#is capable of horrible things

[atleasttheresthis]

There's a lot going around about the Neil Gaiman allegations, but one thing I keep coming back to is how we think about abusers in general.

@transcyberism wrote this on another post (quoting and not reblogging because I think that would hijack the original post): "Abusers look and act like normal-ass people."

I keep thinking about this because, unfortunately, abusers are normal-ass people. They're not like some alien species, they're people, with lives that, often, look a lot like yours. This doesn't mean that the things they do aren't devastatingly hurtful, or violent, and have outrageously harmful consequences. Of course they do. But the point here is that, most of the time, abusers aren't like an unknowable force for evil. They're people, and they're often motivated by the same things you are.

What I'm trying to get at here is that we are all capable of hurting each other beyond repair. I don't believe there is some innate capacity for evil and damage that abusers have and we don't, I believe the ability to cause damage resides in all of us. This doesn't mean that everybody is an abuser and everybody has caused such damage. I'm not pointing at you, the person reading this, and accusing you of being an abuser. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying that we all could be. Not that we have, or we're going to. But we could. Abusers are normal-ass people, and so are we. And normal-ass people hurt each other all the time, intentionally or not.

In Avatar the Last Airbender, when Toph says "it's like these people are born bad," Aang replies "no, that's not it at all. Everyone is capable of great good or great evil." I think he's hit the nail on the head. I don't believe people are born bad, and I don't believe people are born good. We are all capable of unimaginable suffering. Abusers are normal-ass people.

The reason this is important, I think, is when we consider what Lila Shapiro, the author of the Vulture article, writes about Gaiman's history with Scientology. Apparently, he was subjected to horrible things at the hands of the church and his parents when he was a child. As other people have pointed out, this is not meant to absolve him or forgive him, or even explain his actions. We're not in his head, we don't know. It's more to put his actions into context. Neil Gaiman is a normal-ass person who had horrible things done to him by other normal-ass people and did horrible things to other normal-ass people. Abuse victims abuse victims. Again, this is not meant to explain/absolve him, but to put his actions in context.

I also think we have to remember that Neil Gaiman is very likely a normal-ass person as we try and make sense of what to do next. Yes, he should face some kind of punishment; yes, his victims deserve justice; yes, we probably shouldn't make any more of his stuff into hit TV shows, and we should probably think twice about buying his books. But we can't just, like, kill him, or write him off as a one-note evil character who is completely different from us. He's not the Other Mother. He didn't do these horrible things because he's fundamentally different from us, he did these things because he is, unfortunately, a normal-ass person, just like we are.

[benevolenterrancy]

~ Extremely Unwilling Magical Protagonists Attempt To Outrun The Plot And Not Fucking Die ~

(@takofukkatsumi this tag is from a while ago but it hasn't left my brain -- L-Space got very weird all of a sudden)

[randomalistic]

Wait you guys are actually buying Disney products I thought it was a joke

(READ TAGS FOR FULL CONTEXT Sorry it’s long dies

[spaceandbones]

Homicipher MC is very cool and groundbreaking for her trope subversion of "cute weak human mc thrust into a world of monster men" by being a serial killer and a vicious monsterous brute warped by a world she unknowingly made blood sacrifices to and I don't ever want to take away her autonomy BUT there is also something fascinating to me about the concept of her having No memory of killing people and No Idea why she even would in the first place

[trappedinafantasy37]

Imagine being on the verge of death, your mind being ripped apart by the very gods. You beg and you pray and none of the gods you know and worship show up for you. They all leave you to die. Except one person. They come for you at your time of need and they save you when they didn't have to. In fact, they had more reason to kill you, but they risked their own life to save you anyway.

You travel around with them and watch all the things that they do. You question them, try to understand them, because they intrigue you. They are extraordinary. They are powerful. They are exquisite! They see the world in the same way you do, value the same things that you do. They are willing to stand before the very gods themselves and defy them, challenge them, and destroy them. And you accept them for everything that they are. You appreciate them for everything that they are. And you wouldn't want to change a single thing about them because you think they are marvelous just the way that they are! You love them with everything that you have, because they exist in the way that they do. You are loyal to them, devoted to them. You want to go where they go, do what they do, see what they see, because you can't imagine a life without them.

And then they turn around and look at you and say you are broken. That you need to be fixed. To be changed to be "better". You realize that they do not accept you in the same way you accept them. You realize that they didn't take a single moment to try to understand you. That the only parts of you that they like are what is convenient for them. And whatever they do not like, they want to scrape out of you and replace it with what they think would make you "better". They have spent this entire time, harshly judging you despite not spending a single second to get to know you. They want you to change, not for your sake, but to appease them. To them, you were only worth it because they thought they could change you, remold you into something that would make them feel better about being in your presence. Because your presence disturbs them. And when you make it clear that you will live as you are and you will not compromise for the approval of others, they throw you away and discard you. Calling you cruel, and evil, and a genocidal lunatic, when all you have ever done is just try to survive whatever situation you found yourself in.

Minthara accepts you and loves you for who you are and will NEVER ask you to change a single thing about yourself, and especially not for her sake. She wants you to just be... you. She likes you just the way that you are. She doesn't always agree with every single thing that you do, but by the gods, she will still love you anyway. No matter what choice you make, good or evil, she will still love you and accept you and go along with whatever you want to do.

Why won't you show her the same courtesy? Why do you only love companions when you think you can change them into what you want them to be? Why do you look at companions and only see their flaws and see it as something that immediately needs to be fixed into something you like? Why do you abandon companions when you realize that you can't change them into something you want? Why does she have to be the one to change? Are you willing to change for her?

Do you ever spend a single second asking yourself why Minthara is the way that she is? Cause if you did, you'd realize that she shouldn't be changed, and she can't. This isn't to say that Minthara can't change at all, she just can't and won't in the way that you want her to be. Minthara is very confident in herself and has been through many tribulations in her long life and has prevailed above them all, because she is the way that she is. She is proud, strong, loyal, and a survivor. And you are telling her that all of that is wrong.

[seaglassdinosaur]

What’s so interesting to me about Odysseus’s transition in Monster is that he hasn’t changed all that much. He was always capable of violence and we know that because of everything he’s done in the war and in his journey. The only change that occurs is he’s chosen to no longer feel guilty, and to stop hesitating when it comes to violence.

[thelonelyshore-if]

all the girls need some PR boosts/propaganda! (I think it's a legit problem in if and fanfiction spaces)

I am always here for more love for the female ROs!! I'm deeply fond of them all and could talk about them for hours tbh. It is an issue in a lot of spaces, I've seen the same, unfortunately. Genuinely I adore Yasmin and Amara, as well as F!Jay and F!Perri; they mean so much to me <3

[ghost-bxrd]

About the whole game situation...Something similar that's already been made is Telltale Batman series, so I think taking inspiration from an existing game helps with having an example of structure and plot.

Another amazing game that's just recently been out is "Slay the princess" where the Narrator interacts with the untamed hero of the story...

As for the game having real voice lines I'd recommend hearing the podcast "Batman: Audio adventures" which has amazing storytelling and characterization (at least the first season in my opinion).

It'd be a really interesting idea to have as a narrator passive or active the voice of Gotham city herself.

Also mini stories bonded together would be a good idea. For example with each new protagonist/hero of the story you unlock or discover a new part of the city.

Hope the situation works out eventually and we'll have a real game one day!

(⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

There’d be a lot of inspiration around for this game absolutely! So many avenues to take, so many storylines to explore.

Like, no accessing the manor until you’ve either been invited to a Wayne party or befriended one of the bat vigilantes. And if you befriend Brucie, you get access to the manor but not the cave!

(And for those who know the Batman lore, they can boast “prophetic vision” and stuff 👁️)

[nabaath-areng]

Sometimes I think to myself "actually maybe I'm exaggerating the terror I felt from being stalked", but then I remember that the person in question followed me and waited for me outside my school every day, tracked me down on every website I'd spent even the slightest time on, left physical letters in my mailbox, sent creepy as hell novel length messages on a near daily basis on FB. And then when I was living abroad and I answered the phone I told the caller to text me cause I couldn't hear, after which I had to read "I was saying that you would probably be VERY scared if you knew who's calling... hehe" with my own damn fucking eyes...

And then I'm like yknow what nevermind!!!! the fact that I'm still terrified of being perceived and seen in public not just IRL but also FFXIV might be understandable actually!!!

[the-tortured-apollo-department]

It's kinda painful to watch Inazuma Eleven as an adult because you finally realize how much they were children being manipulated all the time

Athlete and passionate kids who could provide easy money and power to many assholes

My 9-year-old self only thought about how cool and powerful those teenagers were, and desperately dreamed of being 14 too 🫠🫠👹

[unopenablebox]

attempt to idly discuss concept of custom wedding vows with 🌸 ground to a halt after the realization that neither of us actually, like, wants to try to figure out what the fuck we'd be promising

can you do custom vows, but instead of vows to do stuff, it's just a list of the superbly good qualities of the other person in order to make it clear why any rational actor would agree that you should obviously plan to keep hanging out with them as long as possible

[jackass-jones]

God every day I think about Akane’s breakdown in door 3 because there really is no correct way to interpret that and every possibility makes me crazy. Like she sees this fucked up corpse whom Junpei (and the player, depending on how they play) believes is their friend Snake, but she knows that it’s Guy X. It’s a man she very intentionally put in the game for this very purpose, so that he could die horrifically and be displayed for everyone to see. And she has a full mental breakdown over being trapped in this room with the corpse, being trapped by Junpei, to the point where she rips out her hair and starts bleeding from how much she bangs on the door screaming to get out. And fuck, there’s so many possibilities like

Akane could be feeling genuine terror over the sight of the body, and with that remorse. She made this happen, she wanted this to happen, and now she’s forced to quite literally watch the damage she’s caused unfold. She can detach herself from his murder easily in other timelines where she doesn’t have to look at it, and she can sleep easy knowing that her hands are technically clean because she didn’t do the literal killing. But she can’t do that here, and she has to face the fact that not only did she happily cause this death, she failed her mission. She isn’t going to survive, and now this man is dead for nothing and everything is her fault

On the other hand, her entire breakdown could be completely fabricated in order to keep playing the role of the damsel in distress who is so innocent that the very sight of blood drives her to insanity. The interesting part about this is that if she could fake such a horrific breakdown, just how much of her personality a facade? We know she wants revenge, for everyone from Cradle to feel even an ounce of the pain she and so many others went through, but we don’t get to see the extent of how much she feels this way. We never hear directly from Akane about her feelings on any of the original organizers, just her note about her desire to punish them. She hates them, but does she see their deaths as a necessary evil, or does she feel joy and satisfaction at watching them go? It’s absolutely horrifying not knowing, not being able to see her true feelings, not knowing just how real or fake she is, the extent of her madness. Perhaps she doesn’t even know that herself

IN OTHER WORDS, it’s fucked

[cacw]

alright i'm thinking

[kaddyssammlung]

"And you are a garden, entwined with all You are the silence on sacred shores You've got diamonds for teeth, my love"

Sleep Token - The Offering

This sounds manipulative to me today. It never really has but today it does. Try to convince me otherwise

It's like he is saying you are so good my love, you are all these things, you even have diamonds for theeth, so please, please give me what I want. Just give it to me. I am begging you.

You know what I mean?

To me this a form of emotional abuse.

I relate to this a lot. From both angles.

[rmorde]

Controversial opinion

Personally, I don't think it's bad writing that Gojo is being used as a tool by even his own students that it's disrespectful to his character because... I think that's the point?

This is horrific, awful, and terrible overall. It is dehumanizing. Even the characters in-universe say it so. We ARE supposed to be sickened by this. That's the whole idea!

The story is, again, telling us just how bad and shitty jujutsu society is. Yes! We should be angry and upset about this. Gojo didn't deserve to be a tool for all his life and even after death. His students didn't deserve to resort to such depraved methods just to have a hope of winning against Sukuna. Yuji didn't deserve to lose another brother. Yuta didn't deserve to be forced to use his savior's body. EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVED BETTER.

But the world they live in is cruel. Change is happening but they still have a long way to go to a brighter future.

Omfg. This chapter is heavy in an entirely different way than 259. I'm still grieving for Choso. But, 261 made me so sick. It's just horrific and awful for everyone - especially for Yuta AND Yuji!

Holy shit. Yuji may have been kept in the dark about this plan because of his link to Sukuna! How sickening and heart wrenching must this be for him? Believing that Gojo is back - he's okay because he's the Strongest and now they'll fight together! But no... it's Yuta. Just... Yuji doesn't need anymore pain. Damn it.

On a very thin silver lining tho, Gojo showing vulnerability to his students. Wishing for them to leave him as he kills the Elders. He doesn't want to tarnish his goofy ass cringe fail cool mentor figure image to them. He doesn't want them to see him as a bloodthirsty monster.

However, they stood by him. Never leaving him alone. Not that it reached him tho because he's so deep in his depression and fucking separates himself from them like gdi Gojo you fuck!!! They're reaching out to you, you idiot! Fucking listen to them BUT NOOO IT HAS TO BE SUKUNA OR GETO THAT CAN ONLY GO THROUGH YOU HUH?!

[vasoconstriction]

i have been totally infected with misanthropy lately and i dont know how to reverse it. it sucks i dont want to feel this way i dont think its my true hearts wish but i kind of want everyone in the world to die