#this was so painful trying to draw accurate to real life actors… I didn’t even manage it that well Ough

[siracethegreat]

A quick attempt at superbat featuring battinson and corensupe

[trensu]

Episode 27: The One where I Want to Punch Basically Every Sect Leader in the Face. Repeatedly. With a Chair.

And we start off back in the rain, AKA OUR ENDLESS TEARS

Wwx is like, do you remember our promise?

And lwj flashbacks TO THEIR LANTERN SCENE FROM THE ONE WHERE LWJ FINALLY SEES THE LIGHT

WE GET TO SEE LWJ’S PRECIOUS BABY FACE AS HE FALLS HEAD OVER HEELS IN THAT FLASHBACK

IT HURTS SO GOOD

Wwx: i wished to stand with justice and live without regrets. But tell me now, who’s strong, who’s weaker? Who’s right and who’s wrong?

Lwj: wei ying! 

Oh god, his voice! HE’S DISTRESSED

Wwx: is this the promise we pledged our lives to keep?

THEY BOTH LOOK SO HEARTBROKEN RN

Oh, look, lwj is doing the deathgrip of gay yearning on bichen again. We haven’t seen that in awhile AND I WISH WE WEREN’T SEEING IT NOW

Okay, but for real, how can lwj look so hurt here when the actor is literally doing nothing with his face??

I know i’ve mentioned that before, BUT C’MON, HOW?? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK??

Wwx: my only regret is that i didn’t stop the jin clan who took living people as bait

I REGRET YOU NOT TAKING DOWN THE JIN CLAN TOO

WE COULD’VE AVOIDED SO MANY PROBLEMS IF WE’D JUST KILL OFF 90% OF THAT CLAN, OMG

And now wwx is all, i missed my chance to protect wen ning before so now i MUST leave to save him

BC WWX IS THE BEST MOST HONORABLE PERSON IN THE WORLD

Oh no

Oh noooo

He’s pulling out his demon flute. We’re gonna get THAT SCENE

Wwx: lan zhan, if i finally have to fight them, i’d prefer to fight with you

Wwx: if i am doomed to die, at least i can be killed by you. That would be worth it.

HE SAYS THAT BC HE TRUSTS VIRTUOUS LWJ TO STOP HIM IF HE REALLY IS IN THE WRONG

AND I AM SCREAMING IN PAIN RN

BC LOOK AT LWJ’S FACE

HE’S LISTENING TO HIS SOULMATE TELL HIM THAT HE WANTS HIS DEATH TO BE AT HIS HAND

Oh god, he’s doing the bichen deathgrip again

He tears his gaze away from wwx and turns to the side TO LET THEM ALL GO PAST

EYES LOWERED AS HIS HEART BREAKS INTO A MILLION PIECES

HE’S CRYING OH GOD HE’S CRYING

THERE ARE TEARS GOING DOWN HIS FACE, OH GOD WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

HE DIDN’T EVEN CRY WHEN HIS HOME GOT BURNED AND HIS FAMILY WAS MISSING AND/OR DYING

And now he drops his umbrella to the ground AS HE TRIES TO DROWN HIMSELF IN THE RAIN

*HYSTERICAL SOBBING*

THEY PACKED ALL THAT HEARTBREAK INTO THE FIRST 6MIN OF THE EPISODE, WTF, SOMEBODY STAB ME

And after all that emotional torture we get Plot Stuff happening

Blah blah wwx at the burial mounds blah blah sect leader banquet blah blah

Ugh, gross, they’re letting the idiot sect leaders talk again

They’re all blah blah wwx is evil blah blah he murders ppl blah blah we hate him blah blah

SHUT UP YOU BUNCH OF WALKING HUMAN-RIGHTS-VIOLATIONS

This whole part here is so difficult to watch. They’re literally just trash-talking my PRECIOUS SUNSHINE BOY

Jc, lwj, and lxc look visibly uncomfortable with what’s going down and they kind of sort of tried to defend wwx but they didn’t present a united front or hold their ground

Instead they let yao and ouyang run their stupid mouths

Anyway

Here’s little itty bitty bits of almost wangxiantics in the middle of this mess

Jgs: yeah, jc, i know wwx is your trusted bro and all but idk if wwx actually respects your authority. Do something about it, maybe

Lwj: *subtly glares at jgs*

And then everyone joins in on dragging wwx’s name through the mud bc apparently that’s the hot new thing in the cultivator world

If you look closely while this is happening, you can see that lwj legit GRINDS HIS TEETH with how much he’s holding back. MY POOR BB HAVING TO SIT THERE AND LISTEN TO EVERYONE DISPARAGE HIS SOULMATE

Jgs: wwx totally doesn’t respect you, jc, my bro. Everyone here heard him say how much he thinks you suck or whatever

Lwj: No I didn’t.

OOOOH, LWJ IS ANGRY AS HELL

HE’S OUTRIGHT GLARING AT JGS 

Jgs: what??

Lwj: i never heard wei ying say that, nor did i see him disrespect clan leader jiang

HANGUANG-JUN I LOVE YOU, LOOK AT YOU DEFENDING THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU 

And ugh, disgusting, jgy steps in to be all “oh, well, wwx said so many awful things that day, who can possibly remember the specifics?”

Lwj visibly swallows here, as if he’s choking back a response, and his lips are all pursed. 

HE’S FURIOUS. HE’S ROILING WITH IMPOTENT ANGER, WHICH IS THE WORST KIND OF ANGER, TBH

That’s all the wangxiantics we get from that terrible awful sect leader banquet

THOSE SECT LEADERS NEED TO GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE

LIKE, A LOT

WITH A CHAIR

OR A TABLE

YOU KNOW WHAT, LET ME JUST TAKE BICHEN AND BEAT THEM ALL WITH IT

OR BETTER, YET, I’LL USE BAXIA. I WON’T EVEN CUT THEM UP. I’LL JUST BEAT THEM WITH THE BROAD PART

*ANGRY YELLING*

Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute! 

This isn’t a wangxiantic

But it is an EPIC MOMENT that should be commemorated.

Because here we get…

*drum roll*

MIANMIAN BEING A BOSS

Jz: blah blah wwx kills our people indiscriminately blah blah

Mm: not indiscriminately

Mm: indiscriminate is not accurate

And everyone around her is like, confused and offended because they’re assholes

Mm: in this specific case, if the overseers did abuse the Wen prisoners and kill wen ning, then what wwx did was not “killing indiscriminately”

Ouyang: nah, the overseers said they never abused/killed anyone

Mm: OF COURSE THEY’D FUCKING SAY THAT. THEY DON’T WANT TO FACE PUNISHMENT, YOU IDIOT

(okay, she didn’t call him an idiot outright or swear, but it was totally there in her tone of voice and also ouyang is an idiot so there)

Mm: you all think you’re so smart and voice your opinions so loudly

Mm: I SECEDE FROM THIS BULLSHIT. FUCK THE JIN CLAN AND YOUR STUPID CLAN POLITICS

And she throws down her jin robes and mARCHES RIGHT OUT OF THAT SHITHOLE WITH HER HEAD HELD HIGH

MIANMIAN PLEASE MARRY ME

Lwj watches her do that and two seconds later follows her out bC HE RECOGNIZES BADASSERY WHEN HE SEES IT (and also she defended the love of his life)

And that badass moment ends

But the banquet of idiots keeps going

The jin clan needs to learn how to shut the fuck up

God, they just go on and on and on

Why are they torturing me like this

OH WAIT, WE’RE OUTSIDE THE BANQUET HALL NOW

We see lwj and mm standing together on a terrace, talking to each other

BUT WE DON’T GET TO HEAR WHAT THEY SAY TO EACH OTHER AND THAT HAUNTS ME TO THIS DAY

WHAT DID THEY SAY

TELL MEEEEEEE

Oh, side note to let you all know this direct quote from nmj - “that girl really has a backbone.”

Okay nmj, i’m slightly less angry at you now. I won’t try to beat you with bichen or a table or a chair.

(but now i kinda wish mm would join the nie clan. I think she’d do well there and also i want to see her carry a gigantic saber)

We get some chitchat with the Official Bros™ but idc let’s move on 

(tho i do appreciate the look nmj gives jgy, like, HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME lolol)

Ooooh, now we’re getting lan fam time

ANGRY lan fam time, uh oh.

Lqr: lwj, have you regretted it? I didn’t punish you when you broke into the Forbidden Chamber bc i thought you’d self-reflect 

Lqr: you shouldn’t have gone to qiongqi way and let wwx go. Should you make one mistake after another?

And lwj is kneeling in front of him this whole time with a blank face

Lqr: what’s the use of getting you to memorize the Great Big Book of Lan Fam Rules?? Tell me, what is rule 52?

Lwj: No association with evil

He answers immediately and without any inflection to his voice.

Lqr: did you forget what happened to your father???

AND WE FINALLY GET A REACTION HERE

Lwj practically gasps and lifts his gaze to meet his uncle head-on

Lwj: my mother, she…!

Lqr: hold your tongue!

And just like that, lwj shuts down again; expression flat and gaze lowered

GOD, THIS CLAN HAS HURT HIM SO MUCH THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE

I MEAN, THEY MUST’VE, FOR HIM TO BE ABLE TO JUST DISCONNECT LIKE THAT

THAT IS NOT THE BEHAVIOR OF A NORMAL WELL-ADJUSTED PERSON

Basically the entire lan clan needs to go to therapy, like, STAT

Oh, i just noticed, lwj has his fists clenched at his sides. He’s clenching them hard, too. I think they’re trembling a bit, actually…

Lqr: i’ve been taking care of you since you were a kid; you’re like my son.i was strict bc i wanted you to stick to the right path and avoid your father’s tragedy

Lqr: that’s what i wanted to say to you. I hope you choose the right path. You may leave.

Lwj still bows respectfully before taking his leave

And i’m sure y’all are wondering, hey trensu, why did you make us endure that angry lan fam time that hurt us deep in our soul?? That wasn’t wangxiantic at all!

That’s where you're wrong, my friends!

It’s actually SUPER wangxiantic bc lqr kept drawing parallels to lwj’s dad the practically whole time

You know, the dad that married their mother who murdered some guy and had the whole world turn against her. 

(Sound familiar?)

The same mother that dad loved with his entire being and did what he could to keep her safe from the ramifications of her actions? By marrying her? And hiding her in the cloud recesses?

YEAH, HE’S EQUATING WANGXIAN WITH LWJ’S PARENTS’ TRAGIC ROMANCE

Bc, you know, that’s a totally hetero comparison to make lol

Oh, now we get to see our favorite Disaster Het be less of a disaster

We’re not going into detail here bc we’re not here for hetero shenanigans, yuck (actually, i’m apparently weak to Pining Idiots of all kinds bc this whole jzx/jyl scene is giving me tender feelings)

BUT

I do want to add that OMG FOR REAL LWJ AND JZX HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR LOVE LIVES, IT’S FANTASTIC

I NEED 10 MILLION FICS OF THEM COMMISERATING OVER THEIR SHARED DISASTER-NESS

Also, how the HELL did jzx end up being the one who was able to express his intentions clearly? He was all “please don’t go to the burial mounds, stay here with me so i can protect you from all who would want to hurt you”

DAMN IT LWJ, IF YOU’D JUST SAY THAT TO WWX, HE’S UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON. 

YOU CAN’T JUST BE ALL “COME TO GUSU” WITH NO EXPLANATION

Jzx accomplished this before you did, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED.

Huh, okay, i guess i did go into a bit of detail with that hetero nonsense. Oh well.

Now we’re at the burial mounds again with wwx

AND WE SEE A-YUAN PROPERLY FOR THE FIRST TIMEEEEE!!

ANY A-YUAN MOMENT IS BY DEFAULT A WANGXIANTIC, GUYS, TRUST ME.

AAHHHH, WE SEE A-YUAN DO THAT LEG-GRABBY THING HE DOES!!!

HE’S SO CUTE. TOO ADORABLE.

I LOVE YOU A-YUAN

Lol, wwx is all if you don’t let go i’ll plant you like a turnip

And a-yuan plops himself down in the dirt like YOUR THREATS DON’T WORK ON ME, OLD MAN, I LIKE BEING IN THE DIRT

Then he asks wwx for 3 elder brothers and 2 elder sisters, awwww. He thinks wwx can grow them in the garden (like cabbage patch kids!!!)

Plot stuff happens

Blah blah wwx and wq share moment blah blah jc shows up blah blah

Lol

Jc sees that glowing talisman door thing and is like THAT SIGN WON’T STOP ME BC I CAN’T READ

And then whips it down with zidian

Now we get some feelings-laden Yunmeng bros time

A-yuan shows up and leg-grabs jc and it’s ADORABLE

But jc yells at him bc he’s a JERK

Wwx scolds jc and then is a Dad to a-yuan: don’t put your hand in your mouth, you were just touching dirt!

Awww, we get to see jc fight back a smile at this! HE WANTS TO BE AN UNCLE, I JUST KNOW IT.

Plot plot plot stuff happens

More plot stuff happens

And the episode ends with us still in the burial mounds with the yunmeng bros

And you know what, i’m just gonna focus on our BAMF mianmian moment bc quite frankly the rest of the episode either had me in tears of anguish or spitting mad. There was no inbetween. 

I’m gonna end up having blood pressure problems at this rate.

I’m too poor young to have blood pressure problems.

The Jin clan better pay for any medical bills I get because of them, I'm just saying

Return to Masterpost

[monochromemedic]

Celebrity Run in

Everyone knows about Johnny Cage. Even people that hate him know about him. One of the biggest actors in the world, a real A-lister that disappeared from time to time only to come back long enough to release a new movie. Cocky, arrogant but presumably more mellow now a days, he was the stereotypical egotistical celebrity.   I had to admit, some of his movies were ok. Fight Dirty, Cage Fight, Time Smashers. And of course I’m not immune to how he looked. He was a good looking man! Buff as hell, usually sweaty and covered in blood in movies...  a questionable chest tattoo of your own name. Yeah that one was weird.... but in every other way he was Hollywood sexy. There was rumors he was back on the street after one of his ‘hiatuses’, always said he was off on ‘important heroic duties’ when he came back. Weirdly enough there was rumors he was back in my town for some role about a farmer who learns karate, undercover and observing the locals to better suit the role. Needless to say people were more out and about to get their sights on the famous actor, hands hovering over their phones to take a quick snapshot. I’d probably do the same if I had a phone that wasn’t an old brick, and if I actually thought that I’d have a chance to meet him. Although it was a rural state the town we were in was bigger, just surrounded by fields and fields of nothing. It was just another needle in a haystack case, just a slightly smaller pile of hay but one none the less. There was no need to go out and find someone who might be a dick and want nothing to do with you.  No I was out here at the local coffee shop to people draw. Mask on my face, cheap coffee beside my sketchbook with only my thoughts with me. It was good practice, and even when I couldn’t draw anymore the quiet atmosphere calmed my mind. The soft bustle of people coming and going, the bubbling of the coffee machine in the background. All was calm. And then he came in. Waltzing in with a gait that screamed confidence, baggy sweats, sneakers that were probably worth more then my life despite how plain they looked and a plain black face mask and snapback cap. I had to look do a double take as I watched him approach the counter, taking his phone out to quickly text someone. His disguise was obvious, to the point that if it wasn’t for the hat and mask, it’d probably just be his lounge wear. My fingers nervously grazed the pencil, quickly jotting down lines of the actor’s body as his voice rang out clear. “Large Mocha, ooh and uh one of whatever that is.” He said, poking the display case for pastries.  The woman behind the counter seemed just as surprised that Johnny was here at her café, eyes wide as she started to babble while making his drink. “Y-yes sir. Y-you know I was always a big fan of Ninja Mime despite what the critics say.” “Really? We’ll it’s good to see a true fan among all the bull shitters. Some people just don’t know quality entertainment when they see it!” You didn’t speak the entire time and wore grease paint that made you break out for months, you told tabloids that... And you did 4 of them. I doubt that the critics were lying about how bad it was. She was just kissing up. “Can I get a picture Mr. Cage?”  “Of course, just maybe keep it from the feeds until I leave. Wouldn’t want the paparazzi to hound the place while I’m trying method act. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want those leeches to bother this place would you?” “ Of course not!” Cage flexed in his sleeveless shirt, turning and leaning backwards on the counter for the selfie. Now that I could see his front, I noticed how ripped he was. I mean it made sense, the man was an action star. One that focused on martial arts in every film that he was in. He was probably on some tight work schedule and food restrictions. Bet that little cake he bought wasn’t approved of by his personal trainer. I began to sketch his new pose, trying to take down every little detail before he moved. As my eyes darted back up to get a last look I noticed his eyes do the same, locking with mine from behind his sunglasses. He gave a loud click of his tongue as he flexed harder and winked at me before returning to the barista, acting if nothing had ever happened. I, however, nearly jolted from my seat, knee banging on the underside of the table and jostling the drink that I quickly grabbed from falling. Did he just do that to me? Johnny Cage?! Well I knew he was cocky but god. Was I just so easy to impress or was his confidence so overwhelming that a quick gesture made me nearly bust my kneecap? From my silent anguish of my table I could tell he was finishing up with the woman, paying for his drink and beginning to make his way to the door. I tried to play off my pain like it was nothing as he passed, only to have my heart stop as he backed up a few steps to turn towards me. “How’s it going? Don’t think I caught on to you either. I know when someone’s staring at me. Paparazzi senses are going ballistic.” He huffed, his smile somehow coming through even the in the tone of his voice. At least he wasn’t pissed. If he was he could easily beat the shit out of me, that much was true. I tried to open my mouth to speak when he cut me off, pulling his mask down to take a sip of his coffee. “You want a picture too? On the house.” Oh god my phone. My brick of a phone that couldn’t take pictures... I somehow had the best luck and the worst luck all rolled into one day. I nervously held up my phone, showing him the black chunk of plastic. “Oh wow! The 2000′s called, they want their doorstop back!” He laughed, leaning in a bit more. “I haven’t seen one of these in years. Uh no offense.”  “No it’s... I know how it is.”  I assured him, placing the phone back in my pocket.  “Ok then all the offense.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot, taking a bite of the flaky pastry with delight. “Diego’s gonna kill me for this... Mm- hey is that me?” His finger pointed to the sketches I made of him since he walked in. Quick, light, and probably inaccurate in about a hundred ways. Although I guess I should be proud that he even registered is himself... then again I did draw those sunglasses on every pose. “Uh... yeah. Sorry if that’s weird I-I people draw, art... practice-” “No, that’s rad. Look at that I must have stood like that for a few seconds! And the muscles, well... you’re very accurate with those. Say how bout this. We do an old fashion trade. I get the sketches and I’ll give you my John Hancock?” I had to pause before I realized what he said. Hancock not...  Jesus get your head out of the gutter, Jenna. He wanted my drawing? To keep? Well he could have it, I didn’t care much for it. I began to gently tear the page from the book, handing the page outwards him. “Ah, this is gonna be sweet. Here you... sign your name on this and I’ll sign the book. We’ll do a real trade.” I nodded my head, printing and signing my name on the page with my mechanical pencil as he took a sharpie from his pocket, signing large letters onto the blank page left behind, a small doodle of a person beside it. “Never one for the artsy fartsy stuff, more of the on screen stuff but, hopefully that’ll suffice uh...” He paused, looking at the page before smiling. “Jenna.”   I felt a shiver run down my spine as my name left his lips, his fingers pulling the mask back over his nose as he left the store, my page of drawings still in his hand, held gently inside of his scarred up hands. I stared at the signature in my book, cheap marker fumes and overly glittery gold ink staining the sheet. Flashy, but then again, it fit. Johnny Cage’s signature... I gave Johnny Cage my art of him, and he said MY name. He complimented me, talked to me! Maybe I should... watch more of his movies... give Ninja Mime another shot. Leave a good review.

[scripttorture]

Sorry. I'm naive but what is torture generically and is it something we all do or are capable of doing as experiments have shown? M

There’sno need to apologise for not knowing something, that’s why I’mhere. :)

Tortureis a specific, legally defined, form of abuse. It isn’t defined bythe abusiveactionbut instead it’s defined by the positionof the abuserand the motivationfor the abuse.

Thebasic definition is intentional, painful abuse by a public official(a government employee) in order to try and get information fromsomeone, to force them to confess, to intimidate them (or otherpeople) or to punish them (or other people).

Soif a doctor in a government-run mental health facility hits a patientas ‘punishment’ for something the patient does: that’s torture.If the same doctor goes out into the parking lot on their break andhits a passerby, that’s assault.

Somecountries expand the definition to include organised criminal gangsas well as government officials. But that depends on the country andlocal laws.

So,by definition, torture is notsomething we all do. Not all of us are government employees ormembers of organised criminal gangs.

Ido sometimes say that we’re all responsiblefor the torture that occurs in our global society. But that’s notbecause we’re all actively hurting each other.

It’sbecause, as a society, we often excuse, condone or express supportfor torture. A lot of that is due to ignorance of what torture is andwhat it does.

Sofor instance a common ‘justification’ for torture is gettinginformation from someone- but we know that pain and suffering can notforce someone to give up accurate information and actually damagesmemory. Torture can’tresult in accurate information.

Butwe’re so used to the idea that it does that people parrot thisidea, in reality and in the fiction they produce. The researchproving that it doesn’t work is available, but the majority ofpeople are completely unaware of it.

Sowe’re ‘responsible’ in the sense that I don’t think we’redoing enough to stop a widespread and awful crime.

Asfor whether we're all capable of torture-

Iassume that's a reference to the Milgram experiments? Theseexperiments were conducted in the 60s. They've never been repeatedand analysis of the raw data (rather than the data Milgram reported)actually goes against his conclusion that 'anyone' could be made totorture.

TheMilgram experiment, for those unaware of this steaming unscientificpile of tripe and cherry-picked data, was supposed to test theempathy of volunteers. There were two people, in seperate rooms whocould see each other through a window. One (an actor) was wired to amachine. The other was seated at a control panel with a dial thatthey were told administered electric shocks of increasing intensityto the person in the other room. The person being tested (the one incontrol of the dial) was told they were involved in a memory andlearning test. There was a person in a white coat beside them, givingthem questions and encouraging them to administer shocks for wronganswers. After a time the actor started to simulate increasing pain,beg the person to stop and eventually pretended to die.  The personin the white coat was supposed to follow a strict script and tell theperson being tested to keep administering the shocks a maximum ofthree times. They were not supposed to bully or threaten thevolunteers.

Inthese tests a high proportion of volunteers kept pressing the buttonto the point that the actor 'died'.

Howeverthere are huge problems with the experiment as it was reported.

Forstarters audio recordings of the sessions, which weren't realiseduntil decades later, clearly show the white coated authority figuresbullying, threatening and harassing the volunteers. The choices thesepeople made were under pressure. The authority figures did not adearto the script and thus the experiment does not show that peoplefreely choose to torture each other with little encouragement asMilgram suggested.

Secondlymany of the people who were recorded as 'complying' (ie pushing thebutton) do not appear to have done so in the recordings. They argued,they protested and a great many of them pretended to push the buttonbut didn't actually do it. That's incredibly significant because itmeans that, though they felt forced to carry on with the 'torture',they were actively trying to find a way to avoid it.

Andthen there's the bit I find most damning of all- the follow up surveyfrom the experiment. When asked later the vast majority of thevolunteers said they didn't believe the electric shocks were real.

Thatinvalidates the entire experiment. Because the experiment only showshow likely people are to hurt each other if they believed they werehurting someone else.

Justto make it worse, cross referencing the experiment and the latersurvey found that the people who kept pressing the button were muchmuch much more likely to not believe the button produced electricshocks. Conversely the people who refused to push the button weremore likely to believe the electric shocks were real.

TheMilgram experiments were poorly conducted. They were inconsistent.And the results the group reported aren’t backed up by the datathey actually collected.

Tomake matters worse the experiment can’tbe repeated under rigorous conditions because shortly after theMilgram experiments ethical guidelines started forbidding misleadingexperimental volunteers in this way. You could not legally conductthis experiment any more. And there are very good reasons for that.

Thiskind of deliberate misleading of volunteers caused a lot of harm;think about how you’d feel if you took part in an experiment anddiscovered years later that you were given a poison that it wasresponsible for health problems you had later in life.

Ifyou’d like to know more about the Milgram experiments and theirflaws there’s a good New Scientist article available here.

Whichbrings us back to the question of who is capable of torture and why.

Thetruth is we don’t know.

Theresearch on torturers is lacking. That’s partly because it’s verydifficult to find enough of them to conduct a proper study. Very fewtorturers are convicted for their crimes and even fewer will admit tothose crimes without a conviction.

Mostof the studies that we do have on them have a very small number ofparticipants. For a long time Fanon’s work was the only readilyavailable set of notes by a mental health professional examiningtorturers. Fanon saw two of them. Extrapolating information about agroup of people based on two individuals is- let’s say inaccurate.

There’smore available now but it’s scattered. And we don’t have anythinglike the scale of studies that I think we would need to draw accurateconclusions. To draw reliable conclusions I think we’d need a widescale study of around 2000 individuals representing as diverse aglobal population as possible. That just doesn’t exist.

Wedo have a lot of anecdotalaccounts. Things like interviews with torturers or things torturershave written or things survivors and investigators have observedabout their behaviour. And sometimes I think that those areconsistent enough that we can draw some conclusions about torturers.And sometimes they’re the only information we have.

Honestlythough? I think we spend a lot more energy then we should trying tofind something different about the people who do horrible things.

Doyou know what the best predictor of violent criminal action in anindividual is? Lowresting heart rate.

Whichis a pretty large section of the population and obviously they don’tall become criminals and not all violent people have low restingheart rates.

PersonallyI don’t think the answer lies entirely in individuals. I thinklooking for something that’s ‘wrong’ with torturers is often aneat way to avoid looking at the problems in society which encouragetorture. If we concentrate entirely on individuals we ignore socialstructures, laws,peer pressure, dehumanisation of out-groups.

Andthe way our popular fiction consistently portrays torture aseffective or justified.

Thereare a lot of factors thatencourage torture globally.

We’reall capable of making our own choices. We are all capable of refusingto commit atrocities. We all have the capacity to reject violence.

Andpeople can be awful. The world can look very dark indeed. We’veprobably all had moments when we’ve felt that Milgram was right andhumans are irredeemably terrible.

Buthere’s the thing-

We’regeared to remember bad news over good news. Weremember painful and traumatic things more vividly (though notnecessarily more accurately).

Ourglobal news culture prioritises bad news over good and gives it moreprominence.

Empathyis so deeply wired into our brains that the most likely cause of themental health problems torturers develop is watching the pain anddistress of their victims.

Ourhistory books focus on the rulers, the generals, the wars and thebloodshed in our past. They rarely gives any attention to the kindsof people who were quietly going around making things better.

AkiRa spent years disarming land mines with a stick and a pocket knife.

DrHawa Abdi and her kids set up a hospital and de-facto demilitarisedvillage in the middle of a warzone. Dr Abdi once gave a terrorist whohad held her and her staff at gun point so stern a talking to that hegave her a written apology.

DrEugene Lazowski faked a typhus outbreak in Nazi occupied Poland. Thisprevented the deportation and death of an estimated 8,000 Jews.

DrDenis Mukwege has spent decades treating the victims of sexualviolence in a war torn country. He narrowly escaped beingassassinated at least once. His children were kidnapped. He is stilloperating and has helped an estimated 82,000 women.

SiddharthKara stepped away from a highly paid career as an investment bankerto self-finance some of the most detailed research on modern slaverycurrently available. He conducted most of it himself and collectedmost of the interviews he uses himself.

Theworld is full ofheroes. We dodetermine our own actions and we doalways have a choice.

Crueltyis not inevitable. We are much more complicated than Milgramsuggests.

Thereis plenty of research which suggests aggression is an innate part ofus but there’s nothing to suggest that violent behaviour inevitablyis.

Wecan make ourselvesinto something better.

Ihope that helps. :)

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[sleepykalena]

I still need to finish writing this smut fic for RebelCaptain Smut Weekend, but I had a chat with @grexigone about drawing (specifically, that one time last year where my dominant wrist got so fucked up from tendinitis that I had to finish the class drawing with my opposite hand), and a stupid little thing popped up in my head, so have sum fic instead of sum fuck:

The timer wound down to the final five minutes and gave a gentle “beep-beep!”.

“Five minutes left,” Cassian said stiffly.

Jyn winced. It was nowhere near finished, but she had to keep pushing. Her left hand gripped the charcoal as best she could and pressed down gently to get that shadow across the plane of Cassian’s leg down on the toned paper. Her shoulder ached, she’d been drawing for the better part of an hour now, but she had to- just had to- get as much in as she could. Jyn’s elbow swung up and down as her movements became more frantic, like a mechanic dramatically twisting a wrench to get the most out of one rotation.

She didn’t want it to end. It wasn’t complete. She still hadn’t added-

Highlights.

Fuck.

“Two minute warning,” Cassian reminded her gently, the fatigue clear on his face and arm. His body was twisted, sitting on a stool, and even he was feeling tested by this hour. The blue tape pressed here and there on his body to mark his pose was starting to peel off, and the bright angled studio lights were beginning to burn him on one side by now. He wasn’t looking at her (the pose didn’t call for it), but he could hear the hurried swff swff of the media on paper, and he knew his words weren’t enough. “You’ve got this,” he said, a kind and quiet encouragement.

Jyn certainly didn’t think so.

She grabbed the white conte crayon and squinted at the harsh lights, looking for the highlights on his face and body.

Here.

There.

Down the bridge of his nose. The tiny, slight glint in his eyes. Just the left one though. Down his bicep. Near the dip of his collarbone. The top plane of his thighs, now misty with sweat. His sharp cheekbone. The shine in his hair. Just under the belly button. The slight bulge in the muscle on his forearm.

The timer beeped down to its final minute.

She whimpered.

It felt so incredibly hopeless to use her other hand to get this drawing done. But she was already behind, so behind, and she had to beg to use the studio during the weekends to catch up, but-

No, not now.

She grabbed the charcoal again, realizing that her highlights were pushing the drawing to be too light in color, and did some last-minute flicks to get some of the darker shadows in.

That spot in his ear. His iris. The sharp plane change in his fingers as they bent and gripped. His jawline. Just between his legs, where they met at his hips-

Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep!

She sighed as she set the charcoal down on the floor and got up from her horse.

As Cassian relaxed, she hesitantly walked over to the the back of the studio, and winced as she turned around to look at her drawing from afar.

She hated it.

It was all wrong.

Did this even look like Cassian?

It kind of did. But mostly didn’t.

She wanted to cry.

Jyn had three more drawings left to submit for her class, and Cassian was already generous enough to offer to model for him, but if all four drawings wound up this bad, then she wasn’t sure if she could pass the class, and-

“You’re overthinking it again, aren’t you?” Cassian asked while tying up his robe, finally able to cover himself.

“It’s not overthinking if you know it’s true,” Jyn mumbled, and she turned around to try and wash the charcoal off her hands. Using her right hand, she scrubbed the soap in as hard as she could, but the grip she applied on her blackened left hand sent a jolt of pain up her right arm, and she hissed in pain.

She had to keep scrubbing. She had to do something.

Cassian placed a hand over the faucet handle and slowly turned it off before putting paper towels in her line of sight. She took it, realizing she was getting herself in too deep, and the crinkle of the paper was the only thing that sounded in the studio. He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her back to face the drawing, still leaning against the horse about ten paces away.

“Now, let’s take a look,” he said.

There was a moment of silence and Cassian tilted his head. Surely, he was reaching around for some kind remark to appease her. Some sort of “I like how you _______,” meant to be generic praise to soothe someone for having drawn something so terrible.

Then, “I don’t think my muscles are that great, to be honest.”

Ouch.

“Yeah,” Jyn sighed. “You’re right, I should’ve added more shadows there, it’s so plain-”

“No, I mean, there’s no way my muscles look that great in real life,” Cassian corrected.

That couldn’t be right; muscles are normally something she’s relatively proud of when she draws.

“They do look like that, though,” she replied, confused.

“I look like a freaking Adonis in this drawing- were you thinking of some hot actor and just put him in there instead of me?” he teased.

Jyn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, in fact I was thinking about Channing Tatum the whole time.”

“Hey,” he said, pinching her sides as a tease before pulling her hips against his. “The drawing is great, though- honestly. It just seems like you made me look way too good on paper.”

“It still doesn’t really look like you though,” she sighed, suddenly aware of the breath bouncing back on her face as he continued to close the distance between them. “Without my right hand, I can’t get the lines down correctly; my left hand isn’t trained for that, and all I can do is make blocks of shadows here and there. But that’s about it. It’s terrible, and inaccurate.”

Cassian looked at the drawing again, then back at her. “You used the tan toned paper instead of the usual grey.”

Jyn’s face turned pink at being called out for her paper choice. “Yeah, um…I wanted to make sure the paper matched the warmth.”

A smile grew on Cassian’s face as he heard the compliment. “The tones you put down feel very me, too. I’ve got that hip tilt thing I always do, and you nailed it.”

She chuckled, her breath bouncing off his chin this time. “I always thought it was cute.”

He tilted her chin up to get her to look at him directly. “Did you have me pose like that because you wanted to draw things you liked about me?”

Jyn was definitely aware of the lack of space between them now. “I thought that if you posed to highlight things I like about you, then it’d be easier to draw more accurately. I was wrong, though, but-”

“You aren’t. I love it. I just…” he chuckled softly as his forehead pressed against hers. “I didn’t think these were things you liked about me. My nose, my arms, my hands; all these things you put a lot of care and attention to, I didn’t realize you actually liked them.”

“I love those things about you,” Jyn responded, now a mumble that was nearing a whisper. For the whole hour she was drawing, Jyn felt panicked, like a boat out at sea in the dead of the night, the waves tossing her back and forth and beating down on her. Cassian’s words felt like a cozy blanket in the aftermath of that storm, and she wanted to curl up into it and let the warmth reach down to her soul.

“Let me look at you.”

What?

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes as his head withdrew to get a better look at her.

Jyn’s hair was a mess, her eyes tired, a few smears of charcoal across her nose, her left cheekbone, and even just a smudge on her hairline.

She was beautiful.

“I’m not an artist, and I can’t draw, and I’m really not a model,” Cassian said, and Jyn felt something prod her gently at her stomach. “But if you’d let me, I’d like to show you the things I like about you.”

Jyn wasn’t entirely sure what there could be for him to like, but as he brought her right wrist up to his lips and they ghosted her palms before trailing up to the sensitive part of her forearm, she had a faint idea of what he might like about her. She felt his other hand travel up her back and he gripped firmly at the back of her neck, right at the base of her skull, and instinctively she tilted her head to expose her neck to him.

Cassian ran his tongue slowly at the pulse point of her neck, trailing up before stopping at her earlobe. Jyn let out a quivered breath, and Cassian could feel her body twitch in surprise and arousal. Smiling, he nipped at her earlobe before pressing his lips up to her ear and, asking quietly like a secret meant for only the two of them despite the studio being otherwise empty, he asked, “Will you let me?”

She looked at the studio’s clock across the room. “I want to, but I only have the studio for 20 more minutes today.”

Jyn felt his hands trail down to the front of her shirt to unbutton it slowly, one by one, as if 20 minutes was more than enough for them.

“I should get started now, then,” he said, and he continued to let his hands and mouth show her what parts of her he liked the most.