#blamed for suicide

[rabid-dog-steve-horn]

On July 16, 1990, the trial against Judas Priest began, for the event that occurred on December 23, 1985, when the young Raymond Belknap, 18, and James Vance, 20, starred in one of the bloodiest stories of the time.

Both friends spent six hours drinking, smoking weed and listening to Judas Priest's Stained Class record. After that, the young men took a shotgun and decided to commit suicide. Belknap died instantly, while Vance survived, though losing much of his face before passing in 1988. The defense of families soon found a culprit: Judas Priest and his subliminal messages that incited violence.

Victims' relatives sued CBS Records for $6.2 million in damages. Five years later, in August 1990, the trial's sentence sowed high global expectation as it would create jurisprudence, affecting other bands whose lyrics were targeted for their aggression. “It’s a very, very interesting subject, belonging to psychology. But I had no idea. I was just a fucking lead singer of a heavy metal band. We were baffled by some of the things that came out of that courtroom,” Halford added.

In their favor, the band had the result of other trials where musicians were shielded by enforcing the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees free speech in the United States. Despite that, years earlier, Judge Jerry Whitched had signed a sentence in 1988 explaining that the First Amendment did not protect them from their messages.

Halford recalls all that month that they had to move to America. “We were in court from 9:00 to 17:00 hours, every day for a month. We're staying outside Reno to get away from the press. (... ) There we were wondering why are we here? We are British metal musicians and we are going to have to defend our music and our fans about the absurd, ridiculous accusations that we put those kinds of messages in our music to kill them,” the artist reported. Nearly 30 days later, on August 24, 1990 Judas Priest was acquitted of office.

In a 100-page sentence and with more than 40 witnesses consulted, Judge Whitched ruled that families could not prove the hidden subliminal messages. Today, the musician reveals: "I really wanted to go to the mothers and give them a hug, tell them 'I'm sorry for the loss of their children.' "Let's have coffee and talk about this," but he avoided doing it because there was a whole network of people behind them, "a kind of infiltration of extreme Christian groups urging them to proceed with the case."

About the trial itself, Halford claimed he and his teammates felt relieved, albeit disappointed. "(The judge) didn't say resoundingly 'what the prosecution was suggesting didn't happen', but basically said: "Look, this is still a foggy area, this band didn't put these words in the song and those words didn't create this tragedy." (... ) The whole thing of subliminal messages was left in limbo. It would be awful to think that this could happen again, but we just have to wait,” he concluded.

#judaspriest #judaspriestband #judaspriestfans #robhalford #glenntipton #kkdowning #daveholland #ianhill

[frownyalfred]

“Jason wouldn’t want you to do this, Bruce,” Clark says, trying to stop Bruce from doing something Jason would very much want him to do (kill the Joker, barehanded and slowly).

[eve-was-framed]

a very important lesson I was taught by my parents is that if I’m around an angry man and he’s threatening to kill himself then that is between him and the lord and my only response to that situation should be to get the fuck out of there and call 911. do not ever take the murder-suicide statistics lightly

[sleepsucks]

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Still very wild to me when people try to gotcha Jason with the whole "if you can kill other people for being evil why can't they kill you" when jason is like. One of the most passively suicidal characters I've ever seen. What if man

[ozziescribbler]

TW: suicide

Statements "James Somerton doesn't deserve to die and I hope he's okay.", "Harry, Kat, Todd or Jessie (?!) bear no blame for James' self-harm and calling them murderers is abhorrent." and "Threatening or committing suicide is often a DARVO manipulation/revenge tactic." are allowed to all be true at the same time and not mutually exclusive.

[pjharvey]

ppl in my notes saying this was “bad timing” i don’t think you realize that either going on a substance abuse spree and being reckless with your life or suicide are both very common responses men have to being held accountable for their abuse

[nientedal]

imagine you were mauled by a bear.

you were mauled and it was awful. it left scars on you that may never fully and completely heal. maybe it nearly killed you. bears are now a trigger for you. full on panic at the sight of a bear.

now imagine some people in your town enjoy dressing up as bears. they put on homemade costumes for fun and occasionally meet up. most people are just there to play dress-up with other folks who enjoy wearing bear costumes, but maybe a few of them also play pretend with each other. nobody gets hurt-- they aren't real bears, and they wouldn't want to be! it's just fun to play pretend.

but you were mauled by a bear, and one day you're out walking, and you see some of these people on the other side of the road, and you freak out. most of the costumes aren't even very realistic, but you start screaming at them anyway, throwing rocks, grabbing other people and pointing, trying to get them to throw rocks too, because what the fuck? what the hell? what kind of sick freak pretends to be a bear? don't they know bears are dangerous? and what if there's a real bear in one of those costumes! or what if they're dressing up as bears because they want to maul people! throw rocks! harass! throwing rocks at people in bear costumes is good and righteous! you were mauled by an actual real bear and this is all definitely a reaction to an actual real threat and not at all a trauma response!

meanwhile, the people who enjoy dressing up as bears are trying to explain it's just for fun. they just enjoy playing dress-up. even those who do enjoy pretending, are only pretending. it's just acting. and look-- Ted over there was mauled, too! he likes dressing up as a bear because it gives him a situation he controls. but nobody is trying to actually be bears. that would be fucking deranged.

but it doesn't matter. you were mauled by a bear, and people in bear costumes feel the same to you as bears. it doesn't matter why they dress up, they OBVIOUSLY deserve to be attacked like bears. and anyone who disagrees with you must also be a bear, because omg don't they understand bears are dangerous and people in bear costumes are basically the same as bears!!!

if you react to works of fiction the same way you react to harm done to a real live human being, you are failing to recognize that human beings are separate from works of fiction. whether you're experiencing a trauma response and can't make the distinction, or you were told this was the best way to support people who are traumatized, i don't know, but the result is the same. you need to understand that people are not the stories they enjoy. stop throwing rocks at people in costumes.

[stressfulsloth]

I really do think it's interesting that the way DE discusses ableism gets ignored by a lot of the fanbase. Because Harry is undeniably disabled and that's a core conflict of the game. He's living in an impossible situation that so many disabled people get caught in; he's physically disabled, even more so by the end of the game after being shot, but even at the beginning of the game he struggles with nerve damage, post-polio syndrome, partial paralysis in his jaw, withdrawals, and that's not even starting on the mental illness. He is sick and cannot ever properly heal under these circumstances because he cannot stop moving forward or he will start to sink. He's living in poverty. He has no safety net. No way out of the RCM. That night in Martinaise before the beginning of the game, he tries to quit- throw everything away. He tries to end his own life and drive his car into the sea because he cannot fathom a future where he's able to get out of this alive when he's so intrinsically bound to this abusive institution that he can't escape from.

And then comes Jean, deliberately forbidding anyone from jogging Harry's memory out of spite and anger, refusing to allow anyone else to help, calling him a fucking idiot and a psychopath, asking if he can go to the toilet on his own, telling him that he doesn't deserve his disability pension because it should go to cops who gave a shit instead (nevermind that Harry has been working at burnout pace for years, he's an addict so his contributions are essentially worthless, right?). He has a conversation with Judit, right in front of Harry, on whether or not he has learning disabilities.

This guy is a very interesting character! And I'm not denying that he's likely dealt with consequences at work from Harry's illness. But he also fulfils the narrative role of being a mouthpiece for the suspicion and even outright aggression that addicts face even while trying to recover. He fulfils the role of a representative of the RCM, with the ability to approve or deny Harry’s return and in turn essentially sentence him to a slow death in the seaside village. He is not there to help; he is there to judge and observe, and then blame Harry when things go bad even though his inaction is at least in part responsible for the deaths during the tribunal. And this is all very deliberate! The RCM, and by extension the Coalition, as an organisation is failing both its officers and its citizens- Jean, by extension, is one of the officers being failed! They are underfunded, overstretched, overworked, and shouldn't even exist in the first place. The expectation on partnered officers to provide emotional support to each other is ridiculous. But instead of directing his anger upwards towards the Coalition airships or superiors at the RCM, he directs it outwards, towards 'the liberals' or towards Harry, who as a disabled addict is a pretty convenient punching bag.

His vitriol towards Harry is not supposed to be sympathetic! At least the way I read it, you're not meant to look at him and think 'oh wow Harry's struggle has been so hard for him.' You're meant to question his language, to think more deeply about how society treats addicts, how punitive measures are never going to help someone get sober, about the importance of safety nets.

[palin-tropos]

gently takes the disco elysium fandom by the hand anybody who needs to hear this listen. stop thinking of harry’s bender in terms of “misbehavior”. he is severely suicidal and most of his outrageous actions are either attempts or, perhaps more tragically, trying to stop himself from attempting. he manages to save his own life by doing many of the things that he’s shamed for, like selling his gun, and inducing some kind of seizure from drugs and booze because he knows he’s had these amnesia episodes before and forgetting what made him want to die could be the only way out 

these are awful, last-ditch efforts from a man on the precipice and I genuinely have nothing but admiration for the strength it took to humiliate himself further so that he could have a second chance at life 

[oxventurequotes]

liliana if you read this im free on thursday night and would like to hang out. please respond to this and then hang out with me on thursday night when i'm free.

[ginumo]

Prelude

0 // (OLD) Next

[portraitoflestatonfire]

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 1.03 "Is My Very Nature That of a Devil?"

[sprinkleonthatcriticism]

I really don't like people's double standards sometimes and I'm not just talking about how stans treat Stolas and Stella, this ain't relating to that, I'm talking about the situation with Jack/Damagedcoda6669 Warning for Suicide mention, ableism, COCSA, SA and Child grooming

A while ago, Jack made a come-back video and he mentions that Kittydog had groomed him as well as commited COCSA (Child On Child Sexual Assault) towards him and barely there were any people calling Zola out and Kittydog makes a youtube vid and twitter post apologizing for what they had done to it, and seemingly everyone WELCOMES Kittydog back with open arms and acts like nothing had ever happened.

But when it was revealed that Jack committed cocsa when he was 16 and the minor was 13, suddenly Jack/Damagedcoda6669 (aka Birdie/Sansbirdie in case ya'll ain't in the loop) is a irredeemable monster all because he had that "He was birdie" label on him and all because Jack rightfully stolen his cat back from Synni.

And before you all accuse me of downplaying the criticism that Jack is rightfully receiving (which, I'm not downplaying it, you can criticize Jack if you want as long as you ain't being clowns or bringing up stuff that Jack had already apologize for just as the borderline 13? thing) or say "But, Jack was talking to a minor under "sexual" art!!1!!!".

Lemme say that the minor in question (who is in fact a grooming victim like myself) made a post literally explaining that Jack NEVER pm'd xem as well as spoken weird to him either.

You guys claim to care for victims of grooming but you go around and talk over the minor or mock Jack instead of waiting for him to recover due to the stress that it had receive so he could hopefully make a post or vid talking about the situation.

Heck, you guys even claim Jack "suicide baited" (not using the term right btw you guys, suicide baiting means to maliciously try to get someone to off their-selves NOT faking suicide) instead of simply checking in on him when he made that post showing that you don't care for mental health either and just want to repeat history again because to your eyes "Birdie is still bad no matter what happened to it in the past".

And again, you guys are allow to criticize Jack, I also had criticized Jack in the past and even sent him an ask, explaining to him calmly and politely that "he should address the allegations but not now, he needs a break from online due to the backlash that it was receiving on twitter" and I even suggest him to stay on Bluesky since there is none of the "Let's compare a sexual assault victim (Jack) to his sexual assaulter (Synnibear03)." bs on that site, which quite frank is absolutely disgusting.... Again, nothing WRONG with criticizing Jack, and again, I do agree that Jack shouldn't of accused a (former) 13 yr old of having a grooming fetish but don't be gross and pretend that Jack isn't a victim of sexual assault, grooming, abuse and such or better yet, don't try to paint Synnibear03 as a victim of Jack, SHE is not a victim of Jack.

Just because he stolen Skqrp from Synni doesn't mean shit because Synnibear no matter how much she swears up and down that she didn't brought the cat as a gift for Jack, she still brought the cat for JACK and the only reason her name was in the papers is because Jack rightfully didn't want to write down his dead name and who can blame him?

[forgotten-daydreamer]

"Oh yes!! I can finally join the mouthwashing fandom!!" I said with excitement. Little did I know it was a feature. A creature feature. Featuring........ The absence of media literacy.

[cringefaecompilation]

sign of the times, might as well pop out this orymposting that compiles all my thoughts and possible fears as to what will happen with his character arc.

orym’s probably the de facto “npc” in a party of npcs. if he was in a jrpg, he’d be a captain of the guard or something overlooking a phalanx of identical soldiers. everything about him as a character leans hard into this. the way he never stops exercising, sword training or looking out for danger while everyone else relaxes like he’s on a pre-programmed loop… but that becomes less funny and more upsetting when you give it more than ten seconds of thought.

because starving yourself and overexercising aren’t healthy. being able to hear a whispered conversation from a few feet away is handy in some cases and overstepping in others. he’s clearly not okay, but since his trauma responses are helpful or he’s traumatized by the correct people (read: the main villains) in the correct way (read: they hate gods), fandom just treats these as a cute little character quirks.

speaking of this also bleeds into the much-maligned god debate. notice he only ever discusses saving the gods in tandem with his dead loved ones. obviously he’s gonna do that given the circumstances and has every right to (even if he is being a little too obstinate at times), but it goes deeper than just “people that i personally cared about died so screw anyone else’s opinions”.

orym was nothing more than collateral to the real target, which was keyleth. he failed to be a good enough soldier to protect her, to protect them, to keep outside evil from forever tainting his home with gruesome memories. maybe he just wasn’t trying hard enough and he deserved to permanently lose them! maybe if he tries even harder and pushes himself to be the best soldier ever, he can make up for his horrible sin of not being good enough to have kept them safe the first time!

and it gets worse! he’s constantly rewarded for putting himself last! he gets a title from keyleth denoting him as the best soldier ever (and he gives the most dead inside speech about it), his fey pact has done nothing but be subtly horrifying than anything, he’s praised for killing fake evil clones of fearne and opal and reminded over and over that he will have to kill imogen and/or fearne for real if they turn, and melora turned his husband’s sword that he adores and protects over anything into a sword that worshiped her instead. he is completely losing his identity as anything other than a faceless soldier trying to save the gods and he hasn’t even realized it.

it’s not for lack of trying on everyone else’s part. imogen clearly cares about him and sees what this mission is doing to him. dorian went out of his way to tell orym that he didn’t need to be a protector all the time. laudna knows about his deal and is the only one that understands that it’s going to blow up in his face sooner rather than later because she’s been there before. but he keeps brushing it off like “it doesn’t matter, we don’t have time, i don’t matter, let’s get this over with so the actually important people can solve this problem”.

do you see why i can’t bring myself to be angry at him? this is fucking depressing to watch. i feel awful for him more than anything. it’s why i’m death gripping the morri deal to give him something to show him that just because he’s doing the “right thing” by sacrificing himself, it doesn’t mean that he should have done it. i don’t want the gods to go “let’s nuke everything to stop any other anti-god jerkwads from pulling this crap again!” and that be the way he learns.

but if we don’t, if everything turns out okay and morri just goes “aw darn i lost! better luck next time i guess!” and the narrative says “see? all orym needed was a new boyfriend to make him feel better!” then i will be supremely disappointed. firstly, because guilt over losing will was only a small fraction of what affected orym’s mental state, and second because rewarding self-harm and complete identity loss as long as it’s for the sake of the “good guys” is an objectively horrific message to send.