#they literally had a cult commune. thats what it took to figure it out. for her. and even then! it took a while!

[chewablepebbles]

I think I'm doing fine then and then I get reminded of this girl that joined TWO CHRISTIAN CULTS despite EVERYONE telling her they were cults and the worst part is she still doesn't consider the first one a cult!!!! They did exorcisms!!!!!!!!

[juiceastronaut]

It's not letting me respond to blog posts of yours ig, so I will respond here!

I enjoy these discussions too, I encourage you to do other stuff while I'm responding to your messages, cause it might take a while.

Just to clarify, I do not think people's desire to grow is utopian, I think there is a very real case for that existing in all people. It appears to me that the reason people did hard jobs when religion was more important is because they had 'fear' of punishment, that punishment wasn't literal but a fear that they wouldn't be allowed into heaven, a fear of the almighty, so they did what was asked of them by lets say the king because of the whole divine right of kings thing. When there is no incentive of punishment or monetary gain people are forced to do the hard jobs. You most obviously saw this in Stalin's Russia. In place of religion, personality cults were formed around these leaders that made them a god-like figure which acted in pretty much the same way as 'god' does in Christianity. So even when it was communist an incentive was still required. Is that reasonable? People do gravitate towards interpersonal communities, and they will generally help friends without expectation of a reward. But this is a tangible gift, to somebody you have a personal connection with. While in practice without incentive, it is an intangible act of service (the worker will not be able to tangibley see the fruits of his labour). Furthermore, he is working for the benefit of people he doesn't know. Having faith isn't enough to run a country. Sorry I took so long to reply, thanks again for chatting! I will give that video you recommended a watch.

So now it seems we're expanding our reach out a bit. I was answering on a more interpersonal level, but I'll answer on a wider scale too.

In the case of the Church, it's sort of a funny thing, because they acted as Every social service that we think of today. They were the doctors, therapists, and even prisons (the punishment of being sent to a monastary? That wasnt a cop out to grow as a person). A fear of not getting into heaven may have influenced these people in the Church, but they didnt *need* to become monks/nuns to get into heaven, plenty of people were still religious without being those things. But they did it anyway. Priests were the highest recorded deaths of the Black Plague because they were handling the bodies so much. No amount of "incentive" would force someone to do that

And on that note, any recorded instance of people protesting/rebelling against fascistic governments would have plenty of incentive to not do that, but they did it anway.

Capitalism as a system begets its own exploitation. It thrives on individualism and isolation so people distinctly *dont* think outside of themselves, and that everyone else thinks the same way. Faith cant run a country, but your goal is going to shape how you interact with your citizens. It seems so Utopian to think outside this because of how pervasive it is, and how the predominte philosophies in America hold it up.

I do want to bring up a point that I made before. Before, I remembered you said "those with/without value should be treated differently."

Value is a word that's used to systemically deny the rights of disabled people because they werent "contributing" enough to society. When you say it, I recognize that you have your own definition to what value means, but culturally, that usually means how productive you are to the system. Theres often a resentment if disabled people for not being productive enough member of society.

You dont have to respond to it, but I'd want you to really think about how disabled people specifically fit into this conversation, whether thats in the have/not category, and what "treat them differently" would mean in their case specifically.

Most of Contrapoints videos is pretty good, obviously more of Khadija. Philosophytube, F.D Signifier, Alexander Avila, Mickey Atkins (if you want more of a psychology bent), are all good video essayists from multiple queer/poc backgrounds :)

[drabbles-of-writing]

Can we get more new age shenanigans of Luz and the detective/journalist?

ask and you 2 shall receive

Eda, chugging spiked apple blood: hows the detective stuff going Luz, face-down on the floor: I’m so going to get the FBI called on me Eda: welcome to the club!

the townsfolk have no idea of Luz’s Masterful Avoiding The Authorities Plan so when interviewed they give Very blunt and honest answers all confused like “you didn’t know this?? it happens all the time” meanwhile Luz keeps insisting that the crackhead shit the townsfolk is telling everyone wasnt THAT bad.

Detective: so the locals say your often seen with a group ranging between eight to eleven individuals. who are they, exactly? Luz, hanging upside down on her chair and without a care in the world: 🎶and I’ve got friends on the other siiiiide🎶 Detective: what does that even MEAN

since Luz is no help whatsoever and threatening her with legal action doesn’t do shit, the detective decided to spy on Luz to try and learn what kind of people shes associating with. in the first two nights he’s learned of four of her friends. a guy who appears to be excited about absolutely everything and not understanding social norms, another guy with green hair whos just as crackheaded as Luz but twice as sweet, a woman with a fishhook earring that everyone apparently fears getting pummeled by, and a dog with a smooshed in face that seems to communicate like any other canine but somehow Luz seems to understand what hes saying. he brings this evidence to Luz and demands answers n she just shrugs n goes “oh them? yeah they’re my friends. met them in the cult n they escaped with me” n ofc the detective then asks if he can see them for interviews and is momentarily unnerved when Luz laughs at him and is then thoroughly annoyed when she responds with “most of them wouldn’t go near you with a fifteen foot pole. the rest would give even more confusing answers than me” and left it at that.

the Detective at one point showed up at Camila’s house to ask her a few questions and was VERY thrown off-guard to open the door and see an old lady with rats-nest of hair just Hangin on the couch. they held eye-contact for a few seconds before she bolted out the nearest window. Camila ofc had to answer a few questions but her rule is that if the questions aren’t specific, she won’t give full answers. so he leaves basically only knowing that her name is Eda and shes Camila’s kind-of-gf and thats it. later overhears Luz complaining under her breath “damnit, moms gonna kill me” and turns out Eda is also her mother in a sense so that was some stuff for the Detective to piece together.

Luz is having a Rough Day w the Detective and is very clearly being a Dumbass In Distress™ and Amity basically Teleports over. since the Detective knows little to nothing about Amity (other than she hangs w Luz’s group), considering shes often too busy to visit the human realm, he IMMEDIATELY nabs her and starts shooting off endless questions. Amity works as a Council advisor and dealt w Lilith & Eda a lot so, you best believe she took it all in stride. He also notes a fancy ring shes wearing. Detective: are you married? Amity, oblivious to Luz trying not to laugh yeah?? obv Detective: may I ask who your husband is? Amity, who has had to hear questions like this since Forever, grabbing the Wheezing Luz n holdin her close: well I don’t have a husband, so my wife will have to do Detective: I- Detective @ Luz: YOUR MARRIED??  Luz, smug: I literally have a ring, dude Detective: well yeah but it has those funky designs on it!!! and your covered in odd tattoos n weird ear piercings!!!! I thought you were just being fancy!! Luz: its on my fucking ring finger

anyway needless to say the Detective bugged Amity a LOT about interviews upon learning this dumbass he deals with is somehow married to a rather sophisticated and put-together woman. Amity is very Elusive however and its a miracle in of itself if anyone can nab her for questioning. the Detective just stared @ Luz like “how tf did you get legally married??” n Luz calmly explains it was a good few years after she came back to the town and about a year or two before she started up the public appearances. so THEN the Detective had to figure out that Luz had been in the town long before the police had ever known, Camila was aware, Luz had been busy with something before now she wouldn’t disclose, and despite the fact she had no legal records whatsoever even after she came to the town she got married and has a marriage certificate, albeit written in a way the Detective had never seen before. Luz is lowkey enjoying him lose his mind trying to figure this out

[phantastus]

How do you think the SH protagonists interacted with regular people after the game? What weird things people notice they do? What do they speculate about them? Are they like the weirdos on the edge of the street people talk about? What rumors are there about them? When people meet them are others like, 'Oh yeah, they're crazy. There was one time when...'

OKAY sorry for the wait on this, all February long has been a never-ending parade of chaos so I’ve been pretty out of sorts.

But I really like this ask so I want to do it justice with my answer. 

I think that it goes without saying that ALL of them come out of Silent Hill with some problems integrating back into “regular” life, but the specifics vary by character.

HARRY MASON: Being basically the “only” survivor, Harry took it hard. I headcanon that for probably the better part of a year, he almost completely withdrew from the public with baby Cheryl/Heather. Shades drawn 24/7, extremely secretive and paranoid, basically completely self-isolating and only leaving the house to buy groceries. However, probably around the time that the reality of his situation fully sank in, he kind of got his shit together and went from being a complete social nonentity to actually being able to pull off “normal” better than most of the other protagonists. You’d have to really be watching him to tell that anything was off because he’s good at being amiable and approachable– but he still draws maps of his surroundings, mentally plots escape routes, and is always figuratively looking over his shoulder any time he’s out of the house. Being attacked by the cult again when Heather was a toddler amplified the paranoia even more and while he was still able to maintain a “normal” outward facade, Harry still had countless little habits like taking meandering, circling routes while driving home from anywhere, only ever letting the phone go to message machine (in case someone was trying to check if he or Heather was at home), etc etc. General public opinion of Harry though is that he’s friendly and very normal.

JAMES SUNDERLAND: Short answer: badly. Long answer: if you’re so inclined, please enjoy 200,000+ words of James being increasingly dysfunctional in public (with the disclaimer that I started writing it literally a decade ago so the first chapters are QUITE CLUNKY).

HEATHER MASON: In many ways, and not coincidentally, she winds up dealing with it a lot like Harry. Like her dad with the bogus murder investigation after he killed the cultist trying to kidnap her, I headcanon that Heather ALSO came out of the frying pan and into the fire in that there is literally one dead body in her apartment and another one on the roof of the building. That plus a delinquent teenager with a probable reputation for trouble in school showing back up after having disappeared with her father’s blood still on her clothing, I pretty much headcanon that the first thing to happen to Heather upon leaving Silent Hill is getting fucking arrested for Harry’s murder. FORTUNATELY, she has Douglas’s word (and the family history that he dug up while investigating her and Harry to begin with) to back her up so chances are she didn’t stay arrested for very long, but still, like. Extra trauma. Especially since, as a troubled kid to begin with, “I heard she literally killed her dad” probably follows her around in her final year of school. AFTER THAT… I think she also withdraws a lot like her father did at first, keeping in touch with Douglas but really not anybody else, and generally nursing a RAGING bitterness for authority (which was already there, but gets even worse after the experience) and holing up by herself. Eventually she attends some form of community college (where her reputation as a killer won’t follow her) and starts to come back out of her shell a little– but like dad, she also spends a lot of time idly drawing maps, caching weapons and supplies, and taking very weird routes to go anywhere in order to shake off hypothetical pursuers. Also people around her on a regular basis quickly notice that if she’s ever startled or caught off-guard for like two seconds she will literally become the most terrifying-looking person in existence before catching herself and realizing that it’s someone asking to borrow a pen and not a cultist who needs to have the pen shoved through their eyeball. She remains Ready To Fight at all times and anyone who spends any time getting to know her will be able to tell she’s been through something.

HENRY TOWNSHEND: Immediately after SH4 Henry literally launches from one end of the anxiety spectrum to the next where instead of isolating himself indoors, he gets actively afraid to be inside buildings. Obviously he’s kind of forced to get over this fairly quickly (because the alternative is continuing to just sleep on the street) but he still is VERY panicky about having doors closed or going deep into buildings there there’s no direct exit to the outside immediately visible. However, he actually has a little bit less active fear of being stalked or pursued (having the closure of basically killing Walter himself was good for SOMETHING) than Harry or Heather– it’s still there for sure, but he doesn’t feel it quite to that degree. On the other hand, being more socially awkward and anxious to BEGIN with, he still is extremely nervous-looking and timid while interacting with people in public,and frankly even moreso than he used to be. If he stays with Eileen, he pretty much stays in her shadow and lets her do the talking. He remains a complete weirdo in the eye of almost everyone he interacts with.

AND THAT’S ALL I GOT IN ME ATM I don’t have quite as much material stored up for the other protags. Hopefully this is what you had in mind! Reading it over I realize I went into a little more detail about their circumstances than how they actually BEHAVE, l-lmao.