#and as a result. norm KNOWS about the process. he knows every single consequence and fallout that comes with it

[cubbihue]

I get the feel Norm was out of the loop until recently. Thats what being stuck in a lamp does to a fella.

Final! With his stupid new master occupated with a tasty sandwich, Norm can start phase 1 of his plan. He spent years cooking up the perfect plan, now all he's gotta do is get H.P and Sanderson on board then-

- Wait why is Turner in Pixie HQ? Why is he a pixie? What do you MEAN he's the best pixie employee? He has a godBROTHER? THOSE TWO BOZOS KIDNAPPED TURNER??

HOW LONG WAS I IN THE LAMP???

Now he can't mess with Timmy so easily anymore. It and pisses him off.

I don't remember if Norm met Peri. I sent you that another ask. Had to break it up. Also love your art!

2/2

Norm may have been out of the loop, initially. But he picks up on the facts very quickly. Maybe a bit too quickly.

No Fairy have ever asked Timmy about his experiences when he was human. Nor did any Fairy ask him how it was like to become a Fairy. Norm's the first being in 200 years to do it and Timmy's.

Uncomfortable.

In one conversation, they learned more about each other than Timmy liked. With one response, Norm has learned more about Timmy's current state than Timmy realized he'd given. More so, Norm knows more about Timmy's fate than Timmy does himself.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[mbtiofwhys]

Goro Akechi

ENTJ

Functional Order: Te- Ni - Se - Fi

Spoiler warning This article will cover Akechi’s typing with precise references to both P5 plot and P5R new confidant and added scenes. An additional premise before progressing further: we don’t think Akechi suffers from any form of mental illness, functions loop or even lasting grips. All his problems revolve around a heavy imbalanced stack, consisting of two developed extroverted functions (with the dominant being unhealthy) paired with underdeveloped introverted ones.

Judging Functional Axis

Extroverted Thinking (Te) / Introverted Feeling (Fi)  

Akechi is an absolute pragmatist, always opting for the most efficient, reliable and profitable approach - in right and wrong. His Te is the most developed function in the stack, but during most of the game it doesn’t show in a healthy way. Akechi has a clear goal in mind and knows the steps he needs to take to accomplish it, it doesn’t matter the cost or what he has to sacrifice to achieve Shido’s downfall. He uses logic to solve problems and confront various situations, and can easily come off (reasonably) as cold or over assertive - for example, when he blackmails the Thieves into siding with him to push through Sae’s Palace. And despite being the newest member of the party (and, in theory, the most inexperienced one), Akechi has no problems slipping into lowkey leading roles and bossy attitude, as both Futaba and Ryuji repeatedly point out. This is because, actually, he has a lot more experience in the Metaverse: he’s one of the strongest Persona user in the game and the oldest one, and thus he puts this competence at use, even if he has to lie about his true powers. At the same time, Akechi enjoys being in charge, being efficient and being recognised as competent, at the point that this becomes one of the crucial flaw in his plan against Shido: he never doubted being in complete control of the situation, so he failed to acknowledge Shido’s true intentions and manipulation until his shadow-self revealed them in the engine room. His Te shows even in the feelings of hate and jealousy towards protagonist: Akechi is brilliant, he’s a hard-worker and a celebrity, from a logical standpoint he’s the definition of success in life, and yet why does protagonist have everything Akechi never had? Royal does an additional job of showing how much Akechi cares for competence and competition based on strength and personal abilities, as these themes are carried out over the whole of his confidant. His powerful Te is badly counterbalanced by an underdeveloped inferior Fi. His Introverted Feeling is not only weaker or misused, it is straight absent for a good portion of the game. Looking at inferior Fi on a more superficial and less personal level, we can see how Akechi despises the Thieves’ “justice”, as he doesn’t believe in a justice carried out outside of the law, and this trait doesn’t get lost in the new semester, as he often places sardonic comments on the group’s ideals. Moreover, everything regarding the emotional sphere is deemed as worthless and a sign of weakness - and this, too, stays the same during January. Though, the real problem with his Fi is that it’s so poorly developed that it has no part in his decision making process - even less than what’s the norm for a Te dom, at least. His plan to get revenge on Shido stems from a deep, personal hate and is fueled by the unjust society he lives in, but that is as far as it goes. Akechi never stops for a moment to reflect upon himself, his believes, what he truly wants or feels and, in the end, this leads him pursuing a hollow goal that costs his life in P5 vanilla and almost kills him in Royal. The engine room scene is where events come to a head: with his back against a wall, Akechi must finally acknowledge his own feelings regarding the whole situation, his life decisions and his supposed hate for Joker. In P5 vanilla, this ends with him sacrificing his life in order to let the Thieves escape the ship, since he came to terms with his mistakes and found a way to redeem himself and still fight for a cause by entrusting his mission against Shido to the group/ to protagonist. In Royal, however, we can see a further development of his Fi: it doesn’t properly bloom, but it’s a start. Akechi still remains highly pragmatic and very dismissive of anything regarding feelings, but at the same time he’s more self-aware. We see him finally fighting for something aligned with his moral (rather than for ensuring a “mere” revenge) and with a strong sense of self, rooted in his will to make decisions by his own and follow his own path in life, even if this means he will have to die again once Maruki’s reality will come to an end.

Perceiving Functional Axis

Introverted Intuition (Ni) / Extroverted Sensing (Se) 

Akechi’s Te is paired with a not-so-strong auxiliary Ni. Not that Akechi doesn’t use his Ni - he simply doesn’t use it at even half potential. His Ni is what makes him so focused on a single, long-term goal: getting his revenge against Shido, even if this means working for him for years and committing murders (TeNi). The problem with this lays in the nature of Ni: since it’s an introverted, perceiving function, it needs to abstract outside data to find meaning and patterns to use in decision making. But Akechi, from what the game tells us (because his awakening is never shown) seems to have skipped this process of finding a meaningful and personal outcome to one’s life in the long run - maybe partially because he was angry, and partially because he was young. And thus, he works for something that in the end reveals hollow and meaningless. Ni is paired with Se in the stack, thus it should be supported by the ability to consider more options during the process of data collection. A healthy, high Ni user has a certain amount of flexibility, even as a J. They will never be open to new possibilities like a high Se user, but they should still be able to take reality into consideration while deciphering future scenarios, knowing that life is complex and one can’t rely on a single vision about how things must play out. And Akechi not only overlooked establishing a meaningful goal for himself, he also became obsessed over a single mission without considering a broader spectrum of options through his tertiary Se. We don’t believe he suffers from a TeSe loop, though, because that would mean a person becomes reckless, focused on short-term results and incapable of properly seeing the consequences of his actions. This is probably not Akechi’s case, as he is a very meticulous person who doesn’t act hastily, even under stress (with the sole exception of the engine room scene). For the whole game, he can stay steps ahead of the others, always trying to figure future implications of his actions, and the mistakes he makes (the pancake scene and protagonist's failed murder) are due to a lack of data and information to process, more than recklessness. All those events happen while Akechi is outnumbered: he’s alone against a whole team of Persona user. And even with the Thieves’ plan, a completely unrelated call from Shido is sufficient to raise doubt about the outcome, so much that he personally goes inside Shido’s Palace to check. His tertiary Se is still present though and, as an extroverted function, it shows in more visible manners than his Ni and Fi. Akechi is a TJ, and thus needs plans, structure and closure. This doesn’t mean he’s rigid or slow to act, on contrary, he can adapt pretty quickly as long as the situation is under control. This is due to his tertiary Se, which allows him to live in the world without getting too lost in his mind - a trait that he uses to shape and wear his public persona, the ace detective mask. Moreover, even if he isn’t a P, Akechi learned the basics of the Metaverse alone with hand-to-hand experiences. We can assume that Shido gave him information about the Metaverse, but at the same time Akechi never had a group of peers to consult. During his collaboration with the Phantom Thieves, Akechi not only shows a developed Te -always being ahead of Sae’s schemes to hinder the group- he also takes a more leading role with proactiveness, taking important decisions quickly. Akechi finds a logical and efficient way to solve problems not only as a Te dom, but also due to his Se which aids him with its adaptability and openness, obviously limited since Akechi needs structure first, but still effectively as a tertiary function.

Also typed as: ENTP, ENFJ

ENTP Surprisingly, since it’s a completely different stack. So, why he’s so commonly mistyped as ENTP? The main argument we could find is that he’s an ace detective/ devil’s advocate, but this is quite an oversimplification due to stereotypes. Firstly, because his public persona is different from his actual personality: in front of the cameras, he’s a rookie detective who loves to debate things, but in real life, this practically shows exclusively in his confidant - so, with protagonist. In every other situation, Akechi tends to stay down to earth, with matter-of-factly statements and a tendency to go straight to the point and solve a problem. Moreover, Akechi never shows signs of Ne - the love for debating isn’t a trait exclusive to Ne and Ti users. On contrary, he’s clearly focused on a single goal due to his auxiliary Ni. Also, Ne shouldn’t be confused with Te. Akechi has an admirable ability to understand the underlying patterns of a problem, but not as a way to evaluate a broad set of abstract options, rather as a Te dom tendency to solve a question quickly and efficiently. ENTP also implies Fe, but cognition must be separated from behaviors. Not all Fe users strive for validation, and every human has a need to belong to a certain extent. Akechi seeks Shido’s attention and acceptance because he’s his father, it’s an unhealthy and human reaction to a deep trauma that defined his life. But if we go to the root of his behaviors we can see how Akechi doesn’t care about social harmony or general wellbeing. He’s never influenced by the emotional environment, and he lacks self-awareness because he doesn’t use his inferior Fi, not because he has a poorly developed Fe.

ENFJ ENFJ and ENTJ shares the NiSe perceiving axis, so we can see why ENFJ is a common mistype. At the same time, ENFJ implies dominant Fe. As we stated above, Akechi’s underdeveloped inferior Fi and his traumas may mimic an unhealthy Fe. However, Fe implies a deep will to create the most positive emotional environment for everyone, a tendency to care for the wellbeing of everyone and, if unhealthy, Fe might mask selfish needs with what is best for other people, or shift the blame onto others for personal mistakes and flaws. Akechi does the exact opposite, and it’s very clear during third semester how much he holds dear the concept of free will and the idea of being his own person, with all the bad choices he’s made. He doesn’t care if the world Maruki has created is ideal and peaceful: it’s fake, thus is a manipulation, and he’s done being manipulated, therefore he wants to shatter it because, to him, it’s worthless living a life that isn’t determined by one’s own actions. Additionally, an ENFJ will use dominant Fe paired with his auxiliary Ni to envision the most plausible and realistic process to reach a goal, which generally is something related to the global wellbeing of other people. Akechi, on contrary, is very rational and logical. The best solution is the one involving the most easy route to solve a problem, he never takes social harmony into consideration and never stops considering what others might think: if they’re with him, that’s good, if they don’t agree, he either crush them if they directly oppose him, ignores them, or forces them working with him.

[recentanimenews]

OPINION: The Madness of Hunter x Hunter's Hero

  Hello everyone, and welcome back to Why It Works. If you’ve watched anime long enough, I’m sure you’ve heard some young protagonist pledge to “do their best” before a big battle. It feels like an anime truism, common to stories of young heroes who train hard, make precious friends, and then struggle to overcome their nemeses — ie, most of the most popular anime. It’s such a common sentiment that we’ve come to take it for granted; and like many narrative choices we take for granted, Hunter x Hunter chooses to examine it a bit more closely, and wonder precisely what sort of person might grow from such a philosophy. The results are worrying and undeniable: by the time Hunter x Hunter reaches Greed Island, it’s clear that there’s something deeply wrong with Gon.

    Hunter x Hunter plays its hand slowly, relying on our built-in assumptions about its genre to conceal the character study it’s actually building. Early on, it doesn’t seem strange that Gon is utterly obsessed with physical self-improvement, and becoming a Hunter as soon as possible; after all, that’s just the sort of wild, starry-eyed quest these sorts of protagonists always have. Wild ambition, fanatical training methods, and reckless self-destruction are all par for the course, so what’s so unusual about Gon displaying all these tendencies? Because of our genre expectations, Gon’s initial pursuit of the Hunter’s badge seems boyish and sweet, rather than dangerous and obsessive — and with the show’s own tone supporting this interpretation, the audience has no reason to suspect anything is wrong.

  Cracks only begin to show when the true nature of hunters becomes clearer. Most people would not spend their lives dedicated entirely to becoming killing machines; that pursuit takes a kind of mania, as well as a clear disregard for conventional social advancement. But most action shows are not specific about the kind of single-mindedness that would inspire such a pursuit, so rather than populating themselves with maniacs, they set themselves inside “fight worlds.”

    In these fight worlds, becoming an action hero is actually the standard path of maturation, be it via ninja exams or any other route. Additionally, the idea of single-mindedly dedicating yourself to becoming better at fighting is actually applauded and considered admirable by all your peers. The fighting is ultimately a metaphor, after all; the lesson truly being taught here is “commit yourself to things, and you’ll discover you’re far stronger than you expected.” Metaphor aside, the base plot of these narratives is the process of raising a generation of killing machines.

  In contrast, while Hunter x Hunter is filled with similarly monomaniacal killers, it does not exist within a fight world, where such behavior is the norm. Hunters choose to become such single-minded instruments, to be people who can handle violent deaths without blinking, and who readily push their bodies to the point of breaking. Hunter x Hunter fully understands that hunters are maniacs; and Gon is one of the most terrifying maniacs of all.

    At first, assessing Gon’s strangeness requires distancing yourself somewhat from the assumptions of his genre. Gon greets death and dismemberment with a smile, but that’s just sort of what young heroes do, right? In fact, his friends actually praise him for his level-headed composure, so it must be good that he’s not freaking out, right? Of course, Killua and Kurapika have both experienced such extreme trauma that it makes sense they’re unfazed by the exam; ultimately, our only example of “normal” reactions is Leorio, who’s framed as a clown for being rightly alarmed by continuous murders.

  But from the start, there is one giveaway that Gon might not be the most level-headed of heroes. Even in the show’s very first episode, he leaps off a boat in the midst of a storm, assuming others will catch him before he actually drowns. At the time, it’s framed as a brave act that brings Kurapika and Leorio together; but as time passes, Gon demonstrates again and again that his signature talent, his “ace in the hole,” is his ability to take his life in his hands without a second thought. All warriors must be prepared to die, but Gon actually seems to flaunt death, driven by an urge that sees his body as of no value whatsoever.

    In fact, Gon is so ready to die that he frequently uses that very instinct as a weapon against his enemies. When faced with a much stronger foe, Gon will readily wager his own life, forcing his opponents into a strange game of violence chicken. When Netero challenges Gon and Killua to make him fight using both arms, Killua fails — but Gon succeeds, by throwing his body at Netero in such a way that the only two choices are “let me win or destroy my skull.” When Gon is matched up against a far stronger opponent during the Hunter Exam finals, he remains undeterred in the face of permanent body mutilation and eventually forces his opponent to stand down. Again and again, Gon asks his opponents, “will you surrender to me, or you will destroy me utterly?” Even those with no compunctions against murder, like Hisoka, hesitate in the face of that - if only to see how far his madness can grow.

  In Greed Island, both the effectiveness and the danger of Gon’s philosophy are made abundantly clear. Gon’s training sessions with Killua and Bisky are dangerous yet efficient, as Gon demonstrates no hesitation in embracing training like “spar with this serial killer for a week.” Through Gon’s behavior, we see that his early friendship with Killua wasn’t a fluke, or just a result of their similar age; Gon has a madness inside him that told Killua they were alike, along with the light inside him that Killua finds inspiring. Killua’s brutal childhood made him strong, but also killed his inner child; that Gon possesses all that strength and rage, but also a light and gentle heart, raises serious questions about his ultimate nature.

    Gon’s self-destructive instincts at last take a toll in Greed Island’s climax. Though Gon has taken his life in his hands many times, he’s never suffered lasting consequences for it, and thus never learned to act otherwise. In Greed Island, his growing confidence and inner fire lead him to gamble his own body, treating his very limbs as “ammunition” to be expended, so long as the fight is won. His friends’ plan didn’t even involve such a sacrifice — but because Gon is Gon, he’s willing to lose a limb just to test whether he can beat some new enemy. Gon doesn’t flinch at violence or pain, even when it’s his own; these qualities make him a terrifying hunter, but also a wildly self-destructive one.

  “Greed Island” is an appropriate name for a game specifically designed for hunters to fight, steal, and kill from each other. There is a hunger in hunters, something that sets them aside from the normal world. And while Hunter x Hunter celebrates that drive, it also emphasizes that people who embody it tend to be selfish, dangerous, or somewhere in between, and all blessed with a dash of madness. It’s no surprise that Ging abandoned his son, and no surprise Gon rushed off to chase him; for hunters, such dangerous, obsessive pursuits are the only ones worth attempting.

    Gon’s monomania, his fanatical devotion to his friends, his willingness to make any sacrifice, and his slanted view of morality are all key elements of his personality, some of the core things that make Gon Gon. But just as these qualities make him strong, they can also betray him, or lead him to stray from his best possible self. In Chimera Ant, Gon’s weaknesses will consume him entirely, leading to one of the greatest reversals in anime history. In Greed Island, the fires that will rage through its follow-up are already set to smolder.

  Who is your favorite anime protagonist? Let us know in the comments!

      Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Nick Creamer

[serialbydesign]

Defining Psychopathy

Psychopathy, often confused with sociopathy, is an anti-social personality disorder. Both mental health conditions are characterized by:

Need for violence.

Disregard for social norms, conventions, and laws.

Lack of remorse & guilt.

Deceitful nature.

However, sociopaths usually are emotionally unstable and tend to act on compulsion, lacking patience and planning. Psychopaths are attentive to details, calculated, and plan every action they intend to pursue – be it legal or illegal. Therefore, they leave few clues and take fewer risks. Over time, multiple conceptions of psychopathy developed – most of which overlap, but some contradict others.

Just like sociopathy, psychopathy can be caused by genetic and environmental factors. This means children can inherit it from the parents but also develop it during the lifetime after abuse, emotional shock, or living in an unsuitable environment. But one can also acquire psychopathy after a traumatic brain injury. It has been discovered that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for our social behavior and acquired psychopathy is often linked to trauma in this area.

Another prevalent theory states that psychopathy is genetically inherited and can be triggered by environmental factors, while sociopathy is only developed throughout life. No matter which theory we follow, Dexter Morgan is much closer to being a psychopath than a sociopath. However, he does struggle with keeping his Dark Passenger under control at times.

Dexter Morgan, The Psychopath 

Dexter Morgan is a forensic expert, but he most frequently calls himself a blood spatter analyst. Even though he commits horrendous crimes throughout the show, we root for him and find bits of ourselves in his narratives. We see how he evolves from a cold-blooded serial killer to a cold-blooded serial killer who cares about some of those around him. The personal way in which he narrates his experiences further increase the connection we feel with this character. He often contemplates on aspects of the day-to-day life using first person pronouns in plural forms, which works on our subconscious. This is one of the many techniques used by real-life psychopaths, and Dexter Morgan proves again and again that they work.

“They make it look so easy, connecting with another human being, it’s like no one told them it’s the hardest thing in the world.” – Dexter Season 5 episode 12, “The Big One”

Dexter’s sense of righteousness instilled by his adoptive father fires up conflicted feelings on his morality. On the one side, he murders people in cold blood and enjoys it. But on the other, he gets rid of “bad seeds” the justice system could not charge. Ultimately, he is saving lives while satisfying his dark passenger, being a modern vigilante.

“We all make rules for ourselves. It’s these rules that help define who we are. So when we break those rules we risk losing ourselves and becoming something unknown.” – Dexter Season 7 Finale, “Let’s Give the Boy a Hand”

These, together with his continuous struggle to control his urges and do as little damage as possible to society, make us all feel sympathy for Dexter. Because we know the terrible things that happened to him, we understand what caused this behavior. But would he feel the same about us?

The Profile of Dexter Morgan

Dexter Morgan is persuasive, intelligent, deceitful, and a psychopath.

He killed well over 100 people (at least 134 documented cases) and shows no remorse about this – in fact, he believes he benefits society. Moreover, he likes to take trophies – a single drop of blood from each of his victims, carefully placed on a glass slide. Dexter has a ritual that is full of meaning for each of his victim’s crimes and likes to confront them and let them know he knows what they did. He feels empowered by this, he feels he finally has control.

Dexter is neat, sometimes compulsive, and likes to keep order in his life. He always plans his actions and waits for the best and safest time to make a move. This is what differentiates himself from a sociopath. He likes being and working by himself because using his “mask” is tiring. But even though he has an anti-social behavior, his social skills are way above average.

“People fake a lot of human interactions, but I feel like I’ve faked them all and I fake them very well. And that’s my burden, I guess.”

Dexter Morgan can be best psychoanalyzed using Freud’s structural model of the psychic apparatus which defines three dimensions of the mind:

The id represents our uncoordinated instincts, with a focus on pleasure and desire. The id is often associated with evil, lust, sin, and the like. The super-ego is the moralizing element, responsible for assimilating social norms and behaviors. It’s the virtuous, pure, and wholesome dimension. The ego, a realistic and rational influence on our thought process, usually mediates these two antagonizing elements.

Even though most individuals naturally balance these three dimensions, Dexter Morgan struggles do so. He spent all his life observing those around him and trying to mimic their behavior, knowing he will never act like them naturally.

Dexter’s Id

After the age of 6 years old, most individuals suppress their id and manage to focus their mental and emotional energy towards following social norms. But Dexter was not able to do so and, as a consequence, his id rules his life. Even as a child, Dexter enjoyed killing animals. In fact, taking a life is the only thing that makes Dexter feel alive. Sex does not interest Dexter, which we can also blame on the trauma he suffered as a child at a critical age for his (among others) psychosexual development.

Dexter’s Super-Ego

Dexter refers to the people surrounding him as humans, feeling detached from his own humanity. There is plenty of evidence throughout the show that demonstrate Dexter has a seriously underdeveloped super-ego if any. His adoptive father, Harry, created an artificial super-ego dimension in his mind through a few strict guidelines. However, Dexter’s subconscious never adopted them as its own and, as a result, he sometimes struggles to follow them.

Dexter does not understand religion. The only higher power he knew was his adoptive father, who also created the code. He has difficulties in developing real relationships of any nature with those around him but has gotten very good at faking them.

Dexter’s Ego

Instead of balancing out the 2 other dimensions, Dexter uses his ego to hide them from society. He goes above and beyond to hide his true self. He fights the recurrent feeling of emptiness that can only be relieved by killing.

How Dexter Morgan Came to Be a Psychopath

There are a few theories about how Dexter became what he is, but they all rely on the emotional and psychological trauma he suffered as a child.

Dexter saw his mother brutally murdered when he was only 6 years old and sat in a shipping container in a pool of her (and others’) blood for 2 days. This affected his emotional development and understanding of social norms, which he has difficulties adapting to.

Dexter understands he is a disturbed individual. But even though admitting the problem is often times the first step to resolving it, psychopathy has no cure (yet). There are no pills, vaccines, or therapies that erase traumatizing memories from our subconscious, induce empathy, or warm up a murderer’s blood.

But Dexter lacked a mother figure during his most important years, even before she was murdered. He was deprived of the warmth, closeness, and affection only a mother-son relationship would provide. Even though loving, his mother was not as present in his life as she should have been – and neither was his father. They were both addicted to drugs and involved themselves with dangerous figures, which ultimately lead to their demise. Even though a loving, caring family took him in at the age of 6, the damage was already done.

“I was there. I saw my mother’s death. A buried memory, forgotten all these years. They climbed inside me that day. And it’s been with me ever since. My dark passenger.” – Dexter Season 1 Episode 11 “Truth Be Told”

Moreover, his need for power and control were overindulged in a try to create a warm environment for the troubled child. But this only increased the distance between Dexter and humanity, between an impressionable child and his remorse and guilt.

Dexter Morgan & His Dark Passenger

Most of the time, Dexter Morgan is able to suppress his passenger. But it still needs to be let out from time to time, and when it does, Dexter refers to the process as the Dark Passenger “taking over”. He already knows that it will get out one way or the other, so he doesn’t try to fight it. In fact, Dexter finds comfort and acceptance in his Dark Passenger, the only entity that accepts him for who he is.

“I love Halloween. The one time of year when everyone wears a mask… not just me. People think it’s fun to pretend you’re a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending I’m not. Brother, friend, boyfriend – all part of my costume collection. Some people might call me a fraud. Let’s see if it will fit. I prefer to think of myself as a master of disguise.” – Dexter Season 1, Episode 4

Dexter manages to separate and balance out his natural self and the façade brilliantly. He is seen as a loving son, brother and as a reliable and helpful coworker.

The Code of Harry

Harry was more than just Dexter’s adoptive father. Together with Aaron and Deb, he was his family in the most real sense of the word.

“If I were capable of love, how I would have loved Harry.”

Since they could not stop Dexter’s urge to take life away, Harry decided to channel it. Therefore, Harry developed a code together with his therapist in which he confided about Dexter’s condition. As his father put it, the code focuses on survival and doing as little wrong to the world as possible. Dexter needs to be sure he kills the right person and to have proof for his deeds. But above all, he needs to never, ever risk having collateral victims.

Even though frustrating and rage-inducing at times, Dexter abides by the Code of Harry. However, he does take advantage of technicalities to satisfy his dark passenger at times, racing with the police and even hiding evidence in order to punish criminals himself even with his friends’ and coworker’s career on the line.

“Without the Code of Harry, I’m sure I would have committed a senseless murder in my youth. Just to watch the blood flow.” – Dexter Season 1 Episode 3, “Popping Cherry”

The Morality of Dexter

Yes, Dexter Morgan is brutal, ruthless, and cruel. Ever since Harry Morgan took him in, Dexter made efforts to comply with social norms. Even though he pretended for decades, he makes efforts to preserve appearances every day. None of the behaviors he adopted for so many years got under his skin, none of them come naturally even after all this time.

But this doesn’t mean Dexter Morgan is stone-hearted or completely devoid of feelings. After all, he does feel anger, hate, and affection and admits that he needs the people in his life. He realizes how scared he is of losing his family. 

Even though supposedly rudimentary, some of these feelings scare and intimidate Dexter Morgan because he doesn’t know how to handle them.

[purplecatghostposts]

guess what, it's another free ramble pass! same stuff applies, just talk about whatever you want for as much as you want, and doesn't have to be limited to one topic!

You’re a life saver let’s GO

Okay so today I’m gonna go off the deep end and talk about some OCs and a personal project that I think about a lot so let’s talk about Haakon and Nesta, a couple of deities.

These two come from a world known as Cordtritos (Which if you’re curious, comes from the Latin words ‘Contritos Corde’ meaning ‘Broken Hearted’ or ‘Heart Broken’). Deities are often in charge of one central thing and a couple of smaller things that go with it. That being said, Haakon is the God of Destruction, along with Darkness, Power, and later is considered the God of Demons. Nesta on the other hand, is the Deity of Creation, along with Light, Knowledge, and later Angels as well.

You would think with titles like Creation and Destruction that they would’ve created Cordtritos but that’s not the case. They did not create the world, but rather, the world created them. Both of them were born into the world with little idea of the power they held and only had each other. Despite not having actual parents, Haakon and Nesta became siblings in every sense of the word and from that point on, always had each other’s backs.

I’m not going to go too deep into the background surrounding how those two realized they weren’t like other mortal beings and eventually came to be deities because that’s a whole other can of worms but eventually, the pair of them realized they had a lot more power than anything else that walked the planet. They learned their abilities over the century that followed but it wasn’t truly put to the test until war came. Or more accurately, wars.

As the moral beings of the world began to create cities and kingdoms, they began to fight as well. As unfortunate and terrible as war and conflict is, it does tend to break out between countries are at odds for resources and land. The biggest problem however was that they never stopped. Even after one country won a war, they would just end up getting into another- and this happened globally. Those who didn’t want to fight were dragged into alliances that would eventually break apart and peace was scarce to come by. Haakon and Nesta couldn’t find a reason for it and it was severely damaging the world. So, eventually the pair summoned their strength and took matters into their own hands.

Even with their powers, singlehandedly trying to stop the fighting or tip the scales of war on one side so that it could end seemed impossible so they created their own armies.

Nesta, who came to be known as The Diplomat in these times and primarily focused on creating peace between different countries, created the Angels.

Haakon, who came to be known as The Warrior in these times and primarily focused on stopping the wars through tipping the scale, created the Demons.

Neither were initially good or bad but rather, were initially built for different roles to play. However when times got tough, Angels stepped in to join the fight or if needed, Demons would help with the negotiations.

It took a long time but eventually, the wars began to stop and all their effort had finally worked (Not going to go too in detail on how they managed to find the source of the sudden aggression because this is long enough as it is but once it was balanced out, things came to calm down). Haakon and Nesta finally established peace... But not without consequence.

Because somebody always has to loose in a war. Sometimes one side takes the short end of the stick in negotiations. There’s no way to please everybody, and as much as they tried to, there was a sizable amount of people who were not happy with the deities. And for the first time in their lives, Nesta and Haakon were demonized.

Nesta was criticized for being cold, calculating, and uncaring. Only wanting the results and now caring how they got them. It hit them pretty hard because they were never as great with emotions as Haakon and always hated that they weren’t. They tried- they really did! They had plenty of sympathy for people and understood their emotions but comforting people... Wasn’t their specialty. They understood creation and its process and how things worked- they could quite literally create a whole person without too much trouble- but relating and socializing and being vulnerable especially with other people that weren’t their brother? That was something they struggled with. And hearing these accusations going around only struck their deepest, darkest insecurities and hurt.

Haakon on the other hand, was rumored to be far more violent than he let on. A warlord who only wanted power and domination- who killed with a smile on his face- who bathed in the blood of mortals for fun. And he wasn’t bothered at first. Laughed it off because yeah, he had destructive magic and was a monster in battle but he knew himself. He loved socializing with mortals! They lived interesting lives and invented so many cool things! How couldn’t he love them? These rumors didn’t get to Haakon emotionally, but they began to affect his social life. Mortals began to avoid him, were uncomfortable with him, feared him- and that began to take a toll on him. Because he wasn’t violent- honest! But everyone else seemed to think so and that was what began to screw with his self esteem.

But even still, they tried to help the mortal world anyways. Their Angels and Demons were sent out to help in any way that they could in an effort to dispel the rumors and show the people that they were only trying to help, even if they did cause problems for some. Good intentions had to mean something, right?

But you can’t kill an idea.

And it all started to go wrong when they were praised as higher beings to be worshipped and started to get followers. Some of it went well- Haakon and Nesta rewarded their most loyal followers with magical abilities of their own that would be passed down for generations. Those bonds are the bonds that they remembered fondly, but unfortunately being powerful deities means you attract unwanted attention as well. Especially if you happen to be a God of Destruction.

Some who began to worship Haakon thought destruction meant destroying everything. That by committing acts of terror, they were honoring their god rather than disgracing him further. And some joined purely with the intent to destroy in his name simply because they wanted to. Because hurting people was fun for them.

Haakon tried his best to get rid of them or at the very least, try and tell them that they weren’t getting it. Destruction wasn’t about ruining lives- it was meant to be a good thing. Destroying the things that are holding you back from being happy; destroying the socialital norms that are doing more harm than good or simply aren’t needed because the only thing one needs are morals, not norms; destruction in order to create freedom- that was true destruction.

Sometimes Haakon was able to get through to people. Often times, they rejected his message and continued to create hurt for their own amusement.

It was bad but Haakon was trying to handle it. He still believed that he could get through to these people- they were just misguided! Until they did something that would make him snap.

They targeted his sibling.

Even after hundreds of years, Haakon still doesn’t know how they managed to do it. But they lured Nesta into a trap and casted a spell of their own that corrupted Nesta almost to the point where they were too far gone. And as a result, Nesta caused mass destruction in the name of order and creation.

It didn’t just effect Nesta either. The corruption spread to every single Angel as they all ruled under their command and they began to lay siege all over the world. Nesta was so heavily affected that when Haakon tried to reason with them, they attacked him brutally and didn’t hold back. Haakon was forced to fight their own sibling to the point where he had to incapacitate them and lock them away until he could find a cure for the corruption.

Haakon traced it all back to the same group he had been trying so hard to save and he finally snapped. Because he could forgive the tarnish to his own name but not to his sibling’s, and Haakon could never forgive the fact that they forced him to fight them.

Haakon wiped them off the map without blinking twice. He managed to remove the corruption from their siblings mind and from all of their proxies. And when Nesta finally woke up and smelled the ashes, they were deeply heartbroken at the wrath they had inflicted upon the world. Kingdoms turned to ash, thousands dead and thousands more injured or in grief- it was all too much to handle. The guilt made them create a rule for themselves and all future deities that they were to keep out of mortal affairs and keep interaction to a minimum. For the safety of all.

But Haakon hated seeing their sibling in pieces so he decided to change the story and tamper with the mortal world majorly for the last time.

Memories were erased or manipulated to all except the deities. Angels forgot that they destroyed, Demons forgot what side they were on, and the mortals were lead to believe that it was Haakon who went on a rampage, not Nesta.

Haakon covered it up left and right, taking the blame despite their sibling’s protests. And thus, the mortal wrath was placed on Haakon and his Demons, not Nesta.

A massive cover up that Haakon works so hard to keep under wraps. Problem is that there’s a few inaccuracies if you know where to look.

For example, when at full power, Haakon’s eyes turn pure, glowing white. But in some paintings created just after this tragedy that happened centuries ago, the deity in them has pure black eyes, which is the same way Nesta’s eyes look at full power.

But the paintings are just inaccurate or misremembered... Right?

—

Yeah this is literally me just dumping about my made up history for one of my worlds OOPS hopefully this was entertaining in one aspect or another.

I just care them a lot. Two sibling deities trying to make it in the world and who care about each other... I think about them a lot.

[flyandfamousblackgirls]

6 Things Intersex Folks Need to Know About How We Perpetuate Anti-Black Racism

1. The Segregation in Our Intersex Movement Is Real

The intersex movement has been mostly white since day one. Consequently, it’s necessary to ask ourselves if we’ve inadvertently created an atmosphere that urges Black intersex people to put aside their Blackness — and the oppression linked to it — in order to focus on our collective goals.

In creating this type of environment, it appears our community hasn’t yet been able to connect the dots between Black and intersex people’s oppression — which Saifa reminded me are both rooted in state violence — and our liberation.

Black intersex folks who’ve lived in isolation and have dealt with segregation in their daily lives shouldn’t have to contend with similar experiences once they’ve finally found, and entered our community.

I’m not talking about highly visible institutionalized segregation like the Jim Crow era when Saifa’s uncle, who was also intersex, was forced to sleep outside on the porch of his hospital after a surgery.

I’m talking about the low-key, harder to detect, segregation.

The kind that just takes for granted that the majority of people in the room will always be white. The type that may have a few Black and Brown faces sprinkled here and there, but on a vanilla frosted cake. Is there a path forward?

Sean Saifa Wall, a Black trans intersex activist and collage artist based in Atlanta, reflected on this question by looking back on his time spent as the former board president of an intersex non-profit. Saifa captured why increasing representation shouldn’t be the endgame.

“I think I made the mistake of thinking we need more people of color… but what does institutionalized white supremacy do? It brings in Black or Brown faces who won’t challenge white supremacy — and that’s how white supremacy perpetuates itself. You don’t need white folks to perpetuate it, you just need folks who are invested in white supremacy.”

When I was younger and mistakenly believing that whiteness was the norm to strive towards, I ended up internalizing racist ideologies and, as a result, never fully connected on a truly deep BFF level with my Black friends. Perhaps our movement, and its longstanding quest for acceptance, has created a similar divide.

The global intersex activist network consists, to my knowledge, of less than only 5 Black intersex activists. One of them is Saifa.

2. One’s Race and Intersex Identity Overlap

Born amidst racist flames that attempted to level his neighborhood, Saifa was brought up whilst his borough, The Bronx, was attempting to rebuild itself.

“When I was younger,” Saifa recounted, “I realized I had a different body. Then, due to interactions with NYPD, I was made to know that I was different in another way as well.”

As he got older, Saifa came out as queer, intersex, and trans to a mother — and a world — who wasn’t always ready or eager to respect his intersecting identities. Regardless, his Blackness, sexuality, and intersex identity were always interwoven.

“I cannot separate my intersex identity from my Black identity,” Saifa said. And he shouldn’t have to.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid our community hasn’t figured out ways yet to allow people to show up as their whole selves.

For instance, on the international level, it’s become a known issue that intersex activists from African countries don’t get similar amounts of representation, or speaking time at gatherings. And nationally, our support group meetings rarely, if ever, have been led by Black intersex folks or had sessions dedicated solely for Black intersex community members to come together.

It’s only in the past few years that single Black folks are sitting on boards, or in staff positions of our organizations. There’s also never been, to my knowledge, any Black clinicians present at our Continuing Medical Education (CME) sessions that happen before our support group conferences each year.

Race, especially as it relates to anti-blackness, feels as though it’s at times an elephant in the room.

For me, this elephant peeped its head out when I realized it had become a tradition for one of our non-Black community members, who I love and cherish dearly, to sing Macy Gray’s “I Try” — in Gray’s uniquely raspy voice — at the annual talent show, which is supposed to provide a fun contrast to the rest of the conference.

The audience, if it’s a diverse year, might have a handful of Black folks. This year, there was only one person. I can’t imagine how isolating that experience might have been for them.

And this bring me back to the story I shared at the beginning, about the person who had Obama on a hit list.

Often, racism perpetuates itself by wearing the mask of a “joke” or “fun,” but racism is never a joke and the mask just presents one more hurdle in calling racism out.

It’s time us non-Black intersex people become more aware of our whiteness problem.

We need to keep having difficult conversations about race and oppression every step of the way.

Most importantly, we need to show up the few Black intersex people we do have in our small community, and check in with them to see if there’s anything else we could be doing to have their back.

We can challenge white supremacy in our movement just by asking Black intersex folks in our community what they need to feel safer in our collective spaces.

For our movement to be successful, it’s imperative that Black intersex folks feels they can participate as whole persons.

3. We’ve All Been Dehumanized

The list of atrocities against people of color, especially Black folks, carried out by the medical industrial complex and other agents includes: “the father of gynecology” using enslaved Black people as surgical research subjects, being disproportionately targeted by the US’s eugenic sterilization program that served as a catalyst for Nazi Germany’s and today’s “population control”policies, and the shackling of pregnant women inmates — who are disproportionately Black — in labor delivering children whom they most likely will be immediately separated from.

Likewise, intersex people have been rendered hermaphrodites and featured in freak shows, gawked at as monsters to at on TV, disproportionately put up for adoption, pumped with artificial hormones, robbed of their reproductive organs and genitalia, selectively aborted, raped, and brutally murdered.

Lynnell, a Black intersex lesbian activist, was born intersex but raised male by a single mother in a low-income household. She grew up in Chicago’s mostly Black, hypersegregated, South Side where her family — unlike mine on the North Side — was forced to deal with the effects of the city’s racist public policy and divestment responsible for the destruction of local economies, public schools and affordable housing.

Hyde Park, a pocket of wealth and whiteness on the South Side and home to the University of Chicago (UofC) Hospital, is where Lynnell’s mother took her as a child for doctor appointments.

Lynnell shared memories of that time stating, “My mom wasn’t given the tools she needed to make informed decisions.” As Lynnell grew older, she also “wasn’t taken seriously at first by [her doctors] either.”

Low-income and single mothers of color, labelled unfit by society, experience discrimination. Lynnell’s mother went to U of C seeking care, not charity, for her child. Seeing a golden opportunity, Lynnell’s doctors manipulated her mother’s financial status and turned the situation into a charity case anyway.

“They told my mom they were doing her a favor because they weren’t charging her.” In the doctor’s mind, they were participating in an equal trade with Lynnell and her mother.

To Lynnell, it was torture. “For eight years, every summer, for at least a month, I was put on different drugs, experimented on, given unnecessary procedures and manipulated.”

Exploitation of marginalized people by the MIC for their gains, especially in teaching environments, has been well-documented. Exploitation specific to Black intersex patients has yet to be researched. Lynnell’s doctors, I imagine, took one look at Lynnell’s mother and decided a poor Black woman wasn’t powerful enough stop what they had in store for Lynnell.

“I don’t know many white people that were used as guinea pigs like me,” Lynnell said.

4. Doctor’s Aren’t the Only People Attempting to Erase ‘Difference’

Intersex people are pretty familiar with secrecy, shame and stigma thanks to the pathologization of our bodies. As such, it’s important we have spaces to process our stories with each other. Yet, it’s important to note that as oppressed people, we are still capable of participating in the oppressing others.

The few times I’ve witnessed our community attempt to break down white supremacy and talk about racism, white intersex people successfully shifted the conversation, almost immediately, back to a conversation that centers them and their experience with intersex oppression.

Spaces where intersex people get together and talk are rare, so it makes sense why someone would want to relate and process, but in doing so, we are inadvertently preventing Black intersex folks in our community from expressing their unique experiences.

Saifa recounted a time when he “was trying to bring up the topics of anti-oppression, racism, etc., in the movement and people lost their damn minds. People were like, ‘we cannot hear it.’”

He also shared, “Anti-black racism showed up when I went to South Carolina on behalf of the MC case [a lawsuit involving the parents of a young Black intersex boy and his doctors] and one of the lawyers was condescending, talking down to me as the only Black person in the room. I was constantly pushing back against his patriarchy and racism.”

He continued, “I feel like people don’t care about issues related to anti-black racism in the intersex community.

“I think there’s some intersex people who really see those intersections, who really are affirming of people of color, but for the large part I feel that the level of anti-black racism awareness ranges from hostility to apathy.”

I asked if people ever seemed to care and he replied, “When funding is involved. That’s when people start to care more. Or, when a group wants some representation of diversity—but I found they wanted a Black face, but weren’t necessarily committed to issues around anti-Black racism.”

As a movement, we can’t only focus on these issues when funding dollars are at stake. That tokenizes Black folks.

Instead, we have to stitch anti-Black racism training, and education around white supremacy, into the fabric of our work together.

Saifa pointed out, “In the world, I’m confronted with anti-Blackness, and it’s par for the course, but it’s particularly more devastating when it’s from intersex people. Why? Because I think, ‘Oh, you understand.’

“Or at least I think they understand, until they say or do things that’s really racist and are unapologetic about their racism.”

5. We Need an Intersectional Analysis to Combat Racist Stereotypes

One of the white people present at Lynnell’s first intersex support group meeting recently told her that she was “afraid” of her at first, “because [Lynnell] had on leather and dark sunglasses.”

I asked Lynnell why she entered that support group meeting dressed in leather, sunglasses, and the rest of her leather daddy alter ego outfit. She responded, “Because I was the only Black intersex person there.”

Lynnell shouldn’t have to feel the need to protect herself like that in a room that was supposed to feel like home, a room where she was supposed to be able to let her guard down amongst people with similar experiences.

Unfortunately, this is the type of thing that can happen when a community doesn’t have a firm commitment to operating with an intersectional lens — one that places its most marginalized folks at the center.

Lynnell needed to protect herself at a support group, and in doing so, made a white person feel afraid, circles back to my main point.

We need to place Black intersex folks and their particular needs, struggles and desires at the front and center of our intersex activism.

If we don’t, we risk ostracizing Black intersex folks, again, within spaces meant to be a reprieve from shame and stigma.

6. Confronting White Supremacy Means Confronting Disembodiment

Disembodiment, or feeling detached from your body, often happens as a coping mechanism in response to intense trauma. Intersex activist, Mani Mitchell, once described it as feeling like a “floating head tugging around a body.”

Saifa, someone I admire for their commitment to somatic healing work, believes that white supremacy is rooted in disembodiment “because you have to be disembodied in order to not allow your self to be impacted by the inequity or suffering of others.”

Regardless, Saifa thinks it’s “imperative that white intersex activists feel their feelings regarding any shame they may have as they interrogate white supremacy and its brutal history.”

“It’s only fair that white intersex activists start to acknowledge, as much as their embodiment can hold, the shameful and disgusting emotions that come up after hearing the bitter truth and realities of Black folks and people of color.”

“Doing this work is difficult,” he acknowledged, “and it can bring up things we’d rather not have to face about ourselves.”

Still, non-Black intersex folks need to “confront those feelings and allow themselves to be impacted, then hopefully they can be motivated to action, and allow that empowerment to impact others.”

In taking Saifa’s advice, we can create positive ripple effects throughout our whole community. Doing the work to steer our movement towards becoming an intersectional, anti-racist, intersex movement is a win-win for everyone involved!

[makeste]

BnHA Bonus Rant #4: Bakumom

Okay guys. This is my post about Bakugou Mitsuki. This is actually my third attempt at trying to write a post on this topic; I tried to do one back when I was getting ready to post the recap for chapter 96, but wasn’t able to coherently get across all of the thoughts I wanted to convey, so I ended up deleting it. Then in response to one of the comments on that recap, I ended up writing another post, and this time I managed to get out almost 1200 words on the subject! But during the editing process, I realized that it just wasn’t something I had the energy to discuss. The topic of “is this character abusive” is obviously a very sensitive one, and something that a lot of people have very strong feelings about, and I realized that my post wasn’t going to convince anyone one way or the other, and that it was more likely to lead to a discussion that I had absolutely no spoons for. Like, all my spoons went into the post itself, and that was it. So in the end I scrapped that too (and my apologies to @temperatezone, who made a very reasonable point very tactfully, which I basically ended up just ignoring because at the time I wasn’t ready to get into it).

Before we start -- regarding spoilers, I’ve done my best to keep this post spoiler-free so long as you are caught up with the anime (or have read up to the manga equivalent, which is around chapter 125 or thereabouts). There is, however, one manga spoiler in here from chapter 165 (which, if you’ve read the chapter, you’ll know why it was unavoidable, seeing as it pertains directly to the subject at hand). It is not in any way a plot spoiler; it’s basically a single line from one of the characters, and the details regarding where and when that line is said are irrelevant, so I’ve left that out. So if you are anime-only, it’s up to you whether you want to skip this post or not, but that will be the only spoiler in here.

So now that I’m on my third attempt, I’ve done a bit more thinking on how I want to approach this. Basically, I think the problem I kept running up against before is that as far as I can see, there are two ways to look at this. The first is by looking at the author’s intent. “Okay, the scene is clearly presented in the context of humor and is a classic example of the well-established Tough Love style of anime parenting (see also: Izumi from FMA, Reborn from KHR, Isshin from Bleach, etc.) and not meant to be taken in an overly deep way. The scene immediately afterward with her ruffling Katsuki’s hair and thanking Aizawa for his understanding and mentioning her worry and relief during and after the kidnapping and asking his teachers to help guide him is meant to serve as a contrast to the violence and shouting and insults to show that contrary to that initial impression, she loves and cares about him just like any other mother. The scene is meant as a lighthearted way of showing where Bakugou inherited his loud and angry temperament from, and kind of jokingly implying that he’s more or less just a clone of his mom.”

Whereas the other approach is to look at what the author is actually portraying. “It doesn’t matter if it was intended to be a joke or not; she is abusive. She smacks him repeatedly for basically no reason, and screams at him and insults him to this degree even when there are other people present. Perhaps more disturbingly, she implies that him being kidnapped was his own fault, because he was ‘weak.’ Later on we learn that he genuinely believes this and has internalized it, and blames himself not only for getting kidnapped, but for what it led to with All Might losing his powers as a consequence. Even further down the line, Bakugou makes a throwaway remark to the effect of ‘[violence is] how I was raised.’ This implies that it wasn’t just a one-time thing and that his mother is like this all the time, to the point where violence is basically the norm for him and he doesn’t even realize how fucked up it is.”

So those are basically the two perspectives here. And for me, I realized that the problem that I had was that both of these perspectives are valid. At least I think they are. If I were to try to argue the former -- which was my first instinct -- I would in all likelihood have to try and refute the latter. And honestly, I don’t think I would be able to do that, because that argument is a completely valid argument. Not to mention I don’t have much of a leg to stand on as far as trying to argue that Horikoshi’s intentions matter more than his end results, because if you’ve read any of my recaps, you know that this is basically the one and only time I’ve ever said that, lol. I’ve never particularly cared about his harmless intentions when it comes to Mineta, or overly sexualized teenage girls, or Ochako being comically poor, or any of the other topics I’ve occasionally bitched about. So it seems a bit hypocritical for me to suddenly start arguing that now.

So I won’t. Instead, I’m going to go ahead and acknowledge that it’s a valid interpretation. Regardless of what Horikoshi was going for, if you’re looking solely at the end result, then yeah. What he showed us can definitely be taken as abuse. I don’t think it’s an overreaction, and there is a lot to back it up.

That being acknowledged, what I’m going to talk about instead is why I have such a strong desire in this case to ignore the clumsy way the relationship is presented in canon, and to instead view the relationship the way I believe it’s intended to come across. Why do I so badly want for Bakugou to have a (more or less) healthy relationship with his parents? Why does the idea of him having a bad home life leave such a bad taste in my mouth?

And I think this is what it is: one of the key things that draws me to Bakugou’s character is that he doesn’t have A Tragic Past. There’s this tendency in shounen manga to give virtually every important character a sad backstory (looking at you in particular, Naruto and One Piece), with the level of tragedy gradually escalating as the series goes on, until you get to a point where the fandom is literally having debates over whose past is the most tragic. And this has kind of indirectly given rise to several beliefs that I often see articulated and/or implied in fandom:

That there must always be some observable external reason for a character’s personality and temperament, rather than that just being who they are.

That there is a direct correlation between the severity of a character’s past and the validity of that character’s actions. In other words, the person with the more tragic backstory has the moral upper hand in any dispute, simply because they’ve been through more bad shit.

That a character’s potential for redemption is directly tied to how sad their backstory is.

I see this all the time, and not just in shounen fandom for that matter. The basic idea seems to be that if bad things have happened to a character in the past, then it means any bad things they themselves have done are not their fault, and they should be forgiven and given a second chance. The thing is, I’ve always disliked this way of thinking, because to me it strays from what I think is the most crucial element of any redemption arc: taking responsibility. 

Redemption, to me, shouldn’t simply be about whether we feel sorry for the character, or whether they have suffered enough and been punished enough for whatever it is they did, or even whether or not they had a good reason for it. To me, it’s about one thing and one thing only: is the character trying to be better. Do they want to change? Are they making the same mistakes over and over, or are they actually learning and trying to grow? 

To me, redemption is an active process. It’s something the character has to seek out themselves. It’s not something that’s granted to them (key difference here between “redemption” and “forgiveness”), nor does it matter whether or not anyone else thinks they deserve it. For me, at least, it’s simply a matter of whether or not the character is willing to take responsibility for their mistakes, and whether they actually take action toward becoming better.

That being said, this is the main problem I have with the “Mitsuki is abusive” line of thinking: from what I have observed (and not always, mind you, but often enough), this headcanon tends to overlap with the idea that Bakugou’s violent behavior is not his fault, and that he’s only like that because of the way he was raised. In some cases I’ve seen it taken even further than that, with basically Bakugou’s entire backstory basically being rewritten to make him out as just a poor traumatized kid who would never have abused Izuku if it wasn’t for Mitsuki’s abuse, and so the blame actually falls on her and not him. And that, right there, is probably the biggest problem I have with this. That shifting of the blame. Making it so that Bakugou is absolved of responsibility for his own shitty actions, because it turns out that he was just a victim too. 

And actually, it’s even more than that: it’s also the implied suggestion that this is the only way he can be redeemed. That he only qualifies for redemption if he had a good reason for his actions. That we can only feel sorry for him if he’s not to blame for the mistakes that he made, and if it Wasn’t His Fault.

And damn it, but I just take so much issue with this. Because to me, ironically enough, this narrative robs Bakugou of the agency that I personally believe is key to him getting the redemption arc he actually deserves. Does that make sense? Basically, I want Bakugou’s mistakes to be acknowledged as his own mistakes. Because they are. I want him to be able to take ownership of them and to realize what he did wrong. I want him to learn from those mistakes and to grow as a person because of them. I don’t want it to be all “oh sweetie it’s okay, it’s not your fault.” I want it to be “oh fuck, I really screwed up, and I hate the way I feel now because of it, and I never want to feel this way again, so I’m going to do better.” 

Because that’s the only way that real change actually happens. When it comes from within, from the character’s own desire to change. I don’t want a “he was never really bad, just misunderstood” narrative; I want “he fucked up, but he is learning from it, and he is growing.” That’s what I want.

So that, I think, is why the whole thing bothers me so much, and why I just can’t get behind the idea. Again, I won’t deny that the evidence is there. I just choose to interpret it another way. And it is just that: a choice. It’s a conscious choice to read between the lines and to add my own headcanons where necessary and insert little justifications and explanations for things when needed. 

Because to me, Bakugou having grown up in a supportive -- if chaotic -- household is important. It’s important because it shows that even people who grew up in healthy environments with no obvious trauma can fuck up regardless. And those people are still worthy of redemption.

I hope that all makes sense. (Particularly since if it doesn’t, I've just gone and pissed a whole bunch of people off, probably.) Anyways. So with all that being said, I’ll wrap this up with a list of my own personal headcanons about Mitsuki’s and Katsuki’s relationship.

First and foremost, if any of you have ever seen Malcolm in the Middle, I can very easily sum this all up by just saying that Mitsuki = Lois and Katsuki = Malcolm, Francis, and Reese all rolled up into one. That’s it. That’s the dynamic, right there.

But if you haven’t seen MitM, basically what I’m saying is that Katsuki is a precocious little brat who’s headstrong and rebellious and extremely independent and prone to only learning things the hard way, and Mitsuki is the stern and stubborn mom who is still caring and loving but also overbearing and aggressive. The two of them are always butting heads because they’re both extremely prideful and view themselves as always being right, and because Mitsuki’s overbearing tendencies clash directly with Katsuki’s independent streak.

Mitsuki actually is right more often than she’s not, which only fuels her own stubbornness as well at Katsuki’s teenage resentment towards her. She spent a lot of time when he was younger just trying to keep him from setting the house (and himself) on fire, and because he hardly ever listens, the two of them end up getting into a lot of screaming matches with each other, and nowadays that’s just kind of their dynamic and they’re just used to it.

She doesn’t actually think he’s weak, and she only said that because she knows that’s one of the few insults that rankles him enough to actually make him listen, and she was trying to get him to hush up and be respectful to his teachers, who were guests in their home and also his teachers, one of whom just saved his life and the other of whom defended his honor in a nationally broadcast press conference. And also this was part of the whole Japanese culture of being overly humble, and since she knew he was never gonna do it, she was kind of doing it for him. You know, like “thank you so much for saving me, I apologize for inconveniencing you.” Even though it wasn’t actually his fault.

He didn’t internalize the guilt about All Might because of what she said. I honestly think he barely even processed what she said because they’re always just yelling bullshit insults at each other that don’t actually really mean anything. He’s always been terrified of being weak precisely because he never has been. It’s the unknown. He wouldn’t know what to do if he wasn’t strong. It’s a fear he’s always had, and one that had been secretly growing stronger since he first started at U.A. What happened to All Might simply exacerbated that fear. It was already there, and he’d just kept it hidden for a very long time. His mom didn’t put the idea into his head, and never would have said it if she had even the slightest inkling that her cocky, arrogant, loudmouthed, forceful son was secretly harboring insecurities about that very thing.

Any violence in their household is the comedic shounen type of violence where no one is actually hurt in any way. But mostly it’s just loud.

They are so used to this being Just The Way Things Are that ironically, Katsuki would have been much more unsettled if, after he returned home following the kidnapping, his mom had been tender and affectionate. Mitsuki, being a smart mom, picked up on this, so in an effort to make him less uncomfortable, she took deliberate care to behave The Same As Always around him so that he could feel more normal. In fact she was actually still very freaked out herself for days afterward, much more so than she let on (because she’s just as bad at showing vulnerability as he is).

It actually helped. He will never ever acknowledge this out loud, but he realized what she was doing, and he’s grateful.

And I could go on and on, but I think this more or less summarizes how I view the two of them. They basically have their own language by this point, where phrases like “fuck you too” mean “I love you”, and so forth. She loves him to death and worries about him constantly and is so, so proud of him. He loves her too and she doesn’t piss him off nearly as much as he pretends, and he would be devastated beyond words if anything were to ever happen to her. He actually thinks she’s the strongest person he knows, maybe even tougher than All Might, and he would never, ever say this out loud.

Sooo... yeah. I’m trying to think of a good way to end this post now, but I can’t think of anything lol. I think I’ve said everything I wanted to. Tl;dr, I’ve made a conscious decision to view Mitsuki as a highly combative but loving parent to her troublesome tsundere son because I want Katsuki to man up and take responsibility for his own shit, because I love him. The end.

[freelancesumandas]

Getting a divorce in Texas: What to Expect and How to Begin

Family Law Attorney Houston: Have you ever spoken to a friend or family member’s experiences in completing a task and wondered to yourself: “How did he go about doing that?” Detailed and complex processes can be glossed over when discussing them with other people when generalities are more helpful or appropriate. Those general statements don’t help you when you are in a situation where you are either needing to file for divorce or have found yourself on the receiving end of a divorce petition filed by your spouse? Without knowledge of the process and procedures of divorce in Texas how can you be expected to begin the process confidently?

Unfortunately there is no “how to” presentation that is attached to every Original Petition for Divorce. Whether you are wanting to file for divorce or need to file an Answer to your spouse’s already having done so, it is easy to feel lost. A divorce is a big deal (obviously) and you don’t want to go about it with incomplete or incorrect information. Deciding how to proceed initially is one of the most important steps to the divorce. Mistakes can be corrected, don’t get me wrong, but as it is in many areas of life those corrections can take time, money and effort that should not necessarily have to be expended.

The other part of a discussion about divorces that must be disclosed is that there is no perfect how-to guide for divorces. Your divorce will be different from your neighbor’s and vice versa. Every relationship is different and every family is different. With that said, if your situation has complex or unique factors weighing on it I would suggest that you seek additional advice beyond what you read in this blog post. After all- this is a guide to informing you of what to expect in your divorce. What you read today will be as straightforward as possible and will apply to as many readers as I can write it for.

If you do have specific questions about what you read or if your situation differs from the “norm” to a great extend I recommend that you contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. Our licensed family law attorneys are eager to meet with you to answer questions and to discuss the ways that our office can assist you and your family in a divorce. Our consultations are free of charge and are available six days a week.

Trust, but verify

To begin, if you have any feels of unease or anxiety surrounding a divorce that is normal. After all- you’ve likely never been through a divorce before and any knowledge you have about divorce is very general. Now that you are staring a divorce square in the face you need to know the specifics that can help your case to be a success. In order to reach levels of success, however, you are going to have to place your trust in an attorney who isn’t a stranger but isn’t far off.

For starters, you should learn as much as you can about divorce. Reading this blog post is a good start but it shouldn’t be all that you do. Read up on the subject just like you would anything else that you are trying to master. Consult with multiple attorneys to get their perspective and do the leg-work you need to in order to best ensure that you will be properly and fully represented in this divorce. While you cannot do a divorce alone it is not necessary to blindly trust those who you have hired to represent you.

Keep in mind that if you decide to hire an attorney you are still the person getting the divorce and you are still responsible for making the decisions that come with every divorce. Your attorney is there to educate you as much as possible on the consequences (good and bad) of those decisions but he or she cannot make the decisions for you. Your job is to take the information you are presented with, utilize the counsel of your attorney and to then make a decision on what direction you would like to go. While your attorney will be teaching you as much as possible, it is unlikely that he or she can teach you every single fact, figure or strategy available in the family law world. That gap in knowledge should be filled by you doing outside study on your own about divorce in Texas. The difference between a so-so result and a good result or a good result with a great result is often the knowledge and commitment of the client. Be the client who trusts your attorney- but make sure your knowledge base is sufficient to be able to verify what is being told to you.

Learn from the outside and then focus on the details

Houston Divorce Lawyers: From my experience, clients want to learn everything they can about divorce in a single afternoon. That, of course, is not possible. It is understandable, however. We live in a microwave culture where we want everything done today, if not yesterday. Patience is not something that we have in abundance. Divorce is more like a crock-pot. You have to be patient. As such you should first focus on learning the general processes that you are sure to encounter in your divorce. Next, take that general knowledge and begin to apply specific factors that could be relevant in your case. Doing so will take you a little while but the end result is a more thorough understanding of what is a very complicated topic.

Temporary Issues that need to be resolved at the outset of your divorce

Whether you are the spouse who has filed for divorce or your spouse has taken that first step, there are a few issues that will need to be handled right off the bat. Those are: how you will let your children know the divorce has been filed and how you and your spouse will live during the divorce. Namely- will one of you be moving out of the home or will you both remain for the duration of the divorce?

First of all, you should speak to an attorney before deciding whether to remain in the home or leave. I can tell you that once you leave the home it is more difficult to get back in than had you never left in the first place. This is especially true if you leave the home without your children. A judge will not be all that willing to change up the kids’ lifestyle once it has become fairly well established. Your spouse’s attorney will be telling their client the same thing. If you want to remain in the home after the divorce and have any aspirations of being named as the parent with the right to determine the children’s primary residence then you should do whatever you can to stay in the house.

Obviously if your home has a spare bedroom or area where you and your spouse can retreat during the divorce then that is for the best. If your situation doesn’t allow this then it may be better to leave temporarily than risk the ire of your spouse in a crowded space. If you and your spouse are not amicable it is likely that you all would agree one of you would have to leave in mediation or a judge would likely order that in a temporary orders hearing.

Learn how to talk to your children about divorce in tomorrow’s blog post

Divorce Attorney Houston: If you are at a loss as to how to talk to your child about your divorce then come on back to our website tomorrow in order to learn more about this subject.

In the meantime please direct any questions that you may have about today’s blog post to the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. We offer free of charge consultations six days a week with our team of licensed family law attorneys. It would be an honor to meet with you and answer your questions at no cost to you ... Continue Reading

[anastassiyav]

Week 9 Feelings

This week we discussed feelings and why games make us feel the way they do. 

Readings

Steve Swink - Game Feel, Chapter 1

Game feel is individual for every person. There is not a wrong answer about what a game feel is.

Game feel can be about perfect skill and challenge balance. It can be about perfection of virtual interaction. It can be about feeling submerged into the game play to the point of feeling like you are really in the game.

Steve Swink defines a game feel as something that everyone can grasp on a basic, surface level, but it’s hard to define in a more concrete way.

He defines 3 Main aspects of a game feel:

-          Real-Time Control

The book defines this aspect as interactivity. I understand that a good game should have intuitive control, that feel natural to the player, almost like if a control would correspond to the player thoughts, although in reality t would correspond more to his knowledge of real word and muscle memory, translated into a game play – like driving a car, we stir the wheel left if we want to go left, naturally the player will press left arrow on the keyboard or controller for that action.

The control of the avatar, the character the player controls, should be fast and precise.

-          Simulated space

We already talked about the importance of a game environment before, I believe and here it comes again. I personally find an attractive and convincing virtual space very important to my own gaming experience.

Level and objects give meaning to the movement of the avatar – without them, it would be just a character moving aimlessly through a blank canvas. Games are all about interactivity – and this is a crucial element.

I think space adds so much to the narration, so easily and cheaply, therefore enhancing any game feel.

-          Polish

Polish is another thing that adds massively to a game feel. In this book, polish means details. Camera shake, particles, environmental effects. Those things are usually not noticeable during the game play, but that is how they are intended to be – however they add a lot to realism and game appeal.

Not all games will have all three elements, not all games will have those three elements in equal parts, and the combination of the three will create a unique game feel. Game feel consists of many different experiences, and the player may or may not care for them:

-          Extension of identity

(Anyone else boyfriend talked like a Midwest cowboy for a month after playing red dead redemption?)

Pleasure of learning

(I personally think, I get more frustrated with this one – I still don’t know how to fish in a Stardew Valley and it brings me zero pleasure. )

Extension of senses

(When a game is being designed, the developer doesn’t determine what the player will see, hear and feel, but rather how – by overwriting real senses with virtual ones)

Aesthetic sensation of control

(Drowning your Sims in a pool is surely aesthetic)

Interaction with a unique reality within the game

(“People are good at figuring out the physics of a virtual space because they’re subconsciously familiar with the way things work in the real world. As soon as we encounter a virtual space, we piece together whatever clues we have about the physical laws that govern it into a mental model”)

 Combinations of those experiences make the player feel “in the game”, perceive virtual space as a realistic one, or get in the “flow” that we had already discussed earlier.

Game Feel Changes Depending on the Skill of the Player, starting from disorientation if the controls and gameplay is new and unfamiliar. Each player has a different skill level, therefore will have a different game feel. And not a single game feel would be wrong because of this individual perception.

Katherine Isbister - How games move us

Katherine Isbister writes that games may have even more emotional impact than music or films.

Games have carefully designed emotional experience. One of the way of creating an emotional impact is giving the player choices that can affect their character and storyline – actions with consequences personal to the player, something that is lacking from other forms of entertainment.

Among Game Design emotional innovations are avatars, NPC and character customization.

Those are important because overtime, the player forms attachment to the characters in the game, both the avatar and the characters the player interacts with, proving a strong emotional response in a process called grounded cognition. Creator of the Sims, Will Wright, says that the player has a choice to play the game kindly, or to play the game in an evil manner, out of curiosity, which should have no consequences, as it happens in a virtual world, yet the player still experiences guilt. This capacity to evoke guilt based on fictional experience is unique to games.

Avatars are important as many game characters come with a certain personality already, but as the player moves through the game, making decisions on behalf of that character, their relation to the avatar grows, providing real emotions. A player cane experience and try actions that are not possible in real life, through heir avatar, making them in a way their experiences, creating even bigger bond between the avatar and the player. Character customization adds to that -it usually serves no purpose to the game or story, other than to increase the projection of the player’s identity on the avatar.

NPC inhabiting the game provide the feeling of realism, of a social circle – spending time with NPC for hours, interacting with them and making decisions about how to treat them, once again add to the feeling of the flow, or feeling deeply in the game. Interactions with NPC are often based on the player’s knowledge of the real world and by reading their body language and voice tone – which I find very uncanny.

Death of a favorite NPC is usually among the top reasons the player cries during the game – according to the book.

 Playing with other people also provides an emotional response, but it is different to solitaire gaming. Playing with a friend results in higher engagement and more competition, compared to playing against a computer. Playing with a real person provides both a social play and an opportunity for sociability and bonding.

Playing with a virtual avatar with another person creates a completely unique form of a role playing social interaction – without constraints of social norms. A player can create and share any kind of persona with another player, be whoever they want to be.

Another way gaming can create an emotional response is through providing a sense of intimacy though distance play – this is covered vastly in book, but I can’t help to think how true that is now, during this time. During quarantine and lockdown, me and my boyfriend haven’t seen our friends for almost a year now, however we regularly meet online for “game night”, we usually play very simple games, like among us or a game where you have to guess doodles, but they mostly break the us and allow us to hang out and chat and catch up. Sometime him and I don’t see each other during the week, but we play Stardew Valley together for few hours, which also allows us to “spend time” together, casually chatting and working towards some king of “goal” on our farm – which is virtual, but the emotion of closeness I feel during the play is a real one.

[ocdaniel]

KILL THE NOISE (WIP)

Concept I’m playing with of something I’ve been thinking about a lot these days. Here are the first few pages:

SOCIAL MEDIA EPIDEMIC

Socrates believed that written word would harm memory. What has the emergence of social media done to our minds and memories? If the mind acts as a hard drive, keeping what is necessary and deleting what is not… What is it doing to those memories that we document with photos and videos? If Socrates believed written word would damage your memory, what would he think about the effects of new media documentation?

I’ve been working in the digital media space for almost 20 years now and have seen the evolution from geocities web pages, xanga, friendster, myspace, facebook, instagram, snapchat, and now tiktok. Since 2003 i’ve had to stay on top of various platforms as they emerged to capitalize on the online trends for my business. I’ve built websites and online marketing campaigns in the entertainment industry for half of my life now and it’s provided quite the incubator for understanding online human behavior. I started as an intern at Interscope records in their new media division. It was the smallest division for that record label at that time. In just a few years, it took over as the main division and ultimately became the go to department for the future of music. I still remember encoding cd’s into mp3’s and sending them off to Apple Computers in Cupertino in 2003 curious why we were mailing these compressed files over to them. A week later, iTunes was launched and the way we consumed music was forever changed. A complete adoption from analog to digital was under way.

I ended up starting my own digital agency while at Interscope Records and built out a ton of web campaigns for them. I built Lady Gaga’s first website, Gwen Stefani’s first website, Pharell Williams first website, and the list goes on. I probably built all these “first websites” because i entered at a time when websites started to explode. Websites became the digital storefront and the main source of content during those years. All of a sudden, Myspace pages became popular and we started developing social media pages for these entertainers. It was still very new at the time but the engagement was incredible. Next came YouTube, then Facebook and the story continues. I got to see how entertainment and social media collided and had front row seats to the show.

Even though i was building all these digital campaigns, i personally didn’t really get involved with marketing myself. I had a myspace page, xanga blog and accounts to the other platforms but it was really just used for personal use. I never viewed it as a resource to market myself or my business. It was just a way to communicate with close friends and keep in touch online. Fast forward to today, and life as we know it is synonymous with social media.

I saw the rise of YouTube stars and eventually started partnering with them very early on and building online businesses for them. Several of them doing millions of dollars in ecommerce sales with us. Business was great and we got in at a time when the era of social influencers started becoming a trend. Looking back, my interest in the social influencer space was probably just a result of working in the entertainment industry and absorbing the trends that were emerging. I don’t think it was a real thought out process but an eventual evolution to the path i was already on.

“Eventual evolution to the path i was already on….” To me that’s an interesting concept. I kinda feel like life is just a sequence of paths that we initiate or transfer onto. A series of choices to put us on a path that will eventually evolve into a new reality for us. Depending on the choices you make, the output will result accordingly. My path had social media written all over it. I just didn’t know it at the time.

I remember in 2010 right after i had my son, a new platform instagram came out. I had a feeling this platform would do well and i remember having a conversation with my wife and i said “I think i gotta really figure this social media thing out for myself. I’m going to force myself to post once per day and see what happens.” That was the beginning of my personal journey into the “Digital Noise.”

I did just that. I posted at least once every day. I thought perhaps i’d do it for a month and see where it would go from there. One month turned into two, two to six, six to a year and kept going and going. I was posting more content than anyone else i knew that was on social media. There were moms using social media as a way to document their kids and family activities but i was documenting EVERYTHING. Because i forced myself to try and post at least once a day, I developed a thought pattern to capture anything that my mind felt interesting. If i saw a cool sticker on the street, i’d take a picture of that. If my son was spacing out on some patterns, i’d snap a photo. It was literally like i was trying to capture what my brain was thinking. “Oooh, my food looks good, imma take a photo of this!” This was before taking pictures of photos was a thing. I literally forced myself to do social media experiments and started making a habit of making consistent posts on social media.

As i would meet people, they would add my on social and engage for a while but i think after a bit, they would stop because i posted so frequently. I think because i wasn’t a celebrity, it would be a bit creepy if someone i met liked EVERY SINGLE posts i made for a month lol. The funny thing is that i wouldn’t see any engagement for years from someone but i’d run into them IRL (In Real Life) and they would know everything i’ve done for the past few years because they were following my social media account. I’d run into people after not seeing them since college and they would see my son for the first time and say “oh man, i feel like i’ve seen you grow up and i finally get to meet you! I’ve seen you on instagram and facebook for years!” If this isn’t a cultural phenomenon, i don’t know what is. I think this particular example of modern engagement is a transformative shift in the way humans are now living. It’s not a small thing nor should it be looked at as casually.

Over the last few years, i’ve seen way more studies talking about the effects of social media and the increasing need for digital detoxing. As i said earlier, i was at the forefront of all this emerging so to me, social media is equivalent as living in smog my whole life. You just get used to it. Apple released screen time to help you see how much time your spending on your phone. Viral memes would showcase artists drawing social media logos as drug usage showing the addictive natures of these platforms. Awareness of the habit addiction of social media was starting to get more traction. The problem is that people still couldn’t get off the platforms. It was too late. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and the other platforms successfully recruited the world’s top talent pool of creative minds and built the most addictive platforms on the planet. If you want to see the most consumed products, just look at the stock market for the highest valuations. Money comes in, talent comes in, brainpower is used to make their products more addictive resulting in a larger customer base and ultimately a change in culture behavior.

Behavior shifts any time culture adopts new norms. Today, new norms are dictated by money. Follow the money and it will lead you to where new norms are being developed. Today, technology dominates the global marketplace with companies like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FANG) leading the charge. The problem is because these companies are focused on increasing revenue and increasing stock prices, their motivation is singular focused. “How can we get more users and get them spending more time with our product.” Drug dealers ask the exact same question.

DIGITAL ADDICTION

Like and hearts. Today that is our culture. I work with hundreds of social media influencers and one of the questions i like asking is… “Does it get depressing?” I’m shooting 100% with answers of YES! Even though social media influencers are making careers of broadcasting their lives online, the consequence is almost always a loss of self identity. They have to constantly keep up to date with their followers and are no longer on their own schedules. If they miss a day or two posting, followers get impatient and start up a ruckus. I’ve heard influencers tell me, “It’s like i’m not really living my own life anymore because i have to be something my audience wants.” Their social accounts may have started innocent and authentic at the beginning but over time, the pressures to continue momentum takes a toll. I’m not a social influencer and i even had those feelings. I’d get a ton of likes on one post, then another wouldn’t engage. It was make me question, why would one type of post get hearts and likes while the others wouldn’t. It’s human behavior to want to be accepted and held in esteem. Maslow’s third and fourth rung right after your primal survival needs of living and safety.

Physiological needs - food, water, warmth, rest

Safety needs - security, safety, health

Belonging needs - relationships, friends, community

Esteem needs - respect, status, accomplishment

Self actualization - fulfillment of one’s potential

It’s no wonder that as a culture, we’ve flocked to these social platforms to fulfill our belonging and esteem needs. At what cost though?

As a human species, if we’ve sorted out our primal needs to survive by figuring out resources to eat and have shelter, the next eventual stage would be to make friends and get respect among our colleagues. In the past, we would need to go to events, functions and meet with people to do this but with the emergence of online communities, online gaming and general online engagement, we can get the same feeling of fulfillment with social media. While i feel that social media was intended for something very positive and useful, it’s really taken on a new shape with the amount of content that is now being released.

See, social media has now successfully created an online ecosystem of users that engage on a daily basis. This is now a common habit for a majority of the world today. I’m not sure if the originators of the social media platforms had any idea that their creations would have as much content on them as it is today. With more content, comes more moderation, with more moderation come more control and so on. The funny thing is, human behavior has patterns and they continue to emerge over the history of man kind. We love getting more of the things we love. You put a kid in a candy shop and he’ll eat until he gets sick. The good thing for kids is that we have parents and lack of funds that will cut off our supply of candy. Social media is free. You can consume all you want. The genius minds creating these companies are also paid very well to make sure you consume all you want and not only that… they try to make the content even more addictive.

A few years back, i started working on a new mobile app called “Binge Mix” with someone from the entertainment industry. The idea was that finding things on Netflix to watch has become so time consuming that we wanted to make it more “efficient” to binge with your significant other. Looking back on this concept, i’m glad it didn’t work because i don’t know how i would feel today knowing i made binge watching more accessible. Binge watching… when did that become a thing? We have so much disposable time now that we sit and watch addictive shows 4-8 hours at a time now? I’m guilty of this phenomenon myself. When my wife got into the show “Lost” our common phrase was.. “Just one more and then we will sleep.” If you really think about it, the days when we had 13 channels on a tv box to now thousands of shows at your finger tips is a result of blitzscaling media companies that have tapped into an addictive human behavior. Legalized media drugs.

Humans can’t help themselves. It’s our nature to consume more of what we want if it’s available to us. There is a dopamine hit in the brain that rewards us like a pavlovian dog every time it gets a treat. You might feel you have free will but every time you watch another video, click another link, or start another show…. You throw your freedom out the window and have become a slave to that platform. I don’t use that word lightly either. A SLAVE TO THE BINGE. To “binge” is synonymous with “addiction” and that is now the culture we live in today. The era of digital addiction. The question i have, is WHAT IS ALL THIS DOING TO OUR BRAINS?!?!?!

DIGITAL DETOX

Noise. Too much noise.

A few years back, i started a new experiment with my company. My wife would probably consider me a workaholic and i really have a hard time shutting my mind off from work. I get obsessive about things that catch my interest and it’s my nature to work hard. It would be really hard for me to leave my company operations for more than a few days for any time of vacation or time off. Even when i’d leave on vacation, i’d be on my phone checking things, writing new ideas down, taking down pages of notes on strategy and just not being able to relax. I started making it a point to intentionally power down my phone when i’d take a break at a certain point. It would suck going on a vacation, then working on vacation only to come back the same as i left. The hard part was trusting that the business wouldn’t crash and burn without me being there.

I started realizing that it would take me about a week to really disconnect from work. I considered the first week just a work detox to get my brain to settle. So i did my first 2 week vacation and turned my phone off for a week at a time. I would throw my phone into the hotel safe or dresser drawer and shut it off for a week. That to me was insane but i figured, if it takes me a week to decompress.. Perhaps turning it off completely will speed the process up. It did!

It was like a magical antidote for my workaholic pace of entrepreneurship. Turn the phone off, the brain starts forming back into a natural state. It freaked me out a bit but at the end of the week, i’d check in and see what was going on. I’m not going to lie and say everything was perfect. I had several fire drills and tons of anxiety doing this but i kept trying. After doing a week no phone, i tried 2 weeks. I would try these breaks over the next few years and would eventually get to 3-4 weeks without using my phone. Sounds almost impossible with the way the world works today but I was so desperate to recover from my overthinking at work that i made it happen. Well, actually my wife probably made it happen for me! hahah. I think she was getting tired of our vacations getting ruined with emotions and phone calls from work.

I know this isn’t possible for everyone to do right away but to me it was a goal. How long can i be without my phone and just connect with nature. In the 80’s we didn’t have smartphones and survived, we could probably do it today…. It’s just not “normal” anymore. The thing i started realizing when i’d do these digital detoxes, my brain would change. The noise would start to fade and my thoughts would get clearer. My ideas didn’t seem so cluttered and i was able to THINK!

The brain is supposed to be able to retain 7 numbers at a time as our working memory capacity. If this holds true with numbers, what is going on with our brains as we are saturating it with content? Is it deleting old files? Getting rid of old memories? I personally want to keep a lot of good memories and hopefully keep my brain running at top performance for the rest of my life. My instinct tells me that binge watching 4 hours of a Netflix show is definitely going to alter the way my brain works. It’s going to tell my brain… “If your focusing on this for 4 hours of your waking day, it must be important and i need to use processing power for this.” Even though we feel that binge watching helps us to disconnect and zone out, i’m pretty sure the opposite is happening. We are filling our brain hard drive with more stuff to process and it’s probably not good for our overall production as a human being. 

More content makes for more noise. More noise makes it harder to focus. Focus is what helps us achieve great results. Perhaps the reason why we are not getting the progress in life we want is because there has been a massive influx of content that has become way to easy to become addicted to. I think of it like trying to play basketball while drunk. The more you drink, the less effective your body functions perform and the more horrible choices you make on the court. Think of digital content as the alcohol and life as the basketball game. If you want to live more effectively, reduce the noise.

[pursuitofdoctorate]

Cognitive Developmental Theory

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences 

Scholar Howard Gardner of Harvard University questioned the dominance of intelligence as a single, in born capacity assessed by IQ tests. Instead, he raised the question of how the brain/mind evolved over the course of time to allow the species to survive. 

Gardner completed cross-cultural studies of those who are gifted, autistic, and savants, which resulted in his identification of 9 forms of intelligence: 

Linguistic (writing; language)

Logical-Mathematical (science; math)

Musical (composer; performer)

Spatial (sailor; architect)

Bodily-kinesthetic (athlete; dancer; surgeon)

Interpersonal (therapist; salesperson)

Intrapersonal (keen introspective skills)

Naturalist (recognize & classify patterns of the natural world)

Existential (spiritual world)

These types of intelligences are present in every culture and every individual is talented in some of these intelligences and may have little capacity in others. 

An application of Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences would be for educators to allow learner the opportunities to engage in material using one of the multiple intelligences. For example, in teaching math, learners can using their body to form different numbers (kinesthetic), write a song or poem to solve a problem (musical), or use play dough to create geometric angles (spatial). 

Using Multiple Intelligences learning choices make adult learners more confident about taking greater control of their own learning. 

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget laid the foundation for much of what we know about cognitive development. Piaget proposed four age related stages of cognitive development:

Infant (sensory-motor) 

2-7 years old (pre-operational stage)

7-11 years old (concrete operational stage)

12+ years old (formal operational stage)

He first thought the fourth stage was obtained between 11-13, but revised this saying the development of formal operational thought may occur up to the age of 20. 

If these four stages are thought of as playing with a pack of cards:

Infants would take hold of some cards and likely put them into their mouths

4 year olds would sort the cards into patterns such as kings, queens, jacks, etc.

10 year olds would play a simple card game 

Young adults could play a sophisticated card game like poker or bridge 

Piaget has been critiqued for the invariance of his model as well as lack of consideration for context, however, his theory did provide the foundation for work around cognitive development. 

A model which has been heavily influenced by Piaget is Perry’s stages of moral and ethical development which is most often associated with young adults. 

Perry’s Model of Intellectual Development

Source: https://www2.palomar.edu/pages/tjohnston2/files/2019/03/11-Perrys-Stages-of-Cognitive-Development.pdf

The model was developed in the 1960's by William Perry, an educational psychologist at Harvard, who observed that students varied considerably in their attitudes toward courses and instructors and their own roles in the learning process. 

The Perry model is a hierarchy of nine levels grouped into four categories: 

Dualism (Levels 1 and 2). Knowledge is black and white, every problem has one and only one correct solution, the authority (in school, the teacher) has all the solutions, and the job of the student is to memorize and repeat them. Dualists want facts and formulas and don't like theories or abstract models, open-ended questions, or active or cooperative learning ("I'm paying tuition for him to teach me, not to teach myself.") At Level 2, students begin to see that some questions may seem to have multiple answers but they still believe that one of them must be right.

Multiplicity (Levels 3 and 4). Some questions may not have answers now but the answers will eventually be known (Level 3) or responses to some (or most) questions may always remain matters of opinion (Level 4). Open-ended questions and cooperative learning are tolerated, but not if they have too much of an effect on grades. Students start using supporting evidence to resolve issues rather than relying completely on what authorities say, but they count preconceptions and prejudices as acceptable.

Relativism (Levels 5 and 6). Students in relativism see that knowledge and values depend on context and individual perspective rather than being externally and objectively based, as Level 1-4 students believe them to be. Using real evidence to reach and support conclusions becomes habitual and not just something professors want them to do. At Level 6, they begin to see the need for commitment to a course of action even in the absence of certainty, basing the commitment on critical evaluation rather than on external authority. 

Commitment within relativism (Levels 7-9). At the highest category of the Perry model, individuals start to make actual commitments in personal direction and values (Level 7), evaluate the consequences and implications of their commitments and attempt to resolve conflicts (Level 8), and finally acknowledge that the conflicts may never be fully resolved and come to terms with the continuing struggle (Level 9). These levels are rarely reached by college students. 

The key to helping students move up this developmental scale is to provide an appropriate balance of challenge and support, occasionally posing problems one or two levels above the students' current position.

Kegan’s Constructive Developmental Theory

Source: https://medium.com/@NataliMorad/how-to-be-an-adult-kegans-theory-of-adult-development-d63f4311b553

Kegan, a former Harvard psychologist, shows that adults go through 5 distinct developmental stages.

Stage 1 — Impulsive mind (early childhood)

Stage 2 — Imperial mind (adolescence, 6% of the adult population)

Stage 2 individuals view people as a means to get their own needs met, as opposed to a shared internal experience (how we feel about each other). They care about how others perceive them, but only because those perceptions may have concrete consequences for them. For example, when Stage 2 friends do not lie to each other, it is because of a fear of the consequences or retaliation, not because they value honesty and transparency in a relationship. Moreover, individuals follow along with rules, philosophies, movements or ideologies because of external rewards or punishments, not because they truly believe in them. For example, a person in Stage 2 won’t cheat because they’re scared of the consequences, not because it goes against their personal values.

Stage 3 — Socialized mind (58% of the adult population)

In Stage 3, external sources shape our sense of self and understanding of the world. In Stage 3, the most important things are the ideas, norms and beliefs of the people and systems around us (i.e. family, society, ideology, culture, etc. ). For the first time we begin to experience ourselves as a function of how others experience us. For example, we take an external view of our ourselves (“They’ll think I look stupid”) and make it part of our internal experience (“I am stupid”). 

Stage 4 — Self-Authoring mind (35% of the adult population)

In Stage 4, we can define who we are, and not be defined by other people, our relationships or the environment. We understand that we are a person, with thoughts, feelings and beliefs that are independent from the standards and expectations of our environment. We can now distinguish the opinions of others from our own opinions to formulate our own “seat of judgment”. We become consumed with who we are — this is the kind of person I am, this is what I stand for. We develop an internal sense of direction and the capacity to create and follow our own course. 

Stage 5 — Self-Transforming mind (1% of the adult population)

In Stage 5 one’s sense of self is not tied to particular identities or roles, but is constantly created through the exploration of one’s identities and roles and further honed through interactions with others. We see the complexities of life, can expand who we are and be open to other possibilities — we are reinventing our identity. We understand the intersectionality of multiple identities. 

Most adults (65%) never make it past stage 3 to become high functioning adults. 

Drago-Severson’s Four Ways of Knowing

Source: https://learnertoolbox.com/2015/04/23/professional-development-and-ways-of-knowing/

Drago-Severson (2009) cites Kegan’s work on developmental stages of adult development, suggesting that adults have stages of development directly influence how they learn and engage. Unlike Kegan, Drago-Severson views development as cyclicar and not simply linear. 

Instrumental learning - Concrete tasks that are personally relevant require adults to work at instrumental levels. Learning a new subject guide, for instance, is a necessary concrete task. Instrumental learners appreciate guidance in knowing how to apply the principles in a subject guide to their own classroom.

Socializing learners - Collaborative planning and reflection is a social task. Perhaps collaborative planning, for instance on interdisciplinary units and subject overviews help social learners to feel psychologically safe that all in the group are tuned in to the same task with similar goals.

Self-authoring learners - Self-authoring individuals appreciate clear vision underlining tasks. They appreciate opportunities to evaluate for themselves (self-reflection) what they might learn from collaborative situations. They might seek to augment and enhance their own learning through self-chosen PLNs and focus groups.

Self-transformational learners - Transformational learners have the ability to tolerate ambiguity during times systems are incomplete or in progress. They see connections between systems in place to abstractions, paradoxes, and changing continuums. 

In this model, feedback plays a critical role. Additionally, learners need a holding environment to move through the various stages. 

Women’s Ways of Knowing

Source: https://www2.palomar.edu/pages/tjohnston2/files/2019/03/11-Perrys-Stages-of-Cognitive-Development.pdf

The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind “All women grow up having to deal with historically and culturally engrained definitions of femininity and womanhood…” (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule, 1986). A woman does not think or reason like a man nor does she look at those in authority the same way due to her experiences and interactions with parents, culture, and her economic situation. The parental aspect is complex, leading into religious and moral issues along with physical, sexual, and mental abuse. Belenky et al. (1986) conducted a project in the late 1970’s based on the study and analysis of topics and aspects unique to women revealing a model of intellectual development. Overview of Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule Model:

Silence: A woman of silence is totally dependent on those in authority, not questioning or voicing an opinion (Belenky et al., 1986). Expressing her personal thoughts is very difficult as she lives in the present and normally speaks of specific concrete behaviors. A woman of silence usually has experienced physical, mental, or sexual abuse and feels that she is to be seen and not heard. If she should voice her opinion or ask a question, punishment is the most likely result. A woman of silence views decisions as either right or wrong with no room for reasoning. 

Received Knowledge: Belenky et al. (1986) places a woman at the receiving knowledge level if she is listening but does not have the confidence to voice her opinion. As the receiver she will listen and pass knowledge on to others, shaping her thoughts to match those in authority. When asked about herself, the receiver of knowledge will reply with what other individuals have stated, unable to voice her feelings. Abuse is still prevalent in the life of a woman receiving knowledge. 

Subjective Knowledge: About half of those participating in the project were at the subjective knowledge level (Belenky et al., 1986). Something usually happens in a woman’s life to encourage her to go from a receiver of knowledge to progress to the level of subjectivity. The woman begins to accept that she has a voice, “an inner source of strength” lying within herself, and an opinion that is due to past experiences. She recognizes that she does not have to agree with the authority but is still cautious about voicing opinions. Truth is experienced within oneself but not acted upon for fear of jeopardizing the associations one has with others at the same level. 

Procedural Knowledge: Belenky et al. (1986) describes procedural knowledge as divided into two areas, separate and connected knowing. A woman in either area realizes that she has voice, is still cautious of others and their actions, however now she is not threatened and is more willing to listen to what is being said. A separatist will not project her feelings into a situation and is able to speak taking on the requested view. A connected knower empathizes with others and feels it is her responsibility to help them understand their situation so they might make the best decision. 

Constructed Knowledge: A constructivist realizes that one must speak, listen, share ideas, explore, and question, analyzing who, why, and how (Belenky et al., 1986). Speaking and listening does not remain within oneself but includes speaking and listening to others at the same time. She wants a better quality of life for herself and for others.