#and i suppose that assholishness is a human trait

[istherewifiinhell]

hand on rbing prev post as circling back around on sts thought apparently gave me enough to say it needed to escape the tags and be its own post. um! the emh from voy: my wife is a bitch and i love her so much

i think the emh is like. the exact definition of "the soul first shows itself by a gnashing of teeth" as its all well add good to appreciate the aliveness of nice and polite data who follows all the rules and is like. even MORE real than a flesh and blood person.

(in sense of his tangibility... his mechanical complexity and physical and mental competencies. are MORE than that of a traditionally recognized person. you know? not that that is an accurate summation of how the show acts about him. the only person who thinks that is julian bashir lmao. more often its like the. oh you disrespect him? well disrespect THIS! [he does a feat unmatched by any of the biological life forms around him] which... isnt exactly useful as principled, ideological and philosophic statement, about who gains the right of person-hood. OR RATHER! it is literally and precisely that, its conclusions sucks shit)

[Cam K podcast voice] when someone reaches for abstractions to doubt data's existent, the show throws materialist egg on their face.

The lynchpin in the proof of Data artificiality. Is that he has a PHYSICAL SWITCH, that can turn him OFF. This counters his otherwise uninterrupted verisimilitude of humanity. He looks like a toy. A thing. (Teenage wifi would like to point out if i had a big enough rock i could also turn riker off, but alas)

BUT the thing about the Doc, is that this guy ISNT "REAL". Getting shut down is not grand solemn act to the doc. It happens to him. ALOT. "Computer: End Program"... Hes so much more dependent on those around him. He isnt nearly the same as them. AND HES AN ANNOYING LITTLE BITCH about it. please turn him off when you done! please turn him ON to tell him things, and u could visit sometime... Turn your emergency holographic medical channel! cause this is a SENIOR STAFF MEETING. and hes the God Damn CMO.

AND. its not just mistreatment he gets (RIGHTFULLY!) angry about. Its that (as joelle correctly pointed out, ofc) when confused, or when things are wrong, when he has no control, he default right to agression! He is not a sad kicked puppy that goes 'oh' and 'i do not understand the meaning of ur behaviour' like data does. (again that sounds like data slander its NOT! i love data and wish ppl would stop laughing at him for having questions)

Whereas the biggest actual impediment of data's full recognition of personhood is his feelings, and suppose lack there of. He doesn't react to social stimulus the way people expect him too. If you try to goad him into a response he might say he 'is not capable of experiencing emotions such as you do' cause hes lacking the magic part in his brain that will do that. (to which... every neurodivergent person ever said: data, bestie, baby girl, they say that about a lot of people. you have clearly expressed internal experiences that are just... you baselines for emotion)

But to compare. When people say the doc isnt acting socially normal, which is an assholish thing to do, btw. HES READY TO BE AN ASSHOLE RIGHT BACK. His is INFACT, gnashing those holographic teeth! I don't think anyone has ever accused the doc of a LACK OF FEELING. Like, he has horrible beside manner, he "isn't programed for small talk"... but thats cause he's RUDE! He's too obviously prideful, snide, needling and just general, self involved for it to not seem like a DELIBERATE CHOICE that he is making.

And even when these traits are regarded to simple programing (which makes them... less real? 🤨) Examine the moments that are definitively about him claiming autonomy, engaging in recreation and becoming more self actualized. And find that a lot of them are angled to make him LESS likable. His hobbies, which he WILL speak about, AT LENGTH, include being a tropy writer, a photographer who makes hour long presentations, and a uncompromising operatic tenor diva.

(love when opera singer is used as insult, media wise, oh noooo ur TOO good at singing. your voice is TOO powerful, ur vocal control and ability to perform complex pieces in multiple languages is TOO impressive. lol. mr picardo ur so cool and u looked good doing it. frankly)

In the moments that serve to mark specific advancement in control he gains over himself, he gets to make himself MORE OBNOXIOUS! You do not, infact, get to recognize a someones full personhood without running the risk that you, specifically, might not like them! As a person!

And in dramtic turns. His true psyche breaking, foundation shaking experiences are acted to hell! It's uncomfortable to behold someone so emotional. Confusion and denial not expressed quietly, but belligerently. Meeting of sadness fear that can only be expressed as anger. Unlike the picturesq Adam and Eve figures from the end of R.U.R. (spoilers? i suppose). His awareness of the true personal impact and price of mortality is not signaled by a noble self-sacrifice, gentle weeping and pleading to not have someone taken away. It's a choice he made to save a close friend, instead of a distant coworker, when forced to choose between the two.

And then, his complete and total inability to comprehend, internalized and accept that fact. A person would be dead, truly and utterly gone from this world. Cause he wanted to save his friend instead. And the only way to ingrate this horrible fact of reality, the capital A, Absurd, was to do it as any human might.

Have a very public and loud mental breakdown, spend prolonged period of in which you cannot be left alone because your darkest thoughts will loop forever into themselves as you become more and more upset, and yet, neither can you simply avoid thinking about it, has the only way to come to terms with it is though a mire subjects that cause revulsion. The desert of thought the mind shrink from, and the truth that lies in it. Which. Is very inconvenient for all your friends who would really just rather be having a normal one.

In conclusion? The doc shows autonomy and sentience by being loud, opinionated and embarrassing. Rude, precocious, and easily offended. Self obsessed, high-mined, and anguished. Dependent, vulnerable and inconvenient. Which is to say he possible the most real anyone could ever be. That he has a much of a soul as any of us. That he is a bitch and i love him SO MUCH.

[mewatchingstuff]

When it first came out, I never got past the pilot episode but last week I decided to finally sit down and watch Syfy’s Van Helsing.

I basically loved everyone. Except for John and that Catherine chick from the resistance. 

And Sheema and Dimitri.

The weakest parts of the show, imo, were the main villains Dimitri and Rebekah. They were supposed to be menacing and dangerous but honestly, they were both just cumbersome half the time they were on. Julius and his random assortment of vampires were a better vampire antagonist than the other two. 

 I also felt Vanessa was halfway useless for a lot of the season. I know she’s supposed to be a “normal” human but she spent so much time getting taken out or bit every time there was a fight I wanted her to change her name to Kate Austin. There’s also this weird sense of moral hypocrisy that she displays with a lot of the characters that kinda irks me. The show wants to set her up as “right” in certain situations but they also show her doing the same things she’s scolding others for doing. It’s unappealing and unfortunately, I think it’s going to be an even bigger problem in season 2. But other than that I genuinely enjoyed her as the lead character and I think Kelly Overton was the perfect person to play Vanessa. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Vanessa will do next after that shocker at the end of season 1. 

The supporting characters definitely made up for Vanessa’s weak points in the beginning. Axel, the marine sent to guard Vanessa, was my favorite throughout the season. He’s a selfish asshole, honestly but he was never really wrong in his judgment calls, I felt. He provided unexpected comic relief with his assholishness and it really helped to elevate the tense atmosphere of the show at times. I have no idea what they’ll do with him now after *that* happened and then *that other thing* happened.

Sam & Mohamad, were my next two favorite characters. The dynamic duo who were the MVP’s of the entire season, imo. Mohamad especially because he’s a kid/teen and a black one at that. By now, we all know the pitfalls of POC, especially black ppl in horror/sci-fi stories. But Mohamad was actually allowed to be a fleshed out character with an individual story arc and goal that leads him to further character development.Sure, he stepped in it towards the end but I think he’ll continue to be one of the show’s best characters. Sam is played by Christopher heyerdahl which should honestly tell you everything if you’re already familiar with his work & characters.

Flesh/Phil deserves so much more love & respect than he gets. This dude is really trying his best to be better and to learn how to live with himself again but therapists are a little sparse in the show so he’s dealing with his shit alone. I have a feeling things are going to ultimately end terribly for him but for now, he just keeps getting better and more rootable.

Doc. What do I say about Doc. I have no idea other than she’s certainly the most frustratingly “human” character of the bunch. Which is pretty rare in the post-apocalyptic genre. Sure, we get characters that seem to share her traits but they’re always portrayed as the “villain” of the group or some rando who’ll die by the episode’s end. Yet, here she remains.It’s not even the vampire uprising to blame, because this was an inherent personality trait of hers. So what do you do with a character who’s a horrible coward at the very center of their being? I don’t think they’ll make her character sink any lower but building her up is no small task either. I guess it just depends on which direction the writers will have her immense guilt take her. 

All in all, I would definitely recommend this series to anymore who’s interested in horror/action-adventure genre