whumpee’s isolation. They’re just so against whumpee, they’ll disagree with them, overthink whumpee’s intentions, etc. But they’re not that harsh with Whumpee compared to others so in whumpee’s eyes they’re the kindest person to ever exits, that maybe they’re worthy of an ounce of kindness.

And when Caretaker finally finds out the truth (either through them just slowly realizing the true relationship of whumpee and whumper or like an event that triggers whumpee) they have no idea how to care for whumpee knowing that they contributed to whumpee’s suffering and that they barely scratched the surface. So they just try their best instead of resulting to inaction.

But like here’s the catch, so far in whumpee’s eyes caretaker has been the kindest to them, so now whumpee worries about caretaker’s sudden change in actions. (Because they’re not use to comfort)

(Bonus points if their whumper was possesive and often result to physical action and soft words laced with malice. And that’s how caretaker normally comforts people, so they try the same with whumpee only for whumpee to slip into the thinking that they were wrong about caretaker and that they don’t deserve such decency.)

[eldestdaughterdeans]

a lot of significance is placed (rightfully) on what the shapeshifter says as/about dean in 1x06 skin—the implied jealousy and resentment, but especially "sooner or later, everybody's going to leave me." oof.

but also relevant i think is some of what the shapeshifter says as dean/about himself to becky. particularly "maybe this thing was born human but was different. hideous and hated. until he learned to become someone else."

and what is dean winchester if not a consummate performer. a people pleaser. a shapeshifter of sorts. papering over the tender parts of himself that he considers hideous and fundamentally unlovable. the parallels go both ways.

[maespri]

congratulations kokichi ouma for winning The most misunderstood character award, even by people who like him

[ibiskos]

Ψεύτικος κόσμος

Ζούμε σε έναν κόσμο γεμάτο ψέματα.

Οι ζωές μας βασίζονται σε ψέματα.

Τι γίνεται όμως όταν μαθαίνουμε την αλήθεια;

Ο ψεύτικος κόσμος μας καταρρέει.

Σαν ένα κάστρο από γυαλί.

Και μαζί καταρρέουμε κι εμείς...

Δεν μπορούν οι άνθρωποι να λένε απλά την αλήθεια;

Κουράστηκα.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * *

The storytelling mind is allergic to uncertainty, randomness, and coincidence. It is addicted to meaning. If the storytelling mind cannot find meaningful patterns in the world, it will try to impose them. In short, the storytelling mind is a factory that churns out true stories when it can, but will manufacture lies when it can’t. -Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (via exhaled-spirals)

+

There is a pattern to the universe and everything in it, and there are knowledge systems and traditions that follow this pattern to maintain balance, to keep the temptations of narcissism in check. But recent traditions have emerged that break down creation systems like a virus, infecting complex patterns with artificial simplicity, exercising a civilizing control over what some see as chaos. The Sumerians started it. The Romans perfected it. The Anglosphere inherited it. The world is now mired in it. The war between good and evil is in reality an imposition of stupidity and simplicity over wisdom and complexity.

Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta

[scotland-wolves]

[kinialohaguy]

Veracity Of Pique

Aloha kākou. The fear of offending others and being offended. Uncomfortable Truths and Comforting Lies. Academia is a beast with no natural predators. As Douglas Murray explains, how those that are offended by free speech are more dangerous than we can begin to understand. Being accused of being a racist, for example is a sure way to shut down any debate. “Your comment is racist, and it offends…

[laurachouettepoetry]

Shattered mirrors

on the living room floor,

a place where mirrors —

in any form —

should not be.

Lying and laying —

up and down the room

they reflect each whole thing,

its completeness,

as if the very sight

could harm us —

so perfect, so unreal

from their perspective.

I drown on the floorboards,

you waste my tears

by drying them.

All the lies,

the lies you told,

up and down the room

like mirrors, broken ones.

Truth reflects nothing

unless it’s broken.

Outside this room,

you roam the hallways,

searching for feelings within.

Dating a lie,

dangerous and monstrous

like your mind and soul.

Survival is a matter of time

and a dance on balanced sheets.

The shattered pieces still lie there —

waiting for completeness to end,

chaos ensuring perfection.

The lies fall still

in the afternoon light

that rests on the floorboards.

Breathing easily now,

vanishing glimpses —

truth fades slowly,

holding no place

between you and me

and all the lies you told.

- Laura Chouette

[airbrickwall]

[cheerlessxperfect]

To the lover that I lost

I wish things turned out differently. I really do. I know I have hurt you a million times, and not one of those I was never in pain, too.

The truth is I am scared.

I'm sorry that I am. I was the one who told you to jump off the cliff yet I did not even do it myself. I admit it now. I'm scared.

I'm scared to lose what I already have.

I'm scared to know what the future is for us.

I'm scared to take risks.

I stayed in the comfort of where I used to be and while I wanted you to be here, I just couldn't let you in.

I wish there was a way to tell you.

I lied.

It's scary to think that when you come to know, I'll lose you forever.

And I was never this scared in my life.

I was never this worried.

I guess when the feelings are this real it haunts you.

If there comes a day that you'll know every bitter truth I tried to cover with sweets, remember that I love you.

Remember that in those days we held and those nights we kissed, I was real.

That those "I love you"s I said, I meant.

I still mean it.

[icy-watch]

[Woman vocalizing]

[onenakedfarmer]

CARL SAGAN

If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth.

-

DOROTHY ALLISON

If it’s true, I have the absolute right to terrify you with it.

[eldestdaughterdeans]

there is this odd thematic conflation happening in s1 that i'm still trying to track and therefore haven't fully formed my thoughts on yet but it goes something like this:

spn 1x05 bloody mary deals with secrets -> spn 1x06 skin deals with lies -> spn 1x08 bugs deals with honesty and being "listened to"

(somehow this turned into trying to thematically untangle one of the worst episodes of spn. again.)

in a very "subtext is for cowards" move, the writers tell us explicitly that 1x08 bugs is about "honesty" in two key scenes:

when dean tries to give their cover story to joe white tree, he says "no, you're not. you're lying" and "you know who starts a sentence with 'truth is'? liars." then when sam proceeds to ask about the housing development without offering a cover story, joe white tree says "i like him. he's not a liar"

later:

when sam and dean are trying to get matt's family to evacuate the house, sam says "you've got to make him listen, okay?" to which dean takes the phone from sam and says "matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts."

(though the word "truth" comes up in both scenes, i think the episode is more interested in the characters' relationships to truth than objective truth. hence, honesty.)

matt's father not "listening to [him] [...] because he's disappointed in his freak son" comes up in an earlier conversation with sam (to which sam says "i hear you"). mat also confronts his father directly in the climactic scene at the house asking "why won't you listen to me?"

but what does it mean to "be listened to"? specifically in 1x08 bugs?

in the context of these select lines of dialogue, "being heard" would seem like the most straightforward interpretation. however matt's arc is definitively not about being seen or accepted for who he is considering in the final scene he abandons his "freak" insect hobby as he reconciles with his dad. sam similarly confesses that he wants to apologize for all the things he said to john (presumably about, uh, wanting to play soccer instead of learning bowhunting? and going to school instead of hustling pool? not wanting to be a hunter? really wish we'd gotten some more specifics here.)

"being believed" can be interesting thematically in the way of cassandra, fated to prophesies and cursed not to be believed. but the tragedy of the archetype rests on the material manifestation of the prophecies, the fact that she is powerless to prevent or alter the terrible events she foresees.

matt does say that his father "doesn't listen to [him]" in reference to trying to tell him that "something's happening with the insects" in the area. so he's supposed to be a cassandra? but he specifically says he doesn't know what's happening except that the insects are "congregating". he's left out of the loop as sam and dean investigate further and seemingly surprised when sam tells him his family needs to evacuate. in my view, he falls short of fulfilling the archetype.

you could argue the cassandra angle is foreshadowing sam's premonitions in the next episode. but as of yet, the only premonition he's had is of jessica's death, which only came out after the fact. what's more, premonitions don't factor into his relationship with john and won't for another dozen or so episodes.

outside of these two possible interpretations, it's tricky to stick the landing thematically simply because "being listened to" is a passive action. an individual cannot control others, particularly their internal reactions. narratively it's disempowering because the agency rests outside of the focal character. the tragedy of cassandra leans into this because lack of belief impedes the character from affecting the narrative. i would argue that "being heard" sidesteps the other parties' reaction and therefore doesn't entirely surrender the individual's agency.

the relationship between honesty and being listened to is... kinda shaky, all things considered. you could argue that because dean is not honest, he's not listened to. but aside from the interaction with joe white tree, no character benefits from being honest. when matt opts to tell his father the truth instead of dean's cover story, he is not believed.

this is not to say that i'm looking for moral instruction from cw's supernatural but to ask, what is cw's supernatural saying about honesty, truth, lying, and secrets? in 1x05 bloody mary, sam defends his right to keep secrets from his brother. in 1x06 skin, sam resents the secrecy and alienation that come with hunting and we get a glimpse of dean beneath the mask (or at least the confirmation there is a mask). 1x08 bugs seems to further this idea that sam finds lying morally reprehensible, even though his experiences would indicate it's necessary for hunting.

the crunchiest part of it all is that sam's compulsion toward honesty is oriented toward the civilian non-hunting world, not towards the one person he can theoretically be honest with.

[helena-bottom-farter]