#abusive hierarchy

[alleyesony0u]

alright alright tabi being the cattle dog that nudges the little calf along on its path. whether the cattle dog knows it's leading the calf or not to its inevitable doom, it does not care. it is doing what it was meant to do and this little calf is its tool, or its friend, or its enemy. or maybe it is just a little calf. nonetheless, it is a cattle dog, and this cattle dog must do what must be done to get fed and watered and to live and be more than just a stray on the street. or a dog with a rifle pointed at its head.

this cattle dog does its job so it can curl up comfortably in the dog bed and not be chained up outside in the rain. this cattle dog does what it must to feel love and care, sweet words and gentleness, and not harsh insults, yelling, and a swipe. or was it a slice? or a stab?

well, all living things crave comfort. all living things need it. what is so different about this cattle dog? is it the way it does it? is it the way it herds the calf along, clueless? why is it so different from the man who works and works and works to live comfortably? why, this is simply how this cattle dog works. and who punishes hard work?

tabi is the cattle dog. she works to eat, to drink, to sleep, to live and not just survive. she lived before, she wants to live again. and so she does her job and she herds.

[fluentisonus]

rambling here (& a little drunk) but it's so interesting coming to les mis from a preexisting maritime/age of sail interest background because like the whole historical situation (well. wrt toulon at least) it's discussing is like. it's very much a side of things you don't think about so much I guess when you're focused on life on board the ships themselves & particularly ships at sea. which -- like tbc my knowledge of this stuff is mostly to do with the royal navy during the same period, which can be very different re: how it functioned, so I don't necessarily know much about the french navy or how obvious this stuff would be if I was reading books about the french navy -- but just the whole existence of the bagne & the prisoners being the ones to help with the ships while they're in port (amongst other things) really makes one think about like idk. how casually you might get someone on the ship referring to 'putting in for repairs' or something in a way you wouldn't think twice about what that might imply. meanwhile then you read this & read the historical background & there's a whole different angle that's absolutely full of horrors. idk idk like I keep thinking about how in post captain (aubrey-maturin series, so written well after les mis & probably deliberately conscious of it while doing this) when they go into the harbor in toulon to meet with christy-palliere during the peace of amiens & there's like half a sentence mention of the convicts on the far side of the harbor unloading stuff from the ships before they go on with their lives (& this is 1802, jvj would literally be over there right then), and it's just background description. and how like every battle you read about, in fiction or non fiction, every time they talk about french ships taking damage or needing supplies etc etc it that it's often toulon (or similar) they'd be limping back to. it's just such a crazy shift in perspective & new consideration of some of the actual sources of this historical labor & how damaging it was beyond what's on the actual ships

[raincitygirl76]

For anyone getting excited over Hillerska being shut down by the school inspectorate, hold your glee. Lundsberg Skola is the Swedish boarding school Hillerska seems to based on. After years and years of warnings and fines re bullying and hazing, Lundsbergs was shut down by the school inspectorate on August 28, 2013.

It was supposed to stay shut down for a minimum of 6 months. Instead the school hired expensive lawyers, appealed, and were allowed to reopen on September 6, 2013. So it only took 9 days before they found a loophole. One can assume Hillerska will do likewise and everybody (except the third years) will be back in class in the second half of August when the new school year starts.

At Lundsbergs, the headmaster was fired and the entire board of governors resigned after the shut down. But they soon regrouped, hired a new headmaster, appointed new alumni and parents to the board, and debuted a shiny new anti-bullying policy. Whether it actually worked is unlikely. But the parents are mostly alumni themselves. They would’ve gone through the same brutal hazings and wouldn’t think they’d be such a big deal.

Here’s the Wikipedia page, scroll down to the Controversy section for the details on the abuse and bullying that the school was turning a blind eye to. The final investigation, the one that triggered the (temporary) shutdown, was when the younger boys were burned with hot irons by older boys at an initiation. One boy was burned so badly he needed to be hospitalized. The hospital called the local police, who called the school inspectorate. Note: that boy’s parents were not the ones to notify either the police or the school inspectorate.

Also scroll down to the Alumni section for a look at all the rich, influential and famous people (including multiple Swedish royals across many generations) who went there.

[kindaorangey]

also in the same way you have to see armand choosing the coven over louis as him deciding between two options he sees as bad, believing one is not viable, and committing to the other wholeheartedly (hence him directing the trial and just generally playing an active role in madeleine claudia and louis's executions) so too must you view his decision to stay with louis after the trial as him realising the coven is not a viable option for him anymore (because louis kills them all) and committing to louis wholeheartedly instead because he's his only other option.

[phrysic]

tfw will always be so funny to me because where is the free will??? At first it was just dean sam and cas but now they lumped jack into it too

[key0-m0ve-al0ng]

People will go on and on and on justifying hitting children no matter what "culture" they got it from, but then they cry when those kids grow up to have a warped view of the world around them?????

This is a big reason why so many people are dripping with disdain for some perceived "other."

If an unhealed person's mom hit them they sometimes end up a raging misogynist, if their dad hit them a lot of them hate men, if it was justified with the bible they hate anyone with a bible, and so on. This is not correct but it's natural. So mayyyybe we should stop encouraging violence for ANY reason when it comes to people too small to fight back???? Why is this even a question.

Adults cry and cry about how fucked up they are, then turn around and say THEY should be allowed to hurt their hypothetical kids in the exact. Same. Way. Because "ohhhh it's discipline ohhhhh it happened to me so." Not an OUNCE of thought or awareness. Sick of it all.

Anyway "Fight Club" movie essay otw which is mildly related. I'm sick of all the violence but I'm strong enough to seek another way because OH YEAH I'M NOT FUCKING STUPID!!!! I THINK WE AS A SOCIETY SHOULD MAYBE STOP DOING VIOLENT AND STUPID THINGS THAT TURN "PROBLEM" CHILDREN INTO ADULTS WHO ARE VIOLENT AND STUPID.

[boyczar]

I am very sick of the notion that codependents are empathetic people. Codependents are extremely narcissistic in terms of their goals and behaviors. (Narcissistic, not saying they all have NPD, though some of them certainly do.) You are not an “empath”. You are not even in touch with your own feelings, you are simply hyper-vigilant, and often times your fight, flight, freeze, and especially fawn responses, are extremely off-putting and uncomfortable to even a slightly more well-adjusted person. I believe codependents and even Cluster B’s are capable of (total, not impaired) empathy, but only after reversing toxic patterns of relationship behavior. This, however, is in no way their FAULT. I would not say that being codependent or someone with any Cluster B personality disorder (who all have narcissistic traits) is in any way that person’s FAULT. But it unfortunately is their responsibility now. I do not view this relational style (of codependency or narcissistic) as unfixable or irreversible. I would argue that every single person who is codependent or has a Cluster B PD one hundred percent has C-PTSD. (There are people with C-PTSD who have done more healing work and do not fall into these categories but that’s not who I’m talking about.) If you are codependent or are in Cluster B, you have sustained significant trauma, most likely from your parents, and you now have a warped idea of healthy and acceptable communication. You most likely have sustained a thousand little cuts from them while growing up. Being belittled, shamed, degraded, devalued, discarded, threatened, ignored, neglected, silenced, and deemed completely unworthy of genuine love. That is unacceptable and even unforgivable in some cases. I would never condone that. I wish you healing forever.

But this trauma has created a shame core at the center of your self concept, causing you to set off on a lifelong journey to try to feel good about yourself, rather than actually give or receive love. I am sorry that this is harsh and blunt, I mean it with all compassion and understanding. I have been codependent myself and have struggled to be direct with people in the past out of fear and I became an enabler of some really terrible behavior. I was terrible myself. I was (unintentionally) manipulative, as are all codependents. I was selfish when I should have been brave enough to tell those around me what my intuition was warning me of (that we were all falling down a bad path.) I do not like who I was. It was not my fault but it is my responsibility to continue the forever journey of gathering self-awareness and growing. I am not done and I hope I never tire of learning how to be better. I hope you can take something away from this. I’m sorry I’m all over the place, I have a lot of thoughts and I’m over seeing codependent and narcissistic behavior continuing to be the norm. This is not from a self-righteous place, I most definitely have work to do, truly for the rest of my life, I just wanted to speak about the patterns I have noticed since starting to dismantle my own trauma and toxic patterning. I wish you all well.

[tigara666]

The State as an Enforcer of Unnatural and Oppressive Hierarchies

The modern state presents itself as a neutral arbiter of order, but in reality, its primary function is the enforcement of hierarchies that are neither natural nor necessary. These hierarchies—be they economic, racial, gendered, or social—are maintained through legal structures, policing, and coercion. The state’s legitimacy is upheld not by consent but by force, ensuring that the existing power structures remain intact.

While proponents of the state argue that it provides security and infrastructure, these benefits are secondary to its primary role: controlling populations in a way that benefits the ruling class. Historically, states have existed not to liberate people but to consolidate wealth and power among a select few. Any challenge to these hierarchies—whether through protest, alternative ways of organizing society, or radical thought—is met with repression, surveillance, and violence.

Thus, the state does not exist to serve its people. It exists to serve power.

---

Psychiatry as a Tool of Gaslighting and Social Control

Modern psychiatry, particularly when institutionalized within state structures, operates less as a system of care and more as a means of enforcing compliance. Instead of addressing the root causes of distress—economic precarity, alienation, systemic oppression—psychiatric institutions pathologize natural reactions to these conditions.

Depression, anxiety, and trauma are frequently framed as individual disorders rather than as responses to living under crushing systemic conditions. Instead of challenging the systems that produce suffering, psychiatry often demands that the individual adapt, whether through medication, therapy, or involuntary hospitalization. When people resist, they are labeled as ‘irrational’ or ‘delusional,’ further isolating them from any meaningful critique of their environment.

This is a form of gaslighting on an institutional scale:

You are not meant to recognize your suffering as political.

You are not meant to see your pain as a response to an unjust world.

You are meant to believe that you are broken—not the system that crushes you.

This does not mean that psychiatry is inherently without merit; rather, it highlights the danger of psychiatry when it functions as a tool of state control. The real solution to widespread mental suffering isn’t just individual treatment—it’s the destruction of the systems that necessitate it.

[bulbabutt]

(absolute overshare) you guys wanna know something funny. my step mom growing up was like.... supposedlyyyyyy a teacher for at risk youths. like fuckin... for kids who were real fucked up, maybe they killed someone maybe they were abused all that stuff, she was vague abt it for confidentiality. but like she was supposedly that kind of teacher. she became a 'hypnotherapist' later when she became my stepmom. maybe helped other neurodivergent kids during that i dont really remember.

and uh. her method of helping kids? uh. hm. whats the best example i can think of... telling my mother to drive away to force us to feel abandoned so we'd go back to their house for sure (she did not)

but like. she decided to present a letter at my parents divorce hearing (post runaway) all about what horrible children we all were. like. describing in excruciating detail how selfish and undisciplined and cruel we all were. calling me out specifically (as usual) for being the abusive ring leader bully. just cuz she was miserable she got w a man w no prospects. but it was my fault yknow?

why'd she do that? we didnt even fucking live w her anymore. it wasnt even about us it was about the divorce. so thats like. bruh. you cant just trust that people who are supposed to help kids will. get your fucking mind right we were babies. why dont you go look at the real problem in the house cuz it wasnt the fucking CHILDREN.

anyway the judge took one look at that letter and threw it out like HELLO? MAAM? WHATS UR FUCKING PROBLEM?? AND YOUR JOB WAS HELPING KIDS???

[jellbell]

everyone who says they should've kept the original plot idea of misty being obsessed with jackie and not coach... they don't get it...

[240vo]

i've been thinking about you're into mousetrap youtube for days now and considering my own hell upbringing of dwelling upon every single internet rabbit hole; i've came out rather self-adjusted and yet... it gave me a horrible perspective of myself and how abnormal my own experience online is

[aronarchy]

[tyrannuspitch]

also today i was just like, talking to myself, trying to summarise what i like about mcu thor and loki for the hundredth time, and i came up with this framing which i think works pretty well -

they're both abuse victims who internalise the logic of their own abuse and re-enact it on others, but they do it in different ways. loki internalises it in a factual/existential way, whereas thor internalises it as a moral system.

in a1, the worldview loki is working with is: equality fundamentally does not exist. in every intimate relationship, someone is in charge; in any intimate relationship you can only be abuser or abused. and since loki, as the lowest-ranked and most isolated member of his family, has pretty much exclusively been abused, he seeks power over others and re-enacts his abuse because he thinks that's literally the only possible escape for him.

whereas thor's a1 worldview is: abuse is morally correct. the world needs strong leaders at every level or we will tear each other apart. your father's control protects and morally guides you. your control protects and morally guides others. abuse is not just permissible, it's an obligation, and if you bear any guilt, it's guilt for not doing it well enough.

of course, this is a huge simplification. thor needs to see abuse as factual to see it as moral; and he is just a person, so deep down his motives are actually considerably less perfectly selfless and more survival-based than he wishes they were. and loki holds a lot more guilt than he will admit to, because he feels like his abuse is right (so it's wrong to rebel), and because he simultaneously knows abuse is wrong (so it's wrong to recreate it), and because he's still entangled in all his family-related trauma and he can't stop caring about them or feeling how they want him to feel...

but this is a big part of it. this is what they're trying to be. thor wants to be noble and good. loki wants to be pragmatic, amoral and purely focused on his own survival.

(because internalising the logic of odin's abuse is also internalising the logic of the story. so of course, even if it's actually making him worse, thor has to try to be the hero. and of course, even as he tries to escape, loki has to make himself the monster.)

[nixii-sabre]

I personally love belief

If i havent mentioned him. He’s Endless Moving Nights’ admin. Im supposed to dislike him but man!! hes done everything with that poor iterator’s best intention in mind and he STILL got echoed. he tried his hardest :( hes not as. bad as some others!!

sure, he fucked up by not taking care of endless in the right way (getting so emotionally exhausted after every argument and inevitably accidentally hitting him)

sure, he probably should’ve been a more positive person in general.

sure, he probably shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions during said arguments which lead to emotional exhaustion. idiot move tbh.

sure, he probably shouldn’t have left endless with someone who both of them hated for a. VERY good reason.

sure, hes not the best

but he cares about endless so fucking much! he’s really trying his best! hes so overwhelmed by work all over the superstructure, politics with other colonies, and a lot more!

he rewrote nighty’s neurons to make sure he wasnt SHUT DOWN. higher council members were a week away from doing so. belief saved him, and the worst part is?? he couldnt even tell him why he rewrote the neurons. so endless just hated him because he though it was a punishment.

belief cant help himself from hurting people. every time he does it, he immediately regrets it. do you know how many nights that shithead sat in his house thinking abt all the mistakes hes made???

they’re BOTH suffering :(

god. im so. normal.

[snarklordjwc]

In the land of the blind we would expect a one eyed man to become king but power is never distributed by logic or meaning. The one eyed man is confined to the dungeons for he tried to tell others of what he had seen the king do, of the suffering of the dispossessed, and the threats that make no sound.

[uhode]

it’s so fucked up that no one tells you the kind of issues you’re going to have with authority when you had to build your sense of worth from scratch