#cw cult

[drafthorsemath]

Crosshair’s Redemption

I posted this here in response to an earlier post, but also thought this should just live on its own on my blog, so apologies if you’ve seen it twice. Essentially, here are some thoughts about whether Crosshair should be held accountable for his actions with the Empire. Spoilers for The Bad Batch Season 2.

I’ll start by saying that Crosshair is already holding himself accountable, even if he’s not calling it that. When people say they want redemption for Crosshair, often, from what I’ve seen, they either implicitly or explicitly want him specifically to suffer in some way and many don’t seem to realize that he is already suffering.  They seem to think he deserves that suffering and then some.  In some cases, they flat out want him dead and think that is the only way for him to “pay” and be redeemed.  I won’t even pretend I’m not projecting when I say that as a cult survivor, that hurts me to my core because I relate to him so much and I suppose I’m at the point in all this when I can talk more about what it’s like to be in a cult and why people do what they do.  (If you want to hear what it’s like growing up in a doomsday cult, I’ve been interviewed for two podcasts and can direct you there and my DMs are open.)

No, I didn’t murder anyone, so you might think Crosshair has done worse than I have.  I’m not here to argue about that, but in some ways I think helping to destroy someone’s life or sense of self without killing them can be just as bad, no? I definitely hurt people, even if I didn’t kill them. I hurt them deeply, just as I was hurt, but is that an excuse? No. But also, I was under the influence of many layers of authority in my cult.  Did they put a gun to my head and “make” me do hurtful things? No, but they also constructed the situation so that it very much felt like life or death.  I did what I had to do to survive.  Does that mean I’m not accountable? Also no.  Amazingly, it’s complicated.  I’ve certainly paid for my time in the cult even though I was born into it.  No one else showed up and passed down a punishment, but figuring out how to grieve, make right, help others, and build a life while thoroughly traumatized was pretty damn punishing.

How is my survival in a cult any different than Crosshair trying to survive? Different than Crosshair telling Hunter there is a place for all of them in the Empire? Any different than Crosshair saying he made his choice and the clones that matter will be just fine?  Crosshair may try to play it cool and seem unaffected, but this man is doing what he feels he needs to do in order to survive in circumstances that are not of his choosing.

I think by The Outpost it becomes very clear that Crosshair is changing, even though we see glimpses earlier.  He was literally pushed to the point where he thought his life would end for killing Nolan.  You can argue that he didn’t know for sure if his life would be over, but when he killed that asshole, he could have been shot where he was and he knew it.  He knew by that point that the Empire did not care about him at all and he still pulled the trigger.

Crosshair started holding himself accountable the moment he started making different decisions.  The moment he went from playing along to survive to actively going against the Empire was when he started holding himself accountable.

We should also talk about the chip that was (is?) in his head.  He was very much being controlled at least at the beginning of season 1.  We know that the clones acted the way they did during Order 66 because of the chips.  Should he still be held responsible for what he did under the influence of the chip?  Then what about Cody and Bly and Wolffe and every other clone who killed or tried to kill the Jedi?  Like where do we draw the line?  Is it even our job to draw the line?  Is it the job of the Rebellion to draw the line? I don’t think it is.  I think it’s fine for the Rebellion to say, “if you don’t see what you did as a problem, then we don’t want to work with you,” but I don’t think they should get a firing squad or pass down a punishment.  In Rebels, did the Rebellion not want to work with Rex, Gregor, or Wolffe? Kanan had feelings about it, sure, but ultimately no one made them atone for being clones under the influence of a chip.

It’s always interesting to me that people talk about Crosshair atoning, but not Vader or Sidious or Kylo Ren or any number of lower level cult leaders like Rampart.  Maybe it’s because we already know what will happen to Vader, Kylo, and Sidious.  Maybe it’s because they die and we figure that has to cover all their transgressions, but we don’t know how Crosshair’s story will end and people want to make sure there’s some “justice.”

Throughout season 2, although there’s not a ton of Crosshair shown, we see he’s really miserable. He’s not sleeping, he’s not eating, he was left on the platform for 32 rotations.  He looks like hell and he feels like hell.  He is so expressive and it’s clear he’s miserable by the look on his face.  Isn’t he already paying for his bounded choice? Being in a cult is already awful, it’s really traumatizing, but people seem to love to pile on more guilt and then blame cult members like if they just weren’t so stupid none of this would have happened.  Ultimately, the only people in cults who are irredeemable are the upper cult leaders.  Sidious does not care about anyone but himself. He can’t be redeemed.  Everyone else though?  There’s hope for them.  Don’t we want a better world where people can learn from their mistakes and help others?  Where growing and bettering oneself is an ongoing process that lasts a life time?  How many awful things need to happen to Crosshair before people will say “okay you ticked enough boxes, I forgive you now”? He is a complicated man, but he has empathy and he loves and cares for his family.  Again this doesn’t mean he gets off without paying for what he’s done, but also, he’s already paying for his choices by living in a version of hell.  Being in a cult is terrible and soul-crushing for everyone but the top cult leader.

I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention how Crosshair spent the end of season 2 strapped to a table, able to fight drugs in his system to get far enough to warn his siblings that the Empire is after Omega.  While the full message didn’t get out, he did his utmost to warn them.  He didn’t try to run for himself. He tried to save his family. If that isn’t Crosshair trying to do better and holding himself accountable then I don’t know what is.

Ultimately, I think when people want someone to hold Crosshair accountable, they are missing a part of his humanity and they assume he must want all that has happened.  It’s like they think someone must dish out justice because surely he doesn’t realize how badly he screwed up, but Crosshair knows he messed up and now he has to reckon with it.  Assigning the Rebellion or some person or group the job of holding him accountable only furthers the us versus them that cults instill into their members. It will only push him away further.  Do you want to know what happened between me and the people who felt I needed to be held accountable for my time in a cult (that I was born into, just like the clones)?  I never spoke to them again and I had one less person offering support as I tried to build some semblance of a life.  The few threads of connection that I had were ultimately severed because they felt I hadn’t gone through enough.  

Let Crosshair go on this journey.  Let him try to do what is right, because he’s well on his way.  Let him grieve for all that has happened and all he’s done.  Because I promise, he’s grieving.  He’s lonely and guilting himself to his core.  It’s written all over his face.

[prisoner-000]

"I'd rather not be the kind of person I am." (edited)

You know, this is why I just don't buy any theories that state Kazui was inherently selfish or greedy. He hates himself, we've established this over and over: for just being who he is. Even before he met Hinako, he hated himself so much he had to become another person entirely. We're still not talking to the 'real' Kazui Mukuhara, because he's hidden himself away deep inside this facade. He hates himself because to him, the real him is a stranger.

*ALSO WITH THE NEW TRANSLATION?? DUDE?? KAZUI???

"Naturally."

Amane believes in reincarnation. If she had the oppurtunity, she would choose herself, because she's a good girl, and her parents love her, and she does what God asks of her. Because she's Amane Momose and she is true to herself. There's no other person more useful to God, her elders and her friends than her. She's always been holding it together, what's another lifetime on top of that?

[aesthetic-otd]

Today's aesthetic is cultcore

[go-to-the-mirror]

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE CORRUPTION AND METAPHORS TO ABUSIVE/TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS AND UNHEALTHY COPING MECHANISMS?

Oooooh boy, this is one of my favourite topics :D allow me to ramble (i mean, you can't stop me, all you can do is just not post this ask)

MAG 6 - Squirm: The Corruption keeps Harriet from getting help, is captivating to Timothy Hodge.

MAG 22 - Colony: A bit of a reach, but Martin's tendency to "set himself on fire to keep others warm" is why he ended up drawing the attention of Jane Prentiss, who in turn forced him to be alone for 13 days -- and we know self isolation is a common unhealthy tendency of Martin's

MAG 32 - Hive: Jane's knowledge that the hive is hurting her, yet feeling called by it; skin picking is a maladaptive coping mechanism and can also be a sign of ocd, etc; Jane being called "toxic" by her friends, isolation leading to unhealthy relationships/coping mechanisms/whatever the metaphor for the hive is today.

MAG 84 - Possessive: Maggie & Gordie as an unhealthy mother-son relationship? Becoming like those who hurt you, cycle of violence but rotting?

MAG 93 - Containment: Greg's cleaning compulsion is implied to be because of OCD and gets worse after his wife and daughter's death. Maladapitive coping mechanism?

MAG 102 - Nesting Instinct: The beetle took advantage of Benoit's loneliness and desperation for companionship, unhealthy relationships.

MAG 153 - Love Bombing: Cult manipulation tactics are portrayed in this episode, as far as I know, quite accurate to real life. Preying on the lonely and vulnerable, making them feel affection and connection, then yk. the bad stuff happens.

All this to say if you love The Corruption TMA and don't mind seeing gore and a sex scene, you should watch Midsommar. I did with my friend a bit ago and it was really good. The cinematography was phenomenal, so was the story, still in awe of it.

But on the tma topic, the Corruption TMA is really cool and I love talking about The Magnus Archives and the subtext and the analogies and it's like oooooh.

@a-mag-a-day

[the-omega-artist]

“since the death of god, there’s been a vacancy open. here’s how you can fill that void.”

more info on the café cult too! i have so many ideas for them but i just haven’t gotten them all posted.

[pluralcultureis]

Plural culture is indulging so hard on Cult of the Lamb that I now have 20+ or more introjects from the game and I'm just like "WHAT IS HAPPENING?! HELP!"

.

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

@ectoberhaunt . Undergrowth uses Blood Blossoms not just to keep other ghosts such as Danny at bay from getting in his way but also to collect his own sustenance. Problem is the source can’t exactly afford to be drained from too much. Not without…certain consequences☠️

“Blood blossoms weren't named for their blood red color. They were named for the liquid they fed on.”🩸

I actually used this picture for my Cults picture but I was out and figure this also fits today’s prompt!

What do u think? I’d love to know💖

[purgemarchlockdown]

So something I Noticed after replaying Purge March over and over again and someting I'm probably going to put in a bigger post is that Amane Still downplays how badly she's hurt here.

It's interesting since this is a song where Amane gets angry and bitter about how hurt she is but even her we can see her downplay her own pain.

Here's Amane Momose outside of her head at the end of Purge March, we can see a lot of things here already, the giant bruise on the side of her head, the eyebags under her eyes.

There's even two lines going down her face, it looks like she just finished crying.

Here's Amane Momose in her mind right after this scene:

The eye-bags are smaller here and the lines are gone from her face! The bruise is also gone! You could argue it's hidden by the hat and the shadow which still makes my point actually, but if we go to shots where we would be able to see it anyway...

It's just not there! I checked the other Amane's and while the other Amane's Have the eye-bags as seen here they also don't have the bruise.

Amane's mind version of herself Does Not depict her with her bruise and the eyebags here are smaller.

When we transition back to real world Amane for a bit the eyelines are back!

We can't see the bruise though because of the angle we're look at though.

The last shot of Amane also has these downplayed qualities, the bruise is hidden due to the angle but the eyebags are also smaller here! Even now, in the song where Amane is singing about how badly she's in pain and how much she wants to get back at the people who hurt her, visually she's still downplaying how hurt she got.

Which fits perfectly with Magic since Magic had her do the exact same thing, just in a more obvious way.

I find this really interesting! Especially since we do know Amane still believes in her cult's ideals even if hurts her! It's not surprising to me that even now Amane isn't being totally honest with herself how badly she's been hurt, it makes a lot of sense with what we know about her.

[rotomblr-polls]

(From @cultsparce-pokeblog )

What about if a person, or pokemon, has been in or was in a cult?

- I am a human and I haven't been in a cult

- I am a human and I have been in a cult

- I am a human and I am in a cult

- I am a pokemon and I haven't been in a cult

- I am a pokemon and I have been in a cult

- I am a pokemon and I am.in a cult

Reblogs are appreciated.

[iamstuckinthevoid]

Just got stopped by scientology lol

Me and my dad were out to go to the art shop in town because we needed stuff, and we walked past scientology. It was super busy and they looked like they were handing out stuff, so we walked past. After we'd been to the art shop and gotten the stuff we needed, we walked past again go home, and they stopped us to ask an extremely important question.

"Who would with out of Godzilla or KingKong?"

We obviously answered Godzilla because he's got something to be fighting for (a son) and is generally stronger.

And while this was a slightly interesting conversation, don't fucking go there seeking out conversations like this, it's a fucking cult. Don't go in for the free personality test.

[guess-that-ship]

Guess That Ship Tournament S5: Round 1

better than the alternative

cw: drug mention, cult mention

A and B became friends in high school, and were roommates in college. During college, B started taking LSD and sharing his observations about the universe with a bunch of people who were also on acid. A didn’t partake, but he admired B and starting taking notes on what he said. As more and more people turned to B for spiritual wisdom, his group became a sort of cult, with him as the leader and A as the scribe/second in command. It got to the point where they rented out a whole theater for gatherings.

When things inevitably collapsed, A ran away. They didn’t see each other for a while, and B harbored some resentment towards A. But when strange things start happening to A years later, the first person he turns to is B. And B joins him.

past, present, future

A is investigating an unsolved murder case which B is the primary suspect of. Three years ago, B confessed to the crime, then fled the city, only to finally return at the beginning of the story. B, in a strange turn of events, doesn’t actually remember anything from the time of the murder. A finds evidence of B’s innocence, but B insists he’s guilty to protect A.

Eventually, A and B discover that they knew each other before the events of the story. A had died and later been resurrected without their memories three years ago. B, out of guilt over A’s death, had given up his memories of A. Having been reunited, the two resolve to create a better future for both of them.

[the-story-of-how-we-died]

I was holding off on making this post to see where Matt was going, and now that we know, I can say for certainty;

Some of you need to learn what the fuck a cult is.

They're groups lead by a personality who purposefully cuts their followers off from the outside world to control and abuse them. That is what a cult is. They are not groups that you disagree with, they're not groups whose culture you find odd, and they certainly are not groups lead by a fucking elder.

As someone who survived a cult, it was fucking infuriating seeing people try and cast these people as a "cult". Abbadina did not cut the villagers off from the outside world, she did not abuse her followers. The only """proof""" some of you fucking had was that you disagreed with her about the eidolons and that you found their celebrations fucking weird.

[drafthorsemath]

.

Things were going so well and then my dad related the evangelical support of Isreal to end time prophecy from my former cult. He went on about how this is showing the world God has abandoned the church. Without going into more detail, he's so arrogant and he's so blind to it. Thankfully the discourse passed, we're more focused on cooking and eating now, and we're watching A Muppet Christmas Carol this afternoon.

[verdictvast]

i wish everyone who calls their friend group a cult a very https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/group

[emmettkane]

The Little Paragons is done, and for those interested in the audiobook version, here's a tasty little retail sample, as flawlessly narrated by the deeply unsettling @star-dragon-art

You can get the whole thing (in all formats, audiobook and otherwise) for $4 at my Ko-fi here, or individually through any of the platforms listed here, as well as Kindle, Nook, Google Play, and Spotify! (More platforms to come, including Audible) If you like it, and want to see more of my work as soon as it becomes available, you can sign up for my mailing list here.

Happy reading~

[spooky-donut-ghost-house]

As a Farnesca shipper I love making angst

Casca and Farnese have "technically" met before the events of Berserk

You see as a way to condition her into The Holy See, Farnese's parents took her to a "witch" burning

This "witch" that was being burned was Casca's mother

Farnese never got over witnessing that at a young age even after being fully conditioned she tried to convince herself that the "witch" deserved it but still remembers how gruesome it was

The thing that haunted Farnese the most was witnessing Mozgus pick up the "witch"'s daughter and making her watch as her mother burned

Farnese never would've thought she would've seen the girl again

Until Casca told her how her mother died