#ig it’s just about the corruption of Christian rituals??

[aight-griffin]

I grew up Mormon so my definition of sacrament might be different than the average person’s, but. What would you do at the devil’s sacrament?

[go-to-the-mirror]

MEAT TIME MEAT TIME MEAT TIME MEAT TIME

Howdy, I'm Dolphin Landscaping-Your-Mind and I'm a fan of The Flesh tma.

@a-mag-a-day

(Ramble ahead)

GERTRUDE If that's your primary goal, my dear, I would suggest you speak to a qualified counsellor. We can suggest one if you like? That said, I do believe most people find the process of giving a statement to be rather... cathartic. And whatever nightmares your experience has left you with, I'm sure they won't be bothering you much longer.

(MAG 130 - Flesh)

ARCHIVIST Yes, Basira, he is. And I am sorry about that. But we needed it. Anyway, you're the one who wants to be like Gertrude. You think she'd give a damn about a few bad dreams?

(MAG 141 - Doomed Voyage)

*stares directly into the camera*

Still, Jon, not cool. Gertrude... you're not like Gertrude. And I don't think she was bad -- I don't think she was good either, I just think that she was doing what she thought would save the world.

Still, at the end of the day, I did it for me, not for her. She's gone. There isn't anything but us.

Isn't that a Flesh thing? That there isn't anything that separates us from other animals, that when we die there isn't any special afterlife to house us, that we just die with our bodies?

Chewed and crushed together, it was impossible to tell what had once been animal and what might have once been us. It was all just meat.

The fear of being meat, of seeing a corpse and knowing it will be you, it is you. The fear of death, of one day becoming a lifeless unmoving corpse. The disgust at flesh and meat, at rotting flesh and meat. Insignificance. Pointlessness.

The Flesh isn't just The Flesh. Like Gerry said, colours.

Also worth watching out for any additional esoteric fallout from the ritual attempt, like that Carlisle boy down in Wandsworth.

Like here! Toby Carlisle was scary to me because of the rotting part of it, less so because of the meat, though it was the thing that was spooky. Idk. Corruption, fear of rotting, that fit.

What was that she said, "The siren call of flesh?" Hm. It's possible, I suppose. It would hurt, but... Well, what's another scar?

JON.

JONATHAN SIMS.

:(

I'm not ready for MAG 131.

--

ALSO i have thoughts about the flesh and christianity, so uh, stay tuned for that ig! uh yea, ramble over.

the flesh tma my absolute beloved im gonna be sooo normal tomorrow.

[mallowstep]

gonna take the bite model to tigerstar's cult thing bc he's not running a doomsday cult and this seems like a fun way to flesh this out.

cw: physical abuse, manipulation

i. behaviour control

1. regulation of physical reality

a) member associations: yeah he's got a good little compound running. corrupt the mind and all that.

b) clothes: more so for women, but looking Respectful is important.

c) food: for disfavoured individuals, access to food is limited.

d) sleep: sleep deprivation is a favoured punishment

e) financial dependence: encourages Campaign Donations and mutual funding of expenses

f) lack of free time: yeah. not much to say so much as there's Always Something to Be Done.

2. major time commitment

i mean they mostly all live in one place. there's. idk maybe...40 members? with 10-15 in the main house, the rest in a few guest houses.

3. need to ask permission for major decisions

yes

4. need to report thoughts, actions, feelings

yes

5. rewards and punishments

yes

6. individualism discouraged

yes but not openly. he encourages Discussion and Debate except people who disagree with him lose favour. you're supposed to just. support him in a slightly different way.

7. rigid rules and regulations

yeah. not gonna list them all here but. yeah.

8. need for dependence

yes

ii. information control

1. use of deception

a) holding back information: not a lot, except to mistyfoot and featherpaw

b) distorting information: usually by providing an alternate explanation

c) outright lying: yeah but mostly to featherpaw and mistyfoot

2. access to other information limited

going to sum this all up with: not Really. he's...basically he calls this like a political base of support. trying to weed out the Corruption of modern america. so they're. i mean yeah but not really.

3. compartmentalization of information

yes. he doesn't tell everyone this, but those closer to him are increasingly aware of his Master Plan.

also going forward i'm not doing an individual breakdown of the points sorry

4. spying on other members is encouraged

yeah. can't be absolved of sin if you don't pay your penance. good friends take care of each other. make sure they see judgement. tawnypaw in particular is encouraged to keep a close eye on featherpaw to make sure she is brought Back Into the Light.

not that tigerstar would ever say she has been, but

5. extensive use of propaganda

yeah they put out a lot of stuff to try to Spread the Word

6. unethical use of confession

mhm. like hell is your one punishment actually absolving you. and -- if you've messed up once, you're more likely to mess up again. better keep a close eye on you, make sure the correction was strong enough.

iii. thought control

1. need to accept group doctrine as truth

yes.

2. adopting loaded language

yeah and you've probably got an idea of what i think he uses based on how i write some of this.

3. only good and proper thoughts are encouraged

because bad thoughts lead to bad actions. you're on a day of fasting -- i hope you weren't looking at food. because that means you're thinking about eating, and that means you'll steal food. hm. better tack another day on, just to be safe.

4. thought stopping techniques

he's not terribly big on this one, but group prayer is utilized

5. no critical questions

huuuuuge one. tawnypaw just. stops ever asking questions. she's not doubting him. she's not. she has faith. she's on the right path. she is.

6. no alternate belief system

not really. he thinks that some christians are close enough to the truth to be brought into the light, but they're still wrong the way they are now. they can't have the right reason for acting, and that's barely better than doing the wrong action.

iv. emotional control

1. manipulate and narrow the range of feelings

not really...he encouraged girls/women to be Peaceful and Complacent and such, but it's not a major focus

2. every problem is an individual's fault

yep. big one. that's -- he blames basically everything he does to featherpaw on mistyfoot, and that pattern isn't exclusive to them

3. excessive use of guilt

sometimes. he might not focus on it, but it's more than normal.

ig if you count shame as guilt then yeah.

4. excessive use of fear

yeahhhhh big time.

5. extremes of emotional highs and lows

mhm

6. ritual and public confession of sins

every...idk.

he does a group circle thing and like. there's a chance for everyone to confess but he'll eventually pull someone in who he says has done something wrong.

7. irrational fears of leaving

yeah